THE Vice-President, Gilbert Bukenya, has finally bowed to pressure from MPs and agreed to appear before the CHOGM probe committee as an individual and not in a group.
In a letter to the committee chairman, Bukenya’s principal private secretary, Vincent Musubire, said the Vice-President would appear on March 25 at 10:00am.
“Following our conversation, the Vice-President has directed me to confirm to you that he will appear before the public accounts committee,” Musubira said.
Bukenya had written to the committee, requesting to meet the ministers as a cabinet sub-committee rather than individuals.
“The cabinet sub-committee collectively made decisions that guided the daily implementation of the activities by the Task Force. It’s therefore my view that the sub-committee of CHOGM meet your committee as a whole, rather than individually,” Bukenya wrote.
But the MPs rejected his request, saying Bukenya had no powers to direct them on how handle committee programmes.
Committee chairman Nandala Mafabi said on Thursday that the Constitution demands accountability from individuals and not the ministers as a group.
“If the Vice-President wants to help his boss fight corruption, he must appear and personally defend the actions he took during CHOGM.
" We insist that each minister should account for the funds personally and then we will later meet them as a group,” Nandala said.
Bukenya chaired the cabinet sub-committee during the country’s preparations to host the 2007 CHOGM.
