The Secretary to the Treasury is undoubtedly one of the topmost civil servants in the country. In Uganda, the Secretary to the Treasury also doubles as the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. It is an awesome responsibility requiring not only intelligence and technical know-how, but also excellent public relations, if the person is to withstand the pressures of the job.
This brings me to the standoff and hot exchanges between Secretary to the Treasury Keith Muhakanizi and Parliament. The issue at hand is the $200 million dollars, which Parliament gave approval to be borrowed by the Ministry of Finance from PTA Bank last financial year, for "project support", covering, interalia, purchase of medicines by National Medical Stores (NMS). But NMS says it never received money.
...