Kadaga to Auditor General: "Audit BoU and give me report"

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has instructed the Auditor General to carry out a full forensic audit into Bank of Uganda over a number of issues including the January 2017 sale of Crane Bank to DFCU.

Kadaga’s directive comes on the heels of an April 19 letter by the deputy governor of the central bank, Dr Louis Kasekende to John Muwanga, the Auditor General, protesting the audit.

The audit was originally requested by the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities & State Enterprises (COSASE) in April.

Kasekende’s objection pushed Kadaga to rule on the matter and in a May 10 letter to Muwanga, the speaker gives the auditor general liberty to do as he pleases with the books of BoU.

“In regard to the correspondence between the Bank of Uganda and the office of the Solicitor General and specifically in relation to the actions of Parliament, I am of the strong opinion that where any institution needs a clarification on a decision of Parliament, the right office to seek that clarification from, must be the office of the Speaker of Parliament. Therefore in response to your request for guidance, you should proceed with the audit as directed and submit your report to my office as is required by law,” Kadaga said.

Kadaga noted that parliament’s earlier request for a special audit does not contradict an earlier ruling by Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah in August 2017 barring a motion to investigate Bank of Uganda over its role in the supervision of financial institutions over the sub judice rule.

 “This request by the committee is, in my opinion, clearly distinguishable from the Rt. Hon Deputy Speaker’s directive about the motion which was intended to be discussed…. The audit that you were directed to conduct has nothing to do with Bank of Uganda roles in the supervision of Financial Institutions. Audits are processes directed by the Constitution. I don’t believe that there is any public institution created by the law in Uganda that is not subject to audit,” Kadaga wrote.

Kadaga’s intervention now means that AG is going to subject BoU to a forensic audit to understand what informed the central bank in taking certain decisions.