14 November 2009
Kampala — PRESSURE is growing on the members of the Public Accounts Committee to defend those named in the mismanagement of the sh370b CHOGM funds. NRM chief whip Daudi Migereko acknowledged he held a meeting with the MPs on the committee, but said it was about "methods of work".
Committee chairman Nandala Mafabi earlier this week said he had received complaints that secret meetings were taking place with committee members, warning he would ask them to step aside if the allegations proved to be true.
The Auditor General's reports into the CHOGM expenditure exposed gross mismanagement in the awarding of contracts, hugely inflated prices - up to 20 times the engineer's estimates, overpayments and payments for no visible works done.
The audits also found that the Government spent billions on private hotels which had not been capitalised into shares, and that BMW cars were procured which were two years old, but presented as new, and changed from diesel to petrol to fit the specifications.
The public is tired of politicking, claims of personal vendettas and the blame game that has been going on in Parliament.
It wants answers to the real issues raised in the Auditor General's reports. It wants to know how the ministers and permanent secretaries justify the excessive expenditures and flouting of procurement rules.
It wants to hear which actions they have taken to rectify sub-standard work, punish errant officials or recover some of the money overpaid or lost.
Accountability issues should not be politicised. Corruption is likely to be the main theme in the 2011 elections.
If the NRM does not clean up its house, it risks going down with those it is defending in the CHOGM scam.
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