The recent clearing of Mr Waiswa Bageya, the Permanent Secretary of Works, by the IGG over the Busega-Mpigi Expressway does not mean it is over.
I would like to ask the IGG to go the extra mile if it is true that they are now waking up to fight corruption following Hon. Balaam’s anti-corruption crusade.
The reinstatement of Mr Bageya back to office may require a lot of scrutiny, given the fact that he is the PS who kept watching as corruption took place in the Northern Corridor.
In fact, Mr Bageya and Mr Fred Byamukama should thoroughly be investigated over the corruption that you people know about, which is taking place at the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority.
Corruption at the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority on the side of Uganda should be investigated, and Permanent Secretary Mr Waiswa Bageya and Minister Fred Byamukama should be held accountable because they are the only people assigned to manage that organisation.
The Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority, established under the 2007 Northern Corridor Agreement, is an intergovernmental organisation that plays an important role in coordinating the movement of goods along one of East Africa’s most important trade routes. Its operations are supported through levies and contributions from member states, with Uganda and Kenya among the countries that contribute significantly to its financing.
There are serious questions raised about the governance, financial accountability and oversight within the organisation.
Surprisingly, the organisation falls under Uganda’s Ministry of Works and Transport, where the interdicted but now cleared Permanent Secretary, Mr Waiswa Bageya, was a member of the Executive Committee. The committee’s primary oversight role is to ensure that public funds given to the organisation are used effectively, that all policies and procedures established to manage the funds are followed, and that the funds are managed in the interests of the organisation and taxpayers/citizens.
However, Mr Bageya, as PS, and the Minister of Works, Fred Byamukama, have never raised any of the inefficiencies reportedly taking place at the organisation. This, to me, as a citizen, leads me to conclude that the two officials have not been presenting Uganda’s interests as a member state and may have been part of the corruption.
At one point, Mr Bageya wrote a letter, which is in my possession, stopping the auditing of expenditure at the Northern Corridor.
This makes me believe that even though he has been cleared, he should still be probed over this saga.
He and Mr Fred Byamukama should be questioned to explain all this mess and held accountable if found to have represented their personal interests instead of the interests of the organisation, which Uganda funds.
Imagine, Uganda has been losing up to Shs6 billion annually without anyone asking who is eating that money.
The writer is a senior veteran journalist.
