Report: PS Ssali created parallel committee for compensation 

Parallel Verification Committee
The Parallel Verification Committee established the following: 

(1) That despite the existence of the Inter-Ministerial Committee established by Cabinet to which the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives (MTIC), Ms Geraldine Ssali was aware of, she in her own right as the Permanent Secretary, in a letter dated March 21, 2022,  assigned Mr Robert Mpakibi, assistant commissioner, cooperative development; Mr Mosese Magumba, senior cooperative officer; Mr Ambrose Mugweri, cooperative officer; Ms Maias Kamukunda, cooperative officer; Mr Rogers Okambo, cooperative officer; and Ms Scovia Tusubira, training officer, duties to verify war debt claims in respect of the following cooperative unions: (a) East Acholi Cooperative Union, (b) Lango Cooperative Union, (c) Busoga Growers Cooperative Union, (d) Bugisu Growers Cooperative Union, and (e) Bwavumpologoma Growers Cooperative Union.

(2) That Ms Ssali issued the following terms of reference to guide the verification process of the aforementioned: (a) To develop, recommend and implement guidelines with respect to the management of claims;  (b) To collectively review and process all claims for cooperative societies in a transparent and efficient manner; (c) To approve, with a quorum of committee members of not less than five, all claims submitted for payment;  (d) To review and analyse, for the purpose of recommending the pursuit for settlement of any claim; (e) To submit reports of all claims to the Permanent Secretary; and (f) To perform any other duties related to the execution of this exercise in a diligent and professional manner. 

(3) That prior to Ms Ssali assigning duties to verify war debt claims to some MTIC staff, the Commissioner, Cooperative Policy and Development, Mr Bob Baiyo Barigye, had in an internal memo dated November 30, 2021 addressed to Mr Robert Mpakibi, assistant commissioner, Saccos/chairman with copies made to the Minister of State for Cooperatives, and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives in which he (Mr Barigye) stated that he had ‘reconstituted’ the War Debts Claims Committee. In the same memo he communicated the withdrawal of some staff effective December 1, 2021, and also communicated new members who were all staff of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives. Further, in the same internal memo, Mr Barigye concluded by stating that ‘ the War Debts Claims Verification Committee has been reconstituted effective December 1, 2021.’ 

(4) That the Commissioner, Cooperative Development, Mr Bob Baiyo Barigye made the following oral submissions during the meeting of the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry held on September 21, 2023, in the East Committee Room, South Wing, Parliamentary Buildings, which suggested that he had a hand in the reconstitution of the verification committee –

“Mr Barigye: So, we had got complaints that there were situations, because of the nature of the people who were on this committee, very senior high government officials, chief engineer, chief government valuer. What I proposed is to reconstitute only the MTIC team that was on that committee. 

The chairperson: Where is this evidence? You proposed to who?

Mr Barigye: The acting PS because I felt strongly that they needed someone at the level of commissioner to handle verifications because there were concerns that why hire a junior officer to manage this verification. I felt strongly that we needed someone at the commissioner level. I nominated my assistant Mr Robert Mpakibi for only the ministry team.”

(5) That at its meeting held on September 21, 2023, the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry put to task the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Ssali on who was responsible for creation of the new verification committee. In her own words, she stated that ‘...Personally I did not create a new verification committee.  The Varification Committee I found in place is what I used.’ She informed the committee that it was during her absence that the Aacting Permanent Secretary, Mr Joshua Mutambi working together with the Commissioner for Cooperative Development, Mr Barigye that could probably have constituted the new verification committee. 

(6)  That in a separate meeting held on September 21, 2023, with some members of the new verification committee, the Committee received confessions from Ms Tusubira and Ms Kamukunda that it was actually the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Ssali, who, in a “pool appointment letter” assigned them duties to verify war debt claims for specific cooperative unions.

(7) That only one (1) report had been submitted to the PS MTIC by the verification committee on Bwavumpologoma Cooperative Union. However, the rest of the six members on the verification committee did not participate contrary to terms of reference (b) and (c).

Observation(s) of the Committee
(1) The Committee observed as follows:  (1) That the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Ssali was responsible for usurping the powers of the Inter-Ministerial Committee and creating ‘the new verification committee’. That Mr Bob Bariyo Baigye was noted to have initiated the reconstitution process of only staff members of MTIC from the Inter-Ministerial Committee when on September 21, 2023, he submitted thus- ‘So, we had got complaints that there were situations, because of the nature of the people who were on this committee, very senior high government officials, chief engineer, chief government valuer.

The acting PS because I felt strongly that they needed someone at the level of commissioner to handle verifications because there were concerns that why hire a junior officer to manage this verification. I felt strongly that we needed someone at the commissioner level. I nominated my assistant Mr Robert Mpakibi for only the ministry team.”  Relatedly, in his internal memo dated November 30, 2021, Mr Bob Bariyo Barigye was noted to have consulted the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali to reconstitute the MTIC staff membership on the inter-ministerial committee, which he did. 

(2) That there were no clear reasons or justifications given by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali to disregard the existence of the inter-ministerial committee established by Cabinet and instead of opting to constitute a parallel one for similar purposes and objectives. This action of creating a parallel verification committee for the same purpose appeared suspicious to the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry.

(3) That the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms. Geraldine Ssali did not have the preserve or mandate authorising her to constitute or reconstitute a verification committee over one earlier constituted by Cabinet. That without justifiable cause to create other parallel administrative cost structures, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali openly overstepped her powers.

(4) That since there was already in place an inter-ministerial committee, the parallel verification committee so constituted by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali, was henceforth a duplication, illegitimate, ill-intentioned and its continuous operations illegality.

(5) That the parallel verification committee comprised of majorly staff from Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives; and only one staff from the Office of the Chief Government Valuer in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. The Committee noted that the composition lacked the required technical competencies and attributes to conduct verification exercises on war loss claims submitted by cooperatives, which is why they have failed to conclusively verify any cooperative to date.

(6) That the verification scope issued to the parallel verification committee by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali was limited and selective in nature as it only instructed the Committee to verify war debt claims of only five Cooperative Unions namely; East Acholi Cooperative Union, Lango Cooperative Union, Busoga Growers Cooperative Union, Bugisu Growers Cooperative Union and Bwavumpologoma Growers Cooperative Union.

This action by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali demonstrated inherent interests that she had in the verification of war debt claims from the aforementioned cooperative unions. During the meeting of the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry held on September 21,  2023, to receive oral evidence from Ministry of Trade and Industry and Cooperatives on the Governance of; and Value for Money Budgetary Appropriations to Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali openly stated to the Committee that  ‘Bwavumpologoma existed and it was founded by my grandfather, Dr Adolf Kiwanuka. They actually paid school fees for both my parents and I knew it very well.

There are very big documents if you go to Bweya right now; this cooperative existed and I knew about it. On that basis, I knew that they lost a lot, including coffee machinery. All their coffee was taken - I knew everything about it very well because that is exactly where I come from. When we wrote letters to the Secretary General, they also already had records of it and they even had Saccos. I also found records within the ministry of Bwavumpologoma and I actually have those records. So, all that it needed was for someone to register them like all the other cooperatives that had war loss, but they had not. They had written four letters to the President; I also have copies of those letters.

The President had constituted, at that time, a lady called Hope Kivenjere, instructing that this cooperative be reinstated, but it never was. When I arrived, I said this would be very unfair to leave them out because I know them very well on a personal level. So, I put them back ‘. Upon scrutiny of the statement, the Committee was left with no choice but to conclude that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali had vested interests in prioritising Bwavumpologoma Growers Cooperative Union Limited for its compensation for war loss claims.

(7) That whereas the government allocated funds to compensate cooperatives for their war loss claims and the Cabinet having put in place an Inter-Ministerial Committee to advise on the compensation to cooperatives that suffered the brunt of war in Uganda, there were no clearly prescribed verification guidelines for cooperatives to benefit from the compensation programme.

To be continued tomorrow
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