By our reporter
Embattled former Bank of Uganda Director In charge of Supervision Justine Bagyenda has today failed to appear before parliamentary Appointments Committee over her new job appointment.
Bagyenda was recently re-appointed by Finance Minister Matia Kasaija as a board member to the Finance Intelligence Authority (FIA), the same body investigating her for alleged money laundering.
She was supposed to meet the committee chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga but she opted not to show up to avoid being humiliated and disappointed basing on the advice of one of her lawyers Timothy Masembe of MMAKS Advocates.
It should be noted that MPs had vowed to block Bagyenda’s reappointment on the board.
In July MPs led by Manjiya County’s John Nambeshe and Kasambya County’s Louis Mbwatekamwa Gaffa revealed that they couldn’t allow Bagyenda’s reappointment come to pass.
“We are against Mrs. Bagyend’s reappointment to this position on grounds that she was sent into early retirement by Bank of Uganda Governor Tumusiime Mutebile recently and she used her position to amass wealth as her leaked bank accounts indicate she has close to shs20 billion,” said Nambeshe.
“In section 25(4) of the Anti-money laundering Act , you cannot reappoint a person who is seen to have moral turpitude like Mrs. Bagyenda having amassed wealth primitively,” he added.
Mbwantekamwa questioned how Bagyenda, a supervisor of commercial banks, became a billionaire in such as short a time.
“We are here to appeal to members of the appointments committee that we are not going to accept this; Ugandans are watching and the population is becoming poorer, every other day,” said Mbwatekamwa.
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