Bank of Uganda has defended itself in a case where an activist petitioned the High Court in Kampala challenging the appointment of Dr Twinemanzi Tumubweine as the Executive Director in charge of supervision for the Central bank.
Twinemanzi was appointed in February 2018 to replace Justine Bagyenda as the director in charge of supervision at the Central bank of Uganda but in his suit, Arnold Anthony Mukose says the appointment and confirmation of Twinemanzi didn’t follow the right procedure as required by law.
Keep Reading
However, in its response filed by Agnes Mugisha, the deputy Director Human Resources, BoU says it sought an opinion from the Attorney General adding that such a decision cannot be a matter subject to judicial preview.
“I am also aware that the second respondent(BoU) took into account the third respondent’s( Twinemanzi) qualifications, experience and performance before appointing him as Executive Director for supervision,” the affidavit says in part.
“Since 2018 when he was appointed as Executive Director for supervision, the third respondent’s performance has been continuously appraised and he has performed duties in that capacity.”
BoU says in its response that the case should be thrown out since it was filed out of time but has also been overtaken by events.
In the suit the petitioner said the appointment and confirmation of Twinemanzi didn’t follow the right procedure as required by law.
“Before the recruitment of the third respondent (Twinemanzi), there was no advertisement for the job in at least two local newspapers and one weekly newspaper, the Bank of Uganda website or other media of communication. There was no internal or external advertisement for the job,” Mukose avers in a suit where the Attorney General, Bank of Uganda and Twinemanzi himself are listed as respondents.
According to the journalist, there was no determination by the heads of the department that there was need for recruitment of an Executive Director in charge of supervision at the Central bank through headhunting.
Mukose avers that there was as well no request by the Executive Director, Administration to the Governor to recruit an Executive Director in charge of supervision through headhunting.
“The third respondent has a pass degree of Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Applied Economics from Makerere University, 1996 and is not qualified to be recruited to work in Bank of Uganda. He has never worked in any commercial bank and therefore has no work experience relevant to commercial banking and is accordingly incapable of effectively working as Executive Director, supervision.”
The petitioner says that the illegal staff recruitment of Twinemanzi was reported to the Inspectorate of Government and that attempts to answer the complaints by the Governor Bank of Uganda were unsatisfactory.
Declarations
The journalist wants court to declare that the actions and decisions of the Governor of the Bank of Uganda culminating into the sourcing, appointment and confirmation of Twinemanzi Tumubweine was done illegally and therefore cannot stand.
