I have never asked for extension of my term of office, says COSASE chairperson Katuntu

The chairperson of the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises’s (COSASE), Abdu Katuntu has said he has never asked for extension of term of office for the parliamentary committee as had been claimed by many.

A debate has been raging over the unresolved extension of COSASE’s term with the Speaker of Parliament backing the extension whereas the Leader of Opposition saying that the Katuntu commission should hand over office to new bearers led by Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa.

The committee’s current tenure ends on January 13, 2019 but the Speaker recommended extension of its office period to February 20, 2019 to allow “effective conclusion of the BoU probe.”

On Tuesday, one of the committee members, Lubaga North’s Moses Kasibante asked Katuntu to substantiate on claims that he had requested for the extension of the tenure.

“It is not to do with social media but the speaker said it you who went and asked for an extension. We would like to know the basis of this,”Kasibante requested as the probe into sale of several commercial banks resumed on Tuesday morning.

In response, Katuntu denied ever asking the speaker for more time but said he only reported to her about the progress of the Bank of Uganda probe.

“It is not true we went to speaker to ask for extension but like it is with serious committees, I went to speaker as head of this institution and briefed her of how far we had gone with the investigations,”Katuntu responded.

The COSASE chairperson explained that the speaker would later asked whether they would be able to finish with the probe before the expiry of their term of office and that he(Katuntu) responded in the negative.

“No member asked for extension but we addressed speaker of what was going on in the committee just like a serious committee does and she said she would engage the Leader of Opposition but I am not party to that.She(speaker) said she would communicate what they had discussed.”

The Bugweri County legislator insisted that the current COSASE committee that he heads is in office legally.

There has been a war of words between the speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga and the Leader of Opposition Betty Awol after the former ordered that the Katuntu commission continue with their probe until it is concluded, a thing that didn’t augur well with Awol who insisted that a new committee chaired by Munyagwa and deputized by Kasibante ought to start work soon.