Museveni suspends ULC bosses over graft

President Museveni has suspended the chairperson of the Uganda Land Commission (ULC), Ms Beatrice Nyakaisiki Byenkya, and the secretary, Ms Barbara Imaryo, over alleged corruption, Daily Monitor can reveal.

The President made the communication to the Lands minister, Ms Judith Nabakooba, in a  March 16 letter.

“Given the nature of allegations that are being made against the chairperson and secretary that include corruption, embezzlement, double payments, payment of ghost claimants all leading to loss of huge sums of the government funds, I hereby, suspend them with immediate effect to pave way for investigations,” Mr Museveni wrote.

He added:  “I am directing the Inspector General of Government (IGG) and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate the above allegations and any other offences that could have been committed with a view of prosecuting the culprits.”

The letter, a copy of which Daily Monitor has seen, is also copied to the Vice President, Ms Jessica Alupo, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja , Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, IGG Beti Kamya, and the head of State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Brig Gen Henry Isoke .

Ms Nabakooba neither received our repeated calls nor replied to our messages.

The State Minister for Lands, Mr Sam Mayanja, told us yesterday that he was yet to see the President’s letter, saying he is only aware of the IGG’s earlier interdiction letters.

“When the chairperson and secretary ULC were interdicted by IGG, the former went to court and got an order which halted her interdiction. She was even in the office last week. However, the secretary is still on interdiction,” Mr Mayanja said.

He, however, added that if the President has suspended the duo, then he expects them to comply.

No responses

When contacted, Ms Byenkya asked us to send our inquiries by text. However, she didn’t reply to our message. Our follow-up calls went unanswered. Ms Imaryo could not be reached either.

A senior official from the Lands ministry, who preferred anonymity, welcomed the suspension, saying sanity will be restored in ULC.

“We are happy that the President has finally pronounced himself on the matter. If the President can suspend the ULC bosses, then it shows how determined he is to end graft,” the official said.

The official also implored his colleagues to support the IGG in the ongoing investigations.

The 2020 Auditor General’s report raised queries on the expenditure of funds at ULC.

“The payables balance for land compensation was Shs128b as at June 30, 2020. However, the relevant supporting journals and documents for the liability of Shs9.4b were not availed for review, rendering the genuineness of the liabilities doubtful. In addition, payables amounting to Shs15b were overstated in relation to the claim balance due to the church,” the report reads in part.

The genesis

Lands minister Judith Nabakooba had petitioned the President last year explaining how alleged corruption and fraudulent land transactions within the commission were threatening to tear it apart. She had earlier written to the IGG, Ms Beti Kamya, on October 7 last year asking her to investigate Ms Byenkya’s conduct.The IGG wrote back to Ms Nabakooba on November 18 directing her to interdict Ms Byenkya with immediate effect.

Ms Kamya noted that preliminary investigations in the management of ULC based on various documents provided sufficient ground for the ombudsman to continue with the investigations to their logical conclusion. “You are directed/ordered, as the supervising minister to interdict or cause the interdiction of Beatrice Byenkya  from her duties as chairperson of Uganda Land Commission with immediate effect,” Ms Kamya wrote. However,  Ms Byenkya petitioned court challenging her interdiction and was reinstated.