The former Deputy Managing Director of National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Geraldine Ssali has faulted the Court of Appeal judges over the conviction of the fund’s former Managing Director David Chandi Jamwa.

In a Whatsapp message Ms Ssali, says she has been forced to come out of the ‘Kamooli’ on the issue of Jamwa being given a 12-year sentence also mentioning that she has never got a chance to meet him or even talk to him
Ssali who also served as Jamwa’s deputy and later Acting MD, says she as financial professional, she has never really understood Jamwa’s crime on this very transaction of liquidating a bond earlier than Maturity.
According to her, bonds carry risk (Now in hindsight these bonds were Crane Bank Bonds which Bank is now no more).

She explains that the bonds are also speculative in nature and also carry risk so a manager can make a decision exit early if they feel the opportunity cost foregone on the remaining interest is not better than the next best alternative use for that money.

“This is the reason Managers and Officers liability insurance exists – To cover any losses incurred in the process of doing legitimate business as anticipated,” she illustrates.

“Otherwise, anybody who cried “Bail out” in 2015 should be punished when their businesses made losses including economic losses,” she claims.

Ssali believes that the judges with all due respect to them may have looked only at the “liquidity” position of NSSF and ignored all the other factors like interest rates, exchange rates, cost to income ratio and all the other staff they consider “boring”. They have set the wrong precedent/ message.

The former MD adds that the indirect implications of this ruling are that the judgment has killed a percentage of the secondary and primary bond market.

She warns that financial and Fund Managers may not be willing to participate in these bond markets unless they can demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt, the dire need for liquidity.

Ssali notes that is virtually impossible in the world of finance where quick decisions are expected in order to benefit from these trades and make money unlike Uganda where there is more unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy.
“I would challenge those honorary judges. I suspect a political melancholy than a genuine cause of financial loss,” she said.

Ssali says on the strong message needed on managers not playing with worker’s money, they could have got him on all the other stuff like Temangalo along with his board and the rest of the lot that was involved but not on this one.

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The Inspectorate of Government is investigating Ms Mary Kamuli Kutesa, the Director Legal Affairs at UNRA.

In a letter dated January 9, 2018, the IGG wants UNRA Executive Director, Allen Kagina to action on Kutesa within 30 days.

Ms Kutesa also serves as a member of the contracts committee of Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) on allegations conflict of interest.
In a letter which EagleOnline has obtained, Ms Kutesa is faulted for not disclosing her husband’s relationship with certain construction firms which do business with UNRA.

“The Inspectorate of Government received a complaint addressed to you regarding Ms Mary Kamuli Kutesa, a member of the contracts committee of UNRA. It was also alleged that her presence on the contracts committee disadvantages other companies which are eliminated from procurement process without any justifiable reasons and biases the procurement process of the whole UNRA organization”. reads the letter in part.

The letter also states that Kutesa’s husband through his law firm Arcodco and Co. Advocates represent construction companies like China Wuyi, China Communications, which information was not disclosed.
“The purpose of this letter is to request you to take appropriate action into the matter above and report to this office in 30 days from now,” the IGG directed. This website has reliably learnt that a one Mbele petitioned the IGG to investigate Kutesa basing on the above allegations.

Last yeek a top official at UNRA was on the spotlight for allegedly giving jobs to four relatives, to work in UNRA, one of the best-paying parastatals in Uganda.
The matter of allegedly hiring relatives, commonly known as nepotism, has now been put at the discretion of the Inspectorate of Government (IGG), who has since started investigations into the allegations.
UNRA is overseeing the development of the road sector in Uganda, a task heaped on the UNRA Executive Director Allen Kagina and members of her team, most of them newly-recruited.

It should be recalled that in May last year, following scathing allegations of massive corruption at UNRA, the institution laid off over 900 workers in the biggest-ever single public sector restricting drive and consequently embarked on a new recruitment drive. It is this new process that has now come under scrutiny.
And sources within UNRA told this Website that ‘a top boss’ brought the four relatives from Canada and posted them in the lucrative planning and administration department.
“It is sad that competent people were sacked under the pretext of sweeping corrupt officials but what is happening here is dangerous. How can four members of one family be recruited in one department as if they are no other qualified Ugandans?” a source told EagleOnline.
Last year Inspectorate of Government Spokesperson, Ali Munira confirmed investigations were underway but said the inquiry is still at a tender stage for her to divulge details. However, a year down, the IGG hasn’t released the findings. Some of the affected former employees have since petitioned High Court.
“We are working on it but as you are aware, we only received the complaints two weeks ago but investigations are going on,” Ms Munira said on phone.

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