Prime
Muhakanizi vows to quit over pension money scam
The Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi (R), and his team appear before the Public Accounts Committee at Parliament yesterday. PHOTO BY FAISWAL KASIRYE
Parliament- The Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi, yesterday said he will quit his job if a city lawyer named in the multi-billion pension scam implicates him in the misappropriation of pensioners’ money.
Mr Muhakanizi made this promise after MPs played a recording submitted to the Public Accounts Committee by a High Court judge implicating officials in the ministries of Finance and Public Service.
The recording reveals how the officials allegedly met Mr Bob Kasango at Fairway Hotel and demanded 30 per cent of the Shs15b the MPs said was “stolen” from government using forged documents.
“I know Kasango but we have never sat at Fairway and discussed the issue of 30 per cent. It’s possible he could have called me but if he (Kasango) puts me on spot, I am willing to resign,” Mr Muhakanizi said. “If he comes here (PAC) with evidence implicating me, I am ready to resign,” he added. Mr Kasango is expected in PAC today.
He added: “We agree money was stolen but further investigations should take place. We should go to the root of this problem to get the people who took the 30 per cent. I want a thorough investigation to get the people who were in the meeting at Fairway Hotel.”
Mr Muhakanizi said he takes responsibility for scandal, which he blamed on a weakness in the ministry, but added that Finance has since introduced major reforms.
Yesterday, top Finance ministry officials met interdicted officials in Public Service. The bureaucrats gave conflicting evidence on the scam.
The committee accused Mr Muhakanizi of “jumping” on a letter written by Justice minister Kahinda Otafiire to effect release of the Shs15b to Mr Kasango but he denied wrongdoing.
“My letter was not instructing Ministry of Public Service on anything. I signed the letter and I don’t find any problem with it. Otafiire in his letter to Ministry of Finance said he had consulted internally and we had no reason to doubt Minister for Justice,” the Secretary to the Treasury said.
On Shs88 billion paid under the guise of social security contributions, the committee heard that even after Finance officials detected the Shs44.1 billion discrepancy in 2010/11, they again released another Shs44 billion in 2011/12.
Ministry of Finance officials have blamed the confusion in the chart of accounts created by the designer of the Output Budgeting Tool.
