Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Stephen Kaziimba and Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija (pictured) have been cited in the irregular payment of Shs18.9bn for compensation of Church of Uganda land that Government took over at Entebbe airport.
The duo’s scheme was exposed during a meeting held between officials of Uganda Land Commission (ULC) and Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on Wednesday that had been summoned to respond to queries raised in the 2021 Auditor General’s report.
In the audit report, John Muwanga the Auditor General had raised queries the unsupported payment to a tune of Shs7.3Bn in land compensation and the findings in the audit report were confirmed by Noah Kasasha, Internal Auditor at ULC who said that at the time he took over office in 2021, ULC owed the Church Sh7.3Bn.
His revelation prompted the Committee to question ULC officials to explain why they paid Church of Uganda Sh21.25b instead of the Sh7.3b that was due.
Joseph Eseru, Senior Accountant at ULC revealed that the Commission received orders from Patrick Ocailap, Deputy Secretary to Treasury to approve payment of Sh18Bn to the Church of Uganda to save the entity from losing its property at Church House over a loan acquired from by Equity Bank.
“We owed Church of Uganda Shs7.3Bn, in August 2021 we paid Sh5Bn and later on we paid the balance of Shs2.3Bn. Later, there was a supplementary request after the Archbishop Kaziimba who personally met the President and said they have a shortfall in paying the loan of Equity Bank,” he explained.
Eseru added that after the Kaziimba-Museveni meeting, he received a phone call from Ocailap alerting him of the plan to table before Parliament a supplementary request to a tune of Shs2.3Bn for Church of Uganda and an additional Sh18Bn to cater for the accrued interest on the loan from Equity Bank.
He also informed the Committee that he was in constant communication with Archbishop Kaziimba and to back up his claims, Eseru tabled before the Committee a letter written and signed by Minister Kasaija which he relied on to approve payment of Sh21.25Bn to Church of Uganda through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
In another letter written in January 19, 2022, by the man of God to Eseru, Archbishop detailed the financial plight Church of Uganda was battling over the Sh45Bn loan from Equity Bank and the institution had banked on the compensation from government worth Sh48b to clear the loan.
Kaziimba added that however, the loan repayment was hampered by the unreliable payment from Government, which came in installments, thud attracting interest to a tune of Shs19Bn from the Bank.
According to Eseru, the Archbishop wrote, to the Secretary to the Treasury, and subsequently the Minister wrote to the Speaker of Parliament requesting for Sh21.25Bn (composed of Sh2.32b as the balance for out of the Sh48b and Sh21.25b as accrued interest to be included in the supplementary budget to enable the Church to clear its loan obligation for Church House.
“This letter therefore is to request that the Land Commission immediately remits the Sh21.25b to the Church so that no further interest charges accrue,” wrote Kaziimba.
In another letter authored by Minister Kasaija, he alerted the Speaker about the pending supplementary request of Sh21.25Bn for compensation to Church of Uganda, through the Uganda Land Commission where previous payments have been made.
The revelation on how the scheme was executed angered the Committee with Joel Ssenyonyi (Nakawa west) tasking Uganda land Commission to explain why Uganda tax payers paid off the Shs18Bn loan interest that Church of Uganda owed Equity Bank because Government wasn’t party to the loan agreement.
Ssenyonyi asked, “Does it not occur to you that there is a problem because ULC pays only money it owes claimants? Is payment of this Sh18.9b not an illegality?”
Charles Bakabulindi (Workers MP) argued that ULC is being used as conduit to swindle government wondering why President Museveni is being cited in procuring the deal, yet there is no letter indicating the President’s hand in the matter.
However, Eseru said he wasn’t privy to the discussions held between the Archbishop and President Museveni noting, “I was not privy. As an Accountant, when the document is very clear and I have money available and authorisation, I commit. I have looked through documents and saw a lot of Presidential directives that are paid through ULC.”
The Committee was treated to more drama when embattled Beatrice Byenkya, Chairperson Uganda Land Commission said although she was still in office at the time, she wasn’t in the know about Church of Uganda payment
“I am seeing the letter for the first time now. The letter was written to me but I didn’t receive it. I didn’t even chair the meeting where this was handled. There was acrimony between me and the Acting Secretary. The meeting was chaired by the so-called Acting Chairperson Prof Pen-Mogi (Nyeko)” she stated.
Byenkya’s remarks can be backed by an earlier decision in November 2021 when Parliament’s Budget Committee recommended to Parliament not to approve the Shs21Bn compensation to Church Of Uganda after a technical problem was detected because the Ministry of Finance submitted the supplementary request under Ministry of Lands, but when officials from Ministry of Lands were summoned to justify the supplementary request, the Ministry denied knowledge about the request.
“We called the team from Ministry of Lands, they said they weren’t familiar with the item and the item is supposed to be under Uganda Land Commission. That is why we are revisiting the item. So Ministry of Finance later ruled that we transfer the item to Uganda Land Commission but by that time, we had finished signing the report,” said Wamakuyu.
