President Museveni has ordered the reinstatement of Geraldine Ssali as the Accounting Officer of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives.
In October, 2023, the Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, suspended Ssali as the Ministry’s accounting officer on the recommendations of a Parliament inquiry into alleged acts of corruption at the Ministry.
The tables have now turned with Lucy Nakyobe, the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, writing to Ggoobi to rescind his decision.
Nakyobe on October 26, 2023, wrote to Ggoobi asking him to “immediately reinstate” Ssali as the Accounting Officer for the Trade Ministry “as per the president’s directive.”
The presidential order directing on Ssali’s reinstatement is dated October 22, 2023.
The letter is a huge relief for Ssali who had accused Parliament of withhunt.
Parliament had accused Ssali of failing to control the regularity and proper use of money appropriated to the vote for procurement of renovation works on offices used by the Ministry at Farmer’s House.
The House’s Trade Committee also accused Ssali of inflating the price of renovation works by Shs2 billion.
However, Ssali’s woes started after taking a decision to renovate the available office space at Farmers’ House in Kampala instead of spending a staggering Shs 8bn on renting office space at Kingdom Kampala Building owned by businessman Sudhir Ruparelia.
“After careful consideration, we determined that renovating the office space would be a more cost effective solution compared to incurring recurring annual rent expenses,” said Ssali.
During the committee meeting held on July, 3 2023, Hon. Mwine Mpaka disclosed that the ministry had committed the government to a multi-year expenditure of Shs6 billion without obtaining authorization from Parliament, which he said is a violation of the Public Finance Management Act.
The meeting also revealed that the rehabilitation contract was awarded through direct procurement, bypassing necessary due diligence procedures.
Mpaka highlighted discrepancies in the cost of the renovation project where the initial estimate from the Ministry of Works was Shs3.1 billion, but this was later inflated to Shs6.2 billion, suggesting potential misconduct in fund allocation.
However, Ssali said the Rationalization of Government Agencies (RAPEX) Program was being implemented in Uganda to reduce costs associated with government office space rent.
“Renting office space at Shs 8Bn would have contradicted this objective,” said Ssali, who joined the Trade Ministry in 2021.
She further said there were delays in releasing the funds, which were approved in August 2021 but disbursed in April 2022.
“It is crucial to highlight that if these funds were not utilised as intended, they would have been returned to the Treasury per legal requirements,” said Ssali, adding, “The Solicitor General approved the renovation of the premises and all necessary supporting documents are available for reference.”
“Additionally, an additional Shs 3Bn was allocated for FY 2022/23 bringing the total annual rent expense to Shs 8Bn. These funds were intended to improve working conditions for our staff,” she emphasised.
