In this file photo taken on March 20, 2024, Uganda’s envoy to Nigeria Nelson Ocheger meets with Nigerian foreign affairs minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar in Abuja. PHOTO/HANDOUT
The months-long simmering tensions at Uganda’s embassy in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, have reached a boiling point, with no diplomatic representation amid a paralysis that has seen staff go months without pay and delayed commissioning of a new chancery due to failure to pay the contractor.
The paralysis affects work at the mission that oversees 15 Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), and Equatorial Guinea, while the meltdown portrays the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ top leadership in Kampala as either apathetic or inept.
Highly placed diplomatic sources told Monitor that Mr Vincent Bagiire, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary (PS), recently recalled the Head of Mission Nelson Ocheger and his deputy Alfred Nnam, to pave way for investigations into claims of money laundering and financial impropriety over the last financial years.
Diplomatic sources intimated that Mr Bagiire recalled the duo on directive from the Inspectorate of Government (IG), which is undertaking a parallel probe into the claims alongside the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU).
However, since commencing the probe early this year, sources in the IG’s office said they are yet to dispatch a team to go on the ground as part of the wider investigations.
The SHACU, on the other hand, sent a team of four sleuths mid this year. In the same vein, sources intimated that PS Bagiire tapped Ambassador Philip Odida, the acting director for international and regional political cooperation in the ministry, in place of Ambassador Nnam for the transition period.
Dr Sam Omara was also assigned as First Secretary, replacing Mr Stilson Muhwezi, who also cannot travel until the mess has been sorted. Inexplicably, the paralysis in Abuja has caught up with the duo in Kampala as they cannot travel owing to the absence of an accounting officer at the station to process finances for their travel. In this case, facilitation for travel would have to come from the Abuja mission budget.
Monitor reached out to PS Bagiire, who was in North America but got no response. He travelled to New York late last month for the G77+ China 60 years celebrations, from where he went on inspection missions of the embassies in Washington DC and Ottawa, Canada, which are moments away from implosion.
The accounting officer in Abuja, Mr Eriya Tusubira, is holed in Kampala. He was first assigned to the duty station as second secretary on May 31, 2023, but reported on November 6, 2023. In mid-December, he returned to Kampala and was a no show until June 2024.
After months of absence from early January when the embassy reopened from the Christmas break, Ambassador Ocheger wrote to PS Bagiire on March 13 about Mr Tusubira’s continued absence without permission.
“The mission management meeting in its sitting on March 4, instructed the head of chancery to find out when the officer would return to the station. To date, the mission has not received any response. The purpose of this communication, therefore, is to bring this matter to your attention for further management,” Ambassador Ocheger wrote.
Uganda's ministry of foreign affairs permanent secretary Vincent Bagiire. PHOTO/HANDOUT
PS Bagiire wrote to Mr Tusubira on March 19, indicating that absence without explanation contravenes Section 4.3 of the code of conduct and ethics of public standing orders.
“In addition to the above, perusal of your records shows that you requested for special leave of absence from February 5 to 14, 2024 in your letter Ref: 234 dated February 2, permission of which was not granted to you but you still proceeded to be away from the duty station.” It is unclear whether Mr Tusubira responded. Two months later, PS Bagiire wrote to him again on May 6, 2024, about his continued absence from the station.
Fallout
“In the aforementioned letter, you were tasked to explain your absence from your duty station from December 17 to March 19 when the letter was written. I have noted with concern that to date you have not explained in writing,” Mr Bagiire wrote.
He added: “The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to remind you to provide a written explanation within two weeks from the date of this letter otherwise you will be regarded as having abandoned duty.”
Mr Tusubira returned to Abuja in July, following his nomination by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for designation as accounting officer on June 15 by the Secretary to Treasury. Accounting officers at missions are usually diplomats, but answerable to the Permanent Secretary in the Finance Ministry and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST).
Ordinarily, the government changes co-signatories to bank accounts—both the accounting officer and finance attaché, seconded by the Ministry of Finance—at the end of every financial year.
Monitor reached out to Mr Tusubira, but he referred us to PS Bagiire. When pressed about the paralysis, he angrily cut off the line. With his record of absenteeism, questions are being raised about the basis on which his superiors in Kampala nominated him for appointment as the accounting officer. It also remains unclear whether the PS can technically remove an ambassador since they are appointed by the President. Yesterday, Ambassador Ocheger also referred Monitor to PS Bagiire. “If you didn’t know, he is our spokesperson. Please contact him,” he said briefly.
Diplomatic sources, however, intimated that as a result of the fallout, the embassy staff during a management meeting in August rejected Mr Tusubira as their accounting officer. Yet, as is customary practice, staff cannot choose their accounting officer.
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Monitor reported in September that on August 6, Ambassador Ocheger notified PS Bagiire: “The officer only returned on July 17 for the handover, during which he refused to sign the report. He then travelled on July 23, supposedly for a meeting of accounting officers, and has not returned since.”
Mr Tusubira, when contacted, said: “What is the source of your information? Do you know what is happening in Abuja? If I had committed an administrative wrong, I would have been recalled. This matter is at the political level.”
Without an accounting officer, all financial aspects of the mission have been constrained. For instance, no payments have been effected since the commencement of this Financial Year 2024/2025 in July, including staff salaries and allowances. Cash requisitions for both the contractor and consultant on the Shs19.7b chancery building, which was due for commissioning last month, have also not been cashed.
The probes
The IG, Criminal Investigations Directorate and the SHACU have commenced parallel investigations into claims of money laundering and corruption during the construction of Uganda’s embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.
Handout photos released on September 9, 2024 by the Government of Uganda show the newly constructed Uganda House Abuja complex as it was due to be handed over to the Uganda High Commission in Nigeria on October 31, 2024.
It is alleged that diplomats at the Abuja Mission have been racketeering finances meant for the project by removing it from the official accounts and “giving it to money lenders” to generate profits, which are shared accordingly.
In a July 21 letter, the head of the SHACU, Brig Gen Henry Isoke, notified the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gen Jeje Odongo, of the ongoing probe into the allegations.
“That some officials of the Mission were involved in money laundering, use of government funds meant for construction of the Ugandan Mission premises, to deal in illegal forex trading for purposes of earning profit before paying the contractor. Embezzlement of supplementary funds provided to the mission to close a wage shortfall of Shs477m. It is further alleged that in 2023, forgeries were made by the officials to purport that the mission had salary arrears and salary increments to cater for, whereas not,” Brig Gen Isoke wrote.
