Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile and his deputy Louis Kasekende appear before a parliamentary committee recently. (PHOTO/File)
KAMPALA – An investigation into the recruitment process of Bank of Uganda (BoU) has revealed that existence of cliques polarized around Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile and his Deputy Louis Kasekende are threatening to cripple the operations of the central bank, which could have a trickle down effect on the economy.
The findings are contained in a report compiled by a committee formed by President Museveni in February 2019 to investigate allegations surrounding Mr Mutebile’s decision to make sweeping changes. The changes saw some staff controversially demoted and others externally recruited amid allegations that the Governor was promoting favouristim and nepotism.
And now the report, a copy of which PML Daily has seen, says that the BoU staff interviewed during the investigation said that there were factions or cliques in the Bank polarized around the positions of the Governor and the Deputy Governor.
“As concerns the existence of cliques, one staff went further to characterize the cliques as potentially religious-based. In the words of the staff in question, ‘There is a risk of divisions according to religion in that Bank. Catholics and Anglicans have their own groups. They have meetings and each has its own power,’ ” the report reads in part.
While there was no evidence was found to suggest that the two principals at the Bank had any hand in the formation of the cliques, it was increasingly clear to the Committee that cliques do exist in the Bank and that to that extent the Bank was polarized.
Almost all the staff interviewed alluded in one way or another to the existence of the cliques while at the same time denying being part of either clique. From the various interviews held with staff it was noted that there are camps at the Bank aligned to the Governor or Deputy Governor.
The report adds that all of the staff interviewed indicated that the staff changes made by the Governor were a complete surprise.
“Staff indicated a loss of confidence on account of unclear implementation or disregard of human resource policies especially with regard to succession. It was felt that policy is applied selectively,” the report adds.
Some of the staff who had been externally recruited were
Dr. Twinemanzi Tumubweinee, Executive Director Supervision; Mr. Valentine Ojangole, Director Banking; Mr Edward Mugerwa, Director IT Operations Department
Ms. Kande Sabiiti, Procurement Assurance Manager (Director) and Dr. Natamba Bazinzi, Assistant Director Currency Administration in Currency Department.
While, the Governor specifically defended the recruitment of Dr. Twinemanzi Tumubweinee and Ms. Sabiiti above on the grounds that he had headhunted them under the exceptional circumstances provision of the Administration Manual, the report accuses the governor on usurping the roles of the Board of Governors and acting independently.
The report among others recommends that in the immediate short term, the Board of Directors reviews its structures with a view to introducing safeguards that will ensure that the Board and in particular the position of Chairperson is adequately insulated against ethical risks. It would be useful for the Board to understudy the operations of the Risk and Ethics Committee of the South Africa Reserve Bank in this regard.
On Saturday, we shall reveal the decision of the committee on some of the recruited staff and the pronouncement on the governor about his February 7 directive.
