Geraldine Ssali, who is the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives, was removed from her role as Accounting Officer for the ministry after questions over finances totalling eight billion Shillings were raised.
This came about as a result of an investigation by the parliament into the alleged abuse of financial resources, including extra monies allocated to the ministry for the fiscal year 2021/22.
In the report that was presented to parliament in August, the committee recommended that Ssali be removed from her position as accounting officer on the grounds that she had abused her office, been responsible for a loss of financial resources, and been negligent in her duties.
They discovered that Ssali had failed to control and ensure the appropriate use of the money that had been appropriated to the vote for the procurement of restoration works on the ministry’s offices located at Farmers House.
In accordance with the Anti-Corruption Act of 2009, it was proposed that ministry officials such as Tom Opio, Daniel Kalule, Deo Byaruhanga, and Rosemary Asiimwe be investigated by the Inspectorate of Government (IG) and the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The members of parliament also said that Ssali should be brought to justice for abusing her position of responsibility.
According to the report, Ms. Geraldine Ssali should be looked into with the possibility of her being prosecuted by the DPP for “negligence of duty,” “disobedience of statutory duty,” “abuse of office,” and “causing financial loss to Government.”
Mwine Mpaka, the chairperson of the Committee, made the observation that during the Financial Year 2021/2022, Grace Adong, who served as permanent secretary at the time, submitted a supplementary request for rent of office premises in the amount of eight billion Shillings; however, parliament only approved five billion.
In May of 2022, the newly appointed PS, Ssali, made a request to the Secretary of the Treasury to move money from rent to renovation.
Ggoobi complied with Ssali’s request but insisted that a new work plan be prepared before the funds could be utilized.
“To the utter shock of the Committee, it was established that Geraldine Ssali had authorized the initiation of the procurement process for the renovation of office premises 14 days earlier,” said Mwine Mpaka, the chairperson of the committee.
“Even before a revised work plan could have been approved by Secretary to the Treasury, Geraldine Ssali had authorized the initiation of the procurement process for the renovation of office premises.”
During the course of the investigation, it was discovered, among other things, that Ssali had given authorization for the purchase of four secondhand cars for ministry personnel at a cost of two billion Shillings.
Because of this, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, who is also the Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, made the decision to remove Ms. Ssali from her position, and he instructed Ms Ssali’s minister, Francis Mwebesa, to propose a replacement accounting officer while the PS is probed for possible instances of corruption.
In his letter dated October 3, 2023, Ggoobi cited the recommendation that was made by the parliamentary probe committee that asked his office to exercise his authority under the Public Finance Management Act to withdraw the appointment and designation of Geraldine Ssali as an Accounting Officer over her alleged involvement in illegal and deliberate fraudulent practices that have cost the government an astounding 8 billion Shillings.
Ggoobi’s letter was written in response to the recommendation that was made by the parliamentary probe committee.
“The purpose of this letter therefore is to request you as the supervising Political head of the Ministry to nominate a suitable officer, for my appointment, to execute the duties of the Accounting Officer, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives as allegations against Ms. Geraldine Ssali and others are being investigated,” Ggoobi said.
“The purpose of this letter therefore is to request you as the supervising Political head of the Ministry to nominate a suitable officer, for my appointment.”
Additionally, Tom Opio, who worked as an office attendant for the ministry, was denied access to the Electronic Government Procurement System by the PS.
In the letter, he informed the recipient that “You are also informed that Mr. Tom Opio has been removed from the Electronic Government Procurement System and Management is advised to liaise with the Accountant General to ensure that there are no disruptions in the procurement processes.”
He also informed the recipient that “Management is advised to liaise with the Accountant General to ensure that there are no disruptions in the procurement processes.”
Opio was accused of participating in procurement operations with Ssali’s agreement, despite the fact that his classification was “Office Attendant.”
Ssali gave Opio permission to engage in these activities.
Even though he was employed in the capacity of office attendant, the PS defended his participation by claiming that he was in possession of a degree in procurement.
Ggoobi took this course of action in response to the findings and recommendations made by the Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives following their investigation into allegations that 5 billion Shillings that had been set aside for rent were instead used for the restoration of Farmers House.
Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the member of parliament for Budadiri County West, made a suggestion to the Head of the Public Service about how the Trade Ministry PS could be interdicted with immediate effect.
According to Mwebesa, “We all have a duty to fight corruption in this country,” and he stated that his ministry would collaborate with other authorities in order to implement the recommendations made by the Committee.