A list of traders meant to receive compensation from Government over losses incurred due to the civil unrest in South Sudan has drawn the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development and Ministry of Trade at logger heads after the Finance officials were accused of creating ghost beneficiaries.
Appearing before Parliamentary Committee on Trade and Tourism on Wednesday, Amelia Kyambadde, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives revealed that a group of 10 grain traders are supposed to be compensated US$42million (Shs145bn), but the list of names needs verification.
Kyambadde and other officials from Trade Ministry had appeared before the Committee to defend their proposed budget in the Budget Framework paper for 2018/19.
The Minister said that her ministry compiled the list of the-would be beneficiaries and forwarded it to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and Internal Affairs Ministry for verification, but they were shocked to learn that some names are missing, having been removed and replaced with non-traders.
“The President (Museveni) came up with that directive and David Bahati, State Minister for Planning said the Ministry of Finance is going to pay, but there was also a problem of manipulation of that list which I don’t want to go into here and it was manipulated from that end, so if they are going to pay, we also have to make sure that we have the same list,” Kyambadde said.
This triggered the committee members including Fort Portal Municipality MP, Alex Ruhunda and Busia Municipality MP, Godfrey Macho to demand that the list be made public to avoid ministry of finance officials smuggling on the list ghost beneficiaries.
It should be noted that in March 2016, President Yoweri Museveni instructed the Minister of Finance in a letter dated, March 22nd to study how government would raise money to rescue the businessmen that had been affected by the war so that government could continue with efforts to recover the money from the South Sudan government
An agreement was reached between the two countries that Uganda pays the traders the said money and that South Sudan would repay it later.
Macho reported that the Ministry of Finance had replaced traders with top politicians and threatened to expose the officials.
“The information I have is that Ministry of Finance has smuggled some traders who aren’t supposed to be on that list and I hear they are for politicians,” Macho said, adding: “As a Committee, we must know the interest before because we have talked many times that there are some smuggled companies that haven’t been doing business in South Sudan that is why Ministry of Finance isn’t straight on that matter. In fact, Minister when you meet the President; tell him that the Ministry of Finance is playing tricks. If they disturb you, bring them here, we shall expose them.”
A meeting between the two Ministries and legislators is slated to be held on Tuesday next week to discuss the matter.
