A whistleblower has petitioned the Inspector General of Government, Justice Irene Mulyagonja, to investigate circumstances under which the contract of Bemanya Twebaze, the executive director of Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), was renewed for extra five years, nine months before his current contract expires.
“Madam IGG this is July 5, 2019. However, Mr. Bemanya Twebaze already has a contract in his hands renewing his services for extra five years starting March 2020. Why the haste? What happens when he messes up in the nine months before the expiry of current contract? Isn’t it common practice that renewal is done 3 months to expiry of contract?” says Mr. Odongo Jackson Patrick, the petitioner who adds that the due process of renewing Bemanya’s contract was never done, including reviewing his performance.
According Odongo, Bemanya’s contract was renewed without the approval of the entire URSB board of directors. He alleges that the board chairman Amb. Canon Francis Butagira, under pressure from the Minister of Justice and Constitutions Affairs, Gen Kahinda Otafiire, wrote a lone letter recommending the renewal of Bemanya’s contract. Upon receiving Butagira’s letter, Odongo says Otafiire wrote a letter of re-appointment of Bemanya.
Odongo alleges that Bemanya and his inner circle at URBS are cooking minutes and meeting board members to approve the backdated minutes.
He adds: “The pressure of Gen. Kahinda Otafiire on Amb. Francis Butagira to recommend renewal of contract for Mr. Bemanya should also be investigated.”
He says Minister Otafiire’s wife, a senior manager at URSB, was recruited not in line with procedures and that this conflict of interest since Otafiire supervises Bemanya.
Odongo in a letter received by the IGG on July 12, 2019, also wants the IGG to investigate the account for Companies Contingency Fund in Stanbic Bank Metro Branch and two accounts for companies in liquidation in Standard Chartered Bank on Speke Road, saying that huge sums of money have been withdrawn without trace and that some money was fixed, interest earned but cannot be traced.
The latest attack on Bemanya comes at the time when he is involved Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) management crisis where he is the Official Administrator. The State Minister for investment and privatisation, Evelyn Anite, wants Bemanya sacked for failure to fulfill some of the conditions as the Administrator of the struggling UTL.
