Africa-Press – Uganda. President Museveni has directed the immediate reinstatement of Ms Geraldine Ssali, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, as the accounting officer to the ministry, weeks after she was removed from the role.
Ms Ssali was removed by the Finance ministry Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, due to financial queries involving up to Shs8b. Mr Ggoobi, who holds the authority to remove accounting officers, had requested the docket minister, Francis Mwebesa, to nominate a new accounting officer while the permanent secretary is under investigation.
President Museveni’s directive is outlined in an October 22 letter. This directive is further emphasised in an October 26 letter to Mr Ggoobi, authored by Lucy Nakyobe Mbonye, the head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet.
“Reference is made to HE the president’s letter Ref PO/1 dated October 22, 2023, concerning the above-mentioned Permanent Secretary (a copy attached for your reference). This is to request you to immediately reinstate Ms Geraldine Ssali Busuulwa as the accounting officer for the Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives as per the President’s directive,” Ms Nakyobe writes.
Ms Nakyobe’s letter is copied to the Vice President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister, the Trade minister, and Ms Ssali. As of now, Mr Ggoobi has not responded to our request for comment on whether he has acted on the President’s directive.
Ms Ssali’s troubles arose from a parliamentary probe into alleged financial misappropriation of supplementary funds for the financial year 2021/2022. A House committee called for Ms Ssali’s removal from the role of accounting officer, citing abuse of office, causing financial loss, negligence of duty, and other charges, and the report was adopted by Parliament in August.
Probe
They found that Ms Ssali failed to control and ensure the proper use of money appropriated for the procurement of renovation works on the ministry’s offices at Farmers House. It recommended that ministry officials, including Tom Opio, Daniel Kalule, Deo Byaruhanga, and Rosemary Asiimwe, be investigated by the Inspectorate of Government and the Directorate of Public Prosecution, in accordance with the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009. The MPs also recommended the possible prosecution of Ms Ssali over alleged abuse of her authority.
Mr Ggoobi, in a letter dated October 3, quoted the recommendation by the parliamentary probe committee, which asked his office to exercise his authority under the Public Finance Management Act to withdraw the appointment and designation of Ms Ssali as an accounting officer due to her alleged involvement in illegal and deliberate fraudulent practices that have cost the government.
Mr Ggoobi also barred Mr Opio, an office attendant at the ministry, from the Electronic Government Procurement System. Mr Opio was accused of engaging in procurement activities with the approval of Ms Ssali, even though his designation was “office attendant.” The Permanent Secretary defended his involvement, stating that he possessed a degree in procurement despite being designated as an office attendant.
In response to Mr Ggoobi, Trade minister Francis Mwebesa nominated Mr Alfred Oyo Andima, the undersecretary of finance and administration in the ministry, as the new accounting officer.
The Secretary to the Treasury routinely replaces accounting officers for various reasons, deriving the mandate from Article 164 of the 1995 Constitution and Section 45 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 2015.
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