KAMPALA – The Forum Democratic Change (FDC) diehard and former Kamuli district chairperson Salaamu Musumba has come out to castigate the Bank of Uganda (BoU) top officials, saying they have turned the central bank into a ruin due to corruption reports coming out of the country’s financial industry regulator.
Musumba who was on one of the local media channels in the country discussing the ongoing probe into BoU’s liquidation and sale of seven commercial banks blamed the Bank’s Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile and his deputy Dr. Louis Mutebile for the alleged financial scandals at BoU, saying that the public has no excuses to defend them.
“It is too scandalous that a central bank managed by the most celebrated economists have turned the whole thing into ruin and they have left us no excuse whatsoever to defend them. None whatsoever. You cannot sit on such dirt in air-conditioned office,” she said.
She likened the officials to robbers who have stolen assets and have no time to sleep because they have to look for ways of hiding them from the public eye. “They are like robbers moving…moving lots of assets from…this. When do they ever sleep?” She asked.
She added: “I am so ashamed of the guys I am talking about. I don’t even feel comfortable speaking about them,” she said of the officials.
She said she said it was painful Tumusiime-Mutebile and Kasekende had performed as expected. “Our Governor Mutebile should have given us the best of what he has but he is going to walk out of this probe shielded to his pants. It is too painful for me,” she said.
Musumba said Kasekende is a prominent Roman Catholic who shouldn’t have involved himself in corruption. “Our own Kasekende, a celebrated Catholic…You should go to the Catholic Church when they mention Kasekende. It is like St. Somebody has returned. To be undressed like this, is sacrilegious to say the least,” she said.
Musumba said the country was going through hard times due to corruption. “You know I just can’t find the right English words to describe what this country is going through. The trauma of breach of trust; when you are Presiding of an empty space, a den of thieves, syndicate crime, you have ruined people’s lives, When crooks are seated in air conditioned offices, eating up people’s wealth, people’s opportunities, ruining their families. This should be allowed. Nobody has a right to ruin others this way,” she said.
But why is Musumba so bitter?
A new document reveals that Kasekende has not declared all the wealth that he owns as required by the Leadership Code whose aim is to stop public officials from embezzling public funds.
The document reveals that Dr Kasekende has eight undeclared plots of land worth billions of shillings in Buloba and Lower Naguru.
The plots Kasekende has never declared are; Plot 38 (0.157 hectares) in Lower Naguru on East road worth Shs1.280 billion, Plot 1423 on block 314 in Buloba worth Shs432 million.
Others whose value is not quoted are; Plot 1738 (0.809 hectares), Plot 3213 (0.079 hectares), plot 1427 (3.647 hectares), plot 184 (2.7 hectares), plot 1754 (1.624 hectares) and plot 6102 (0.317 hectares). The plots are all found on block 314 in Buloba.
Meanwhile Kasekende was able to declare fiver properties. They include; Plot 2A (0.142 Hectares) in Makindu worth Shs3.6 billion, Plot 2 (0.22 Hectares) on Bukoto Rise worth Shs2.7 billion, Block 314, plot 706, Plot 1475 Lubowa Estate work Shs3.6 billion and Plot 12 on Corporation Road Ntinda.
The Inspector General of Government (IGG) Irene Mulyagonja has announced that her office is the process of verifying Kasekende’s properties worth billions of shillings. The same office is investigating the former BoU director of supervision Ms Justine Bagyenda for allegedly accumulating wealth worth billions of shillings.
