Mr David Livingstone Ebiru, the Executive Director of Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has been sent on a forced leave until further notice as the National Standards Council (NSC) intensifies a probe into the missing UGX 21.2 billion.
Mr. Ebiru is being probed over alleged misappropriation of government funds worth more than UGX.12billion and shielding staff who allegedly stole more than UGX9.2 billion
Mr. Charles Musekuura, the chairperson of NSC ordered Mr. Ebiru to leave the office with immediate effect in a letter dated July 3.
“That due to the gravity of the allegations levelled against him and in order to protect the integrity of the independent investigations, Mr. David Ebiru should with immediate effect, take Annual leave and stay away from office until the process of the investigations are completed. During the Annual leave, he may, in writing (hard copy or email), request for relevant information to be provided or availed to him to respond to the said allegations,” Musekuura wrote.
The council has since appointed Ms. Patricia Bageine Ejalu, the UNBS Deputy Executive Director to run the bereau in acting capacity.
Mr. Musekuura added that the NSC meeting held on July 3 also resolved to have Mr. Ebiru respond to the allegations levelled against him by submitting a written report to the Chairperson of Council by close of business July 21 2023.
He also ordered should show cause as to why the UNBS Council was not informed of the IGG’s investigations on the
mismanagement of the Fuel Marking and Quality Monitoring Program funds.
“Mr. David Ebiru should explain his involvement in the mismanagement of the funds for the Fuel Marking and Quality Monitoring Program, in view of his admission of guilt to the misappropriation of funds,” Musekuura wrote, adding that the council had also resolved suspend until further notice all withdrawals of funds from the GAIN Account at Standard Chartered Bank and the BOND Account at Stanbic Account.
In addition to the missing funds, Mr. Ebiru is further accused of taking no action against five members of staff who reportedly caused financial loss to the Bureau, amounting to UGX 9.282b after they reportedly backdated inspection dates on reports and edited application dates on the e-portal applications.
“An investigation was carried out and a report handed over to you in June 2022 and since then, no action has been taken against the culprits. Surprisingly, two staff …have since left service of the Bureau while the rest are still in the Bureau’s employment, drawing salaries,” the reads a separate letter.
“Mr. Executive Director, as you can see, these allegations are extremely grave and must be replied to,” Mr Musekuura had said in a June letter.
“Under Section78 (1) PFMA, 2015, “where an institution which recedes public money does not meet the requirements of the Act, or contravenes the Act, Parliament may request the Minister responsible for the institution to make a report to Parliament with an explanation on the matter.’ Of course, the above provision assumes that the Council (NSC) will have briefed the Hon. Minister so that the Minister can make a competent explanation,” he adds.
Mr Musekuura said the acts have left NSC in “a rather embarrassing situation.”
“Personally, I am dismayed that you chose to conceal all the above-mentioned actions and the National Standards Council has been left in a rather embarrassing situation. Council has, under Section 8(b) of the UNBS Act, the responsibility for the general administration of the Bureau,” he said.
“It cannot effectively perform this role when this information has been deliberately concealed from it by Management. While, I wait for your written reply, please give notice of a Council Meeting to all Members, for Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at 9 am to discuss this and other related matters,” he added.
Mr. Ebiru had earlier denied any wrongdoing— explaining that during the financial year 2021/2022, the Bureau remitted UGX 60b to the Treasury and that in the recently ended financial year, they remitted UGX50.5b despite the government allocating them UGX 44.5b down from the initial budget of UGX65b.
The UNBS is a statutory body under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives established by the UNBS Act Cap 327 and became operational in 1989.
It is governed by the National Standards Council and headed by the Executive Director who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of UNBS.
