KAMPALA, UGANDA: A section of senior officials at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics – UBOS are in great panic after President Museveni ordered the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) to investigate them over alleged corruption at the institution.
Mr. Museveni in a letter dated November, 12, 2021, ordered the director-general at ISO, Col Charles Oluka, to gather intelligence on the alleged ongoing corruption scandal at the statistics house and revert back with a report to him accordingly.
“…I am ordering you to gather intelligence report on Ubos staff, currently occupying positions in acting capacity to enable me make decisions on the matter for confirmation of appointment,” the President sounded in a letter, copy of which this website has seen.
The president who has publicly sounded the fight against corruption in government agencies also directed the spies to carry out a background check on all the staff in senior acting positions and ascertain their suitability for confirmation or appointment.
When contacted over the matter, Ms. Linda Nabusayi, the Senior presidential press secretary declined to give a comment on the matter saying she wasn’t privy to the presidential directive to ISO since it is a security matter.
The ISO probe comes in the wake of an ongoing investigations by the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Kamya, which was also ordered by the President in October last year.
The President’s reaction was triggered by a whistleblower who petitioned him last year alleging that the top officials in the institution were victimising staff and carrying out fictitious transactions.
The petitioner further alleged that Ubos’ top officials paid huge sums of money to staff to carry out fictitious field work when the country was under total lockdown.
Details contained in the 94-page dossier, a copy of which this newspaper has seen, chronicle alleged fictitious work during Covid-induced lockdown, costing at least Shs2b.
The money, according to the whistleblower, would be withdrawn on requisition by top officials and wired to bank accounts of junior staff who would then be instructed to withdraw and return the cash to the senders for sharing.
President Museveni through his Principal Private Secretary, Dr Kenneth Omona, directed Ms Kamya to investigate the allegations.
According to highly-placed security sources, ISO investigators will scrutinise Ubos budgets and expenditure, recruitment processes, staff welfare and scorecard and thereafter write an intelligence report to the President.
They have also interacted with Ubos officials to record their statements regarding allegations levelled against them.
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