Africa-Press – Uganda. Lawmakers yesterday handed the head of the national standards agency, Mr Livingstone Ebiru, and chairman of the entity’s governing council, Mr Charles Musekuura, over to police detectives to record statements over bribery claims.
On the second day of their appearance before Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase), the executive director of Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) said he offered the 10-member Council Shs100m to secure his job.
Mr Ebiru revealed that his fate at the time was in the hands of the Council after the Inspectorate of Government (IG) asked it to sack him over allegations that he was unsuitable for the top job to which he was appointed in May 2022.
“I was asked by the chair [of the Council] that I must do the needful to cool down what [was] going on,” he replied when Cosase chairman Joel Ssenyonyi asked him to confirm the bribery allegations.
“And you gave them Shs100m?” Mr Ssenyonyi asked.
“Yes, sir!” Mr Ebiru responded, adding that a Council member detailed by its chairman, Mr Musekuura, picked the cash from his office in a bag.
The Council chairman, who the previous day alleged that the executive director’s love for money was insatiable, and that he had used Shs12.5b of the standards agency’s cash without authorisation, denied the bribe-taking claims.
Offering or receiving a bribe is a criminal offence under the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009, and a convict faces up to 10 years imprisonment or Shs4.8m fine, or both. In addition, court can order such an individual to reimburse the inducement in full, if in cash, or pay an equivalent value, if in kind.
The exchanges between the UNBS big shots, which puzzled Members of MPs and prompted their referral to detectives, flew in the face of an organisation whose core values, among others, include integrity and professionalism.
The government established UNBS by law in 1989 to lead determination and enforcement of standards so as to protect the public from hazardous and sub-standard products on the market.
Its technical executives and members of the Council, which lawmakers and Mr Ebiru alternately called the “Board”, were originally summoned by Cosase to answer queries raised by the Auditor General in his report for 2021/2022 financial year.
The executive director said Mr Musekuura, with whom he sat side by side at Parliament yesterday, is a “spy” and that he had questionably accessed unauthenticated agency documents which he irregularly presented to Cosase to implicate management.
He made that claim during their first appearance on Tuesday, prompting Committee vice chairperson, Ms Lucy Akello, to ask him to take some water and cool down and answer questions on alleged irregular spending and clothing of staff implicated in allegedly pilfering Shs9.2b.
Mr Ebiru acknowledged that he, without virement from the Secretary to the Treasury as required by law, spent Shs12.5b at source to, among others, clear rent and utility bills following Shs20b budget shortfall.
House exchange over Shs100m bribe claim
Cosase chairperson Joel Ssenyonyi led the questioning which prompted UNBS executive director Livingstone Ebiru to allege that he paid Shs100m to then new members of his supervising Council to secure his job.
Q: Mr Livingstone Ebiru, are you confirming to this committee that you bribed board members with Shs100 million?
A: I was asked by the chair [of the Board] that I must do the need to cool down what [was] going on [at the time].
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
