By our reporter
Parliament Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authority and State Enterprise (COSASE) has directed the Auditor General to carry out a comprehensive audit into the closure and collapse of financial institutions in Uganda in a period of three months.
The committee made the recommendation while meeting Bank of Uganda officials who were led by Deputy Governor, Dr. Louis Kasekende. BoU officials were answering queries pertaining to questions that were raised in the Auditor General’s report of 2016.
In the past couple of years, financial institutions such as International Credit Bank, the National Bank of Commerce, Global Trust bank and the Crane Bank among others have been liquidated under unexplainable circumstances, shaking the faith in the fundamentals of the Uganda economy.
Now Parliament wants to come to the core of the problem, to know if the Central Bank had anything to do in its supervisory role for the collapse of banks.
Deputy Governor, Dr. Louis Kasekende wrote a letter to COSASE asking MPs not to discuss matters of Crane bank and the BoU lawyers. However, committee chairman Abdul Katuntu at the beginning of the meeting read out that letter and begged MPs to have a closed door meeting.
It is understood that COSASE gave the AG 90-days to make an audit of BoU covering all aspects like assets and liabilities of the defunct banks.
“We have realized that Bank of Uganda has never accounted to any institution about that process of liquidation,” Cosase chairman, Mr Katuntu said.
“We shall have to audit the department of Bank Supervision at Bank of Uganda that is headed by Ms. Justine Bagyenda to see how efficient it has been,” Katuntu added.
The committee that also discussed the procurement and construction of Kabale Currency Center asked the bank of Uganda officials to also answer the issues that happened during the Bank of Uganda’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in which they procured pens at 125 Million Uganda Shillings.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
