OPM staff petition to Kadaga Rebecca about corruption in the Office of the Prime Minister

7/31/2019 OPM staff petition to Kadaga Rebecca about corruption in the Office of the Prime Minister

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Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister

Office of The Prime Minister,

P.O.Box 341,

Kampala

2nd

October 2012

Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga,

Speaker of Parliament of Uganda

Kampala

PETITION TO PARLIAMENT FOR INTERVENTION IN THE MANNER IN WHICH

POLICE IS SHEILDING KEY TWO SUSPECTS WHILE INVESTIGATING FRAUD IN

THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Madam,

We staff of the Office of the Prime Minister would like to appeal to Parliament to intervene and

question the Director of CIID in Uganda Police why she is shielding the two main suspects in the

corruption investigations in the Office of The Prime Minister.

Investigations into the loss of funds in the Office of the Prime Minister has been going on for the

past three months. The matter came to limelight during the Month of May 2011, following a

protracted conflict between three officers , Mr. Pius Bigirimana Permanent Secretary and his

Deputy Mrs. Flavia WaduwaUndersecretary / Northern Uganda & Karamoja Programmes onthe one side and Mr. Geoffrey KazindaPrincipal Accountant on the other side.

The conflict arouse in February 2012, when the three officers diverted donor funds for PRDP

(Peace, Recovery and Development of Northern Uganda) amounting to over Uganda shs.

14,000,000,000/= (fourteen billion) to a secret account outside the mainstream Budget and

Policy Statement of the Office of the Prime Minister. The intention of the three top OPM

officers was to keep the Auditor General and Politicians from Northern Uganda in the dark

given that the defunct account where the money was kept has never been captured in the OPM

Policy Statement for any financial year. The account is called , Crisis Management and

Recovery managed by the Permanent Secretary Mr. Pius Bigirimana and Principal Accountant

Mr. Geoffrey Kazinda. Whenever Mr. Pius Bigirinana is out of the Country, the Under Secretary

Mrs. Flavia Waduwa takes charge.


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What is Crisis Management and Recovery Account?

This offbudget account was opened at the request of UNDP in 2006, purposely to assist the

Department of Disaster Preparedness and Management to establish and facilitate Offices for

District Disaster Coordinators in Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Soroti, Katakwi, Lira and Kaberamaido.

The offices were established and were used to coordinate activities during the closing of IDP

camps and IDP return home. At no single time between 2006 and 2008 when the project closed

did the Crisis Management and Recovery Account receive any funds from Government of

Uganda. In 2008, the project closed, the offices were also closed, the officers were laid-off and

UNDP stopped funding. As expected the Permanent Secretary who was the Principal Signatory

to the Account and also the Accounting Officer in OPM should have closed the account but for

some suspicious reasons he decided to keep it secretly open waiting for an opportunity to arise.

Why did the Permanent Secretary keep this account open?

The opportunity arrived four years down the road around February 2012, when Mrs. Flavia

Waduwa was acting as Permanent Secretary while Pius Bigirimana was out of the country. Mrs.Flavia Waduwa identified some donor funds that had arrived for PRDP under her Department.

The funds arrived abit late after the budgeting process was over. She notified the PS Mr Pius

Bigirimana and the Principal Accountant Geoffrey Kazinda of the opportunity. The three agreed

that the funds be put in an account which is not known to security and politicians from Northern

Uganda. The ideal account they found was the Crisis Management and Recovery Account which

everybody else presumed had been closed two years ago. The account was therefore unknown

to the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, and All Ministers in the Prime Ministers Office.

Mrs. Flavia Waduwa who also sits on the OPM Contracts committee mobilized several junior

officers to write requests for activities under Northern Uganda and karamoja programmes. Someof these activities were even back dated and inserted into the records of the contracts committee.

Mrs Flavia Waduwa presented these suspicious activities to the PS on his return for approval.

The activities were expressly approved and in a record time of two months, a total sum of shs

11,000,000,000/= (eleven billion) had been paid out of the secret account. This is when the

conflict between the duo and Mr. Kazinda arose. Kazinda felt, the duo had benefitted more than

himself and refused to share the 3.8 billion which they had siphoned through Total Ntinda fuel

station with PSs knowledge, though he now claims his signatures were forged. ( Note: You will

find the IFMS systems amounts of money paid to TOTAL NTINDA with PSs electronic

signature approval tallying the ones he is disputing on the BOU security papers. It is only the PS

with the IFMS password !!!) Without this secret password no money can be spent or paid

out to anyone; only the Permanent Secretary has this Password.

When the secret deal got exposed, Mr Pius Bigirimana (PS) in order to protect himself quickly

claimed that He was not aware how Mr. Geoffrey Kazinda, stole the money from the Ministry


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of Finance and hind it under Crisis Management and Recovery. Mr Bigirimanas claims has no

substance, because as a top officer of government why didnt he alert the Auditor General and

Police immediately? On a daily basis an Accounting Oficer is expected to monitor all

government accounts under his jurisdiction. What did Pius do? The PS arranged with his deputy

Flavia Waduwa put the stolen money to good use by funding questionable activities in Northern

Uganda and Karamoja. In the PSs understanding, if one found a stolen goat he should

slaughter it and feed to his family because they are hungry!! Mrs. Flavia Waduwa who serves

as Ag. PS whenever Bigirimana is out of the Country also sits in the Contracts Committee where

she influences approval of companies to supply her department for activities she earlier

generated as head of department. Parliament should interview porters who build the Chefs

houses in Acholi and they will confirm that all the cement used were marked, UPDF NOT FOR

SALE. How did UPDF cement find its way into the project? The Former Senior supplies

Officer OPM Mr. Mike Gumisiriza will confirm that he was later coersed into formalizing the

deals which originally never passed through the Procurement Unit and Contracts Committee.

The PS has sent away 4 Procurement Officers within a period of three years because ofquestioning activities Mrs Flavia Waduwa in the Contracts Committee.

Mrs. Flavia Waduwa should be tasked to explain why she was drawing funds from a project

account that did not exist under her department and which is not captured in her annual workplan

and budget approved by Parliament, i.e Crisis Management and Recovery.

Mr. Pius Bigirimana should be tasked to explain why an account that should have closed two

years ago, remained open and why he approved payments from it ; as opposed to his claims that

Kazinda deposited money there without his knowledge. If it was done without his knowledge,

when did learn about availability of money in that account? Why did he leave it open for fouryears? There is a clear conspiracy between Mr. Puis Bigirimana, Mrs. Flavia Waduwa and Mr.

Kazinda on the choice of the account and activities paid; though the duo are now pinning

Kazinda and the smaller officers while shielding themselves.

Madam Speaker, why we are appealing for Parliaments intervention is because we feel the

hands of the Director of CIID Grace Akullo are tied. Mr. Pius Bigirimana and Mrs. Flavia

Waduwa have scared Akullo by claiming that they are in OPM particularly to take care of the

INTERESTS OF THE FIRST FAMILY. In addition, every now and then, Mr. Pius Bigirimana

has sought the protection of General Kale Kaihura whenever Madam Grace Akullo raises an

issue pointing at Bigirimana. On the other hand, Mrs. Flavia Waduwa being Undersecretary for

Karamoja Affairs shields herself by claiming that all her activities are approved by Mama Janet

Museveni, First Lady and Minister for Karamoja Affairs.


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Madam Speaker, during the month of April 2012, when the conflict between Mr. Pius

Bigirimana and Mrs Flavia Waduwa on one side and Mr. Geogrey Kazinda on the other side

intensified; the PS organized Kazindas transfer which out of anger resulted in Kazinda

abandoning office and petitioning the IGG. Sensing danger on his side, Mr. Pius Birigimana

moved swiftly by writing to General Kale Kaihura seeking Police help to apprehend Kazinda

whom he claimed had disappeared from office and whose whereabouts were unknown. The PS

misinformed the IGP because he had visited Kazinda several times at Kazindas home to try

reconcile but to no avail, he therefore knew Kazinda was in his house protesting sharing of their

stolen funds.

Rt. Hon. Speaker, one example of the many fraudulent payments made by PS from from the

stolen shs.14 billion secretly deposited in the Crisis Management and Recovery Account is an

advance payment of shs. 1,600,000,000/= (1.6 billion) to a ploughing company called FEIL

(Farm Engineering Industry Ltd). Mr Pius Bigirimana directed the Senior Procurement Officer

Mr Mike Gumisiriza to approve payment before the ploughing was done and without goingthrough the Contracts Committee. When Mr. Mike Gumisiriza resisted, Mr Pius Bigirimana

organized his transfer out of OPM; payment was effected and with Mrs. Flavia Waduwa a

member of the Contracts Committee adjusted the documentation back-dating the records.

Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and the alleged forgery of Mr. Pius

Bigirimanas signatures

For effective accountable and transparent public finance management , Government introduced

the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) which is a computerized State-widefinancial transactions system which assists Accounting Officers monitor their budgets, initiate

and process payments, manage and report on their financial activities. The IFMS has the state-

of-the-art functionality on which only the accounting officer is given a secret password which

serves an e-signature on only his desktop computer to approve payments in the system. Mr. Pius

Bigirimana has been parading only one Bank of Uganda (BoU) security form on which his

signature is forged. That is the only security paper taken to the Government hand writing expert

to analyze. What about the hundreds of security papers with his true signature for fake payments

which himself and Kazinda signed to draw questionable funds such as payments to one

Walusimbi Henry who built the Acholi Chiefs houses? Madam Speaker, we would like to appeal

to Parliament to call for a Judicial Commission of Inquiry which amongst other issues shouldorder for verification of several of the security papers with the signature of the PS other than

relying on only one and then generalizing. The Police methodology in this case is highly

questionable and only intended to shield the PS.


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The payments made where the PS claims his signature were forged, are on the contrary the same

payments he approved in the IFMS system where only him the PS has a secret password and is

only functional on his desk top computer!!! Has the Police asked the PS to explain this? The

answer is no. Madam Speaker, is Mr. Pius Bigirimana trying to say that Kazinda was time and

again accessing his secret password and desktop computer? There is noway Bank of Uganda can

effect and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) without the PSs e-signature which is only accessible

through his secret password. The Bank of Uganda Security Papers being paraded are mere

additional checks to the official system funds control. Mr. Pius Bigirimana should be called to

make a statement on why his electronic signatures approved the same amounts of funds as what

he claims were paid through the forged signatures on the Bank of Uganda Security Papers!!

Payment of shs 1,600,000,000/= ( One billion six hundred million shillings) to International

Development Consultants

Recently, Mr. Pius Bigirimana organized and received an accolade for fighting corruption inGovernment. We believe this was done to hoodwink the public. We would like a value for

money audit to be carried out on one payment of shs 1,600,000,000/= to International

Development Consultants for the development of, The Public Sector Management Strategic

Investment Plan (PSM-SIP). There are many similar investments plans in the country

developed through similar processes, let a special audit be commissioned to verify similarities in

the amounts paid to the consulting firm and also verify how this particular firm was acquired. If

Parliament sets up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry, we shall feel safe enough to testify with

documentary evidence how the consultant first presented a proposed cost of shs. 400,000,000/=

which the PS withdraw from the responsible officer. The PS returned the proposal to firm

director who is his close friend, then a new proposal of shs 800,000,000/= was presented. AgainPS withdrew it and returned with final bill of shs.1,600,000,000/= was presented and was paid.

The DANIDA External Auditors queried this huge payment but matters were silenced.

Rt. Hon. Speaker, recently Hon. Ogwang received some documents on what we have stated

above showing evidence of how Mr Puis Bigirimana and Mrs Flavia Waduwa have defrauded

government of billions of shillings. What followed? The first attempt to compromise Hon

Ogwang was through a certain women. She was arrested in Parliament trying to bribe Hon.

Ogwang. The case of the Women take to CPS was quickly suppressed. A more efficient

arrangement was later made and Hon. Ogwang was effectively silenced. He will never talk about

the documents again. We are now scared of informing some MPs because they easily get

compromised. This is why we are appealing for a Judicial Commission of Enquiry other that a

Parliamentary Committee Enquiry.


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Questionable Selective Police Investigations

As already stated above, the Director of CIID is not carry out a fair and free investigation on

OPM. For example, all other OPM officers are summoned and are interrogated at CIID quarters

in Kibuli,but when Flavia Waduwas turn came, it was the Police that had to come to OPM and

talked to her from the PSs boardroom!!! The Director of CIID collected all files from OPM

Accounts Department and kept them at her offices in Kibuli. Now, on a daily basis either the

Director herself or one of her senior officers brings selected files to Mr. Pius Bigirimanas Office

either early in the morning or late in the evening. Together with Mrs Flavia Waduw, the PS

securitize the files and the duo selects those that may cause them problems for shelving. The duo

only releases to the police files they feel cannot be used to pin them. If Police is allowed to

continue the way it is conducting investigations now, then they truth will never come out and the

faith that the police had gained from the public will quickly erode. One may even be tempted to

believe that the whole team from Police investigating OPM has been compromised and are in

agreement to shield Flavia Waduwa and Pius Bigirimana yet the two are obviously theorchestrators of all the scandals on OPM.

Construction of Chiefs Houses in Acholi

Hon Speaker, We would like Parliament to find out from Mrs Flavia Waduwa and the PS how

one Mr. Walusimbi Henry who has never been a staff of the Office of the Prime Minister or

Government of Uganda and without any contract document got engaged in the construction of

the 54 Acholi chefs houses. Mr Walusimbi who does not have any qualification in building was

hand-picked by Mrs Flavia Waduwa. He managed the construction of the 54 houses using huge

cash advances from Mrs Flavia Waduwa!! Mr Walusimbi used cement from UPDF. Thecompetence of Mr Pius Bigirimana as a top Manager and Accounting Officer should be

questioned.

Management of the Media

We have seen representatives of many media houses visiting Mrs Flavia Waduwas office at

least twice a week. Flavia has effectively managed the media in favour of herself and Pius

Bigirimana. This is the reason you see repeatedly pictures of the same hydraform houses year in

year out on newspapers to hoodwink the concerned public into thinking they are had working

and not involved in the scandals. We would like to see the three explain how PRDP funds found

its way into a closed account called, Crisis Management and Recovery

Madam Speaker, We are not comfortable giving information to CIID because there are openly

shielding Mr Pius Bigirimana and Mrs Flavia Waduwa and we least trust Hon Tinkasimires

Presidential Affairs Committee in handling this matter.


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Madam Speaker, know Mr. Pius Bigirimana and Mrs. Flavia Waduwa are very very powerful

with strong connections to THE FIRST FAMILY. In addition, we know Mr. Pius Bigirimana is

very close to General Kale Kaihura. We, however, feel, Government still has the responsibility

not to let these two officers use they privileged positions to practice corruption with impunity.

They should not be allowed to use their privileged positions and huge sums of money in their

possession to direct police investigations thus sacrificing innocent junior officers alongside

Kazinda while they swing in air-conditioned offices.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker, we appeal to Parliament to call for a Judicial Commission of

Enquiry into OPM funds scandal similar to Sebutides.

.

I have signed below on behalf of all the concerned Officers

Copied;

H.E The President of the Republic of Uganda

All Ministers and Ministers of State

All Members of Parliament

The Inspector General of Government

Head of Public Service and Secretary to CabinetDeputy Head of Public Service and Secretary Administrative Reform

All Permanent Secretaries

Governor Bank of Uganda

The Inspector General of Police

The Director of CIID

Documents

OPM staff petition to Kadaga Rebecca about corruption in the Office of the Prime Minister