To:
The Governor Bank of Uganda - Professor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile
The Deputy Governor - Dr. Michael Atingi - Ego
The Minister of Finance, Planning & Econ. Devt - Hon. Matia Kasaija
The Head of Public Service & Secretary to Cabinet - Dr. John Mitala
The Prime Minister - Rt. Hon. (Dr) Ruhakana Rugunda
The Chief Justice of Uganda - Hon. Justice Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny - Dollo
The Attorney General - Hon. William Byaruhanga
The Speaker Parliament of Uganda - Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga
The Secretary to Treasury - Mr. Keith Muhakanizi
The Ministry of Justice
The Minister for Presidency - Hon. Esther Mbayo Mbulakubuza
The Executive Director Uganda Communication Commission - Ms Irene Sewankambo
The Minister of State for Ethics - Hon. (Fr) Simon Lokodo
The Inspectorate of Government (IGG)
The Minister of Internal Affairs - Hon. (General) Haji Abubakar Jeje Odongo
The Minister of Foreign Affairs - Hon. Sam Kahamba Kutesa
NRM Chief Whip - Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa Sentamu
Minister for ICT - Hon. Judith Nalule Nabakooba
The Auditor General - Mr. John Muwanga.
Uganda Human Rights Commission
The Executive Director NGOForum - Dr. Richard Ssewakiryanga.
The CEO Cairo Bank Uganda
The CEO ABSA Uganda Bank
The CEO Equity Bank Uganda
The CEO Centenary Bank Uganda
From: William Kituuka Kiwanuka.
Date: March 8, 2021.
RE: HOW MY POTENTIAL IN RESOURCE MOBILIZATION TURNED INTO A REAL NIGHTMARE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE PROSPECTS OF UGANDA AS A COUNTRY.
CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary
2. What has gone wrong in the Uganda Funds remittance system?
3. Operation of Ultra Simplex Enterprises Account – 000686 in Cairo International Bank
4. An appeal I made to Bank of Uganda to intervene
5. The challenges of an opposition Presidential candidate fundraising from outside Uganda.
6. The 2010 / 2011 ‘Pension Scam’ in CIB.
7. Some of the distortions and contradictions in the courts of law over the CIB ‘Pension Scam’.
8. Fundraising where Barclays Bank Uganda (BBU) and now ABSA Uganda was assigned to collect the proceeds.
9. Conclusion.
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
i. I William Kituuka Kiwanuka wished to stand for President of Uganda in 2011 and 2016, but I was never allowed to access what I raised through my worldwide appeals in the two instances. My appeals which still run on Blogs were disseminated using emails which I collected from published literatures and or searched from the Internet. I made my brief appeal and it included the web address for the Blog or Blogs, then my Bank Account details together with the Swift Code in respect of each bank.
ii. The objectives for my fundraising as far as I am concerned were: To bring big money into the Uganda economy which would benefit Ugandans; To be able to have resources to contest the Presidency; To put in place a model Parish (Namutamba) as a centre of excellence which other parts in Uganda would learn from; and To cater for my retirement community betterment initiatives.
iii. Though I sent out hundreds of emails, given that in some instances I would send out 50 or more a day, my bankers in both cases: Cairo International Bank (CIB) which I used in 2010 and Barclays Bank Uganda (BBU) which I used in 2015 had one answer whenever I checked on them: “We have never received funds for the credit of your account”!
iv. I could least believe these banks, because it was not possible for me not to have raised even USD 100. I knew there was a fraud. As I write, it has taken me 11 and 6 years respectively trying to address my issues to the authorities, in this case: Bank of Uganda, Cairo Bank and Barclays Bank now ABSA Uganda. Instead my efforts do not seem to yield much, but are rather like a hide and seek game that I am treated to!
v. I communicated by Email to Bank of Uganda in September 2010 and January 2015, but I did not get a reply in both cases. It is just on December 28, 2020 that Bank of Uganda endeavored to reply after so many communications to them, and it was just like a formality without any worthy depth!
vi. I think the Government of Uganda has to address the injustice those of us who are fundraising are faced with. Much as my two fundraising for President of Uganda have proceeds that I am yet to access, even when I made effort to Fundraise for Namutamba Demonstration School where Centenary bank was used as well as recently for Community Educators - Uganda in Equity bank Uganda, not a single dollar got into the accounts!
vii. Resource mobilization more so involving funds from outside Uganda has no prospects given the injustice, impunity, arrogance, corruption and outright theft by some actors in the banking industry in Uganda; this is definitely a big negative given that the potential donors cannot keep sending money when the beneficiaries are not those that were targeted, and you can be sure, potential innovators who have been benefiting from external resource mobilization will have bad prospects as support may stop coming.
2. WHAT HAS GONE WRONG IN THE UGANDA FUNDS REMITTANCES SYSTEM?
1. Swift codes - I was told that when funds are remitted, before the beneficiary account is credited, commercial banks do a KYC (Know Your Customer), this they do by verifying the source of the funds, the receiver’s true identity and whether the one remitting is not blacklisted. Upon satisfactory search, funds are released. However, Bank of Uganda as the overseer of commercial banks has a right to stop payments in case they are suspicious of the incoming funds, and when they give the directive, commercial banks have to abide, otherwise, the banks can be closed. This is where the problem is. Banks can without the knowledge of the customer decide whether to release funds and, this is where the system is abused. If these bankers see a flow of funds, it is their chance to label the funds anything, and I see myself having fallen victim of this!
2. The unfortunate suspicion that some people who are able to get funding from outside Uganda have ill motives against the country needs to be properly substantiated; otherwise merely assuming will not help the development initiatives of Uganda. This has given those incharge of the system opportunity to easily take funds due to bank customers for personal gains or alternatively abuse it.
3. It is not clear how funds through the Swift codes are audited. There seems to be a big chance of customers not getting the funds due to them given that the audit mechanism does not seem clear or is easily abused. And, we have instances where the client communication is interfered with, this, only leaves the bank with the information.
4. There seems to be (according to what I have gone through) some understanding between some commercial bankers and Information Technology Personnel (ITP) where email communication to bank customers is interfered with and the customer communication is cutoff from those remitting funds. There is a case in point of one Henry Luyimbazi who seems to have penetrated my email: Henry Luyimbazi billkiwanuka@gmail.com and my Facebook account. I have not known what his aim was. It is not clear whether staff of Uganda Communication Commission have no role in this.
5. The Government institutions charged with checking corruption have actors who are greatly compromised simply because the corrupt have all the money to part with and their deals are not checked. I have had opportunity to visit one staff of the IGG, I was ‘shocked’ at the assets in her possession. These could not have been out of the returns to Government employment.
6. There looks to be a network which connects commercial banks and the central bank to official Government infrastructure through which funds due to some people are not credited to their accounts but instead paid out to a scheme that needs to be investigated.
7. The Government seems to pay lip service to efforts by Ugandans who are mobilizing resources to see projects off ground. Some of those who get such funds are seen from lenses of some Government officers as if they are not bound to do any good for Government, which is indeed unfortunate.
8. The tenure in Commercial Bank Supervision by Justine Bagyenda as Executive Director Bank Supervision seems to have given fertile ground to irregularities which among others disregarded communication to customers as in my case, and instead giving fraud chance. Bagyenda seems to have had so much unchecked powers over commercial banks hence giving irregularities a chance.
3. OPERATION OF ULTRA SIMPLEX ENTERPRISES ACCOUNT - 000686 IN CAIRO INTERNATIONAL BANK
i. I opened Ultra Simplex Enterprises Account - 000686 in Cairo International Bank at a time when I was publishing Career Tips Magazine. It so happened that with time, adverts became difficult to get for the Magazine. The account was made dormant. So, when I wanted to fundraise to stand for President, after making initial works on the Blog, I approached CIB and requested them to activate the account so that I use it to fundraise to stand for President. I was allowed, and so, I started making my email communication the Blog whose title is: “Ideas William Kituuka Kiwanuka had for the Presidency prior to the 2011 General elections” where williamkituuka@hotmail.com was used is in place for anyone to see.
ii. I kept visiting CIB to check on the account balance, to my surprise there was no credit at all! That prompted me to call on Ishaq Ssentongo who was the Assistant Manager Operations at CIB. This one on all occasions told me how they had not received funds for the credit of my account!
4. AN APPEAL I MADE TO BANK OF UGANDA TO INTERVENE.
i. As time was running out to the collection of Nomination papers from Uganda’s Electoral Commission by those who wanted to stand for President, I decided to write to the Governor Bank of Uganda - Prof. Emmanuel Tumisiime Mutebile and a number of senior staff at the bank. I copied the emails from the Bank of Uganda Diary of 2010, in all 35 emails were included. The same communication was copied to the Electoral Commission. I stated that I was not getting a positive response from CIB and it had rang a bell in my mind that something was wrong. I expected Bank of Uganda to help in rectifying the anomaly and timely. The email in part: “Up to now, I am one of those who wish to stand as independent candidates for President of Uganda. I cannot proceed to collect nomination papers if I have no funding, which funding I have endeavored to campaign for widely, unfortunately, the contact email I circulated: williamkituuka@hotmail.com has for some time now not been accessible to me for reasons which I am not aware of! That means, I cannot have information via that email address. Time has run out as my last hope to be able to collect Nomination papers is Friday, October 1, 2010. The purpose of this communication therefore is to kindly request the Bank in case there is any funding in my favor to avail information to me. I look forward to maximum cooperation”.
ii. Unfortunately, though I wrote to a total of 35 people who were senior at Bank of Uganda, nobody ever made a reply to the email!
iii. Having failed to receive the funds I raised through CIB and with no response from BOU, I was not able to proceed to collect Nomination Papers, and that was the end of my wish to contest as a Presidential candidate in 2011!
5. THE CHALLENGES OF AN OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FUNDRAISING FROM OUTSIDE UGANDA
i. Such a one is seen from the wrong lenses by those in the NRM Government. Much as Uganda recruits good academicians for many positions in Government, it looks like these know that the NRM candidate can raise billions from anywhere, including from the taxpayer, but the opposition candidate is not taken seriously. Worldwide, information is available regarding estimates of the amounts Presidential contestants raised for campaigns. In Uganda, such money is either taken by some individuals if it is channeled through the banking infrastructure or Government if individuals do not steal it.
ii. An insight into the budget of a Presidential candidate can give you the picture. Below are some of the areas where I expected to spend in 2010 and 2011:
a. Purchase of a 4 wheel drive vehicle (Double cabin pickup) to facilitate travel country wide in collecting the required signatures around the various districts of Uganda.
b. Purchase of fuel for the vehicle.
c. Repairs and maintenance costs of the vehicle
d. Running adverts both in the print and electronic media.
e. Printing out literature for distribution
f. Printing Posters to be distributed countrywide
g. Meeting the Nomination fee
h. Printing the manifesto copies for distribution after nomination
i. Paying allowances to helpers.
j. Rent for office space countrywide
k. Paying for mobile phone airtime
l. Paying for accommodation
m. Purchase some computers, a printer and UPS.
n. Purchase a Public Address system and a generator.
o. Paying for airtime for talk shows
For instance, just take 60 Talk shows where each is shs 3,000,000. A candidate needs shs 180,000,000 without including any other expenses.
On a Polling day, a candidate needs a minimal of two Agents. If each agent is paid shs 100,000 including his meals and transport component, for 34,684 Polling Stations, a candidate needs 69,378 agents. In money terms that translates to shs 6,937,800,000. Remember at least one agent needs to go to the Tally Centre to ensure that the results declared are as per the Results Declaration Form (RDF). For 34,684 agents, you need at least shs 50,000 to cater for their transport, a total of shs 1, 734,200,000.
iii. It really surprises to see that we have intellectuals in key roles who cannot see these things in the right perspective. If someone wants to contest the Presidency, it is important that those in Government get to understand the actual cost that can be incurred if we are to have serious candidates. Short of that, where a candidate raises funds and they are just confiscated, it’s best to tell Ugandans that it is a one man show until further notice.
6. THE 2010 / 2011 ‘PENSION SCAM’ IN CIB
i. I always treasure the media. While I had decided to leave the matters of my funds to God, there was talk of the ‘Pension Scam’ that took place in CIB. Being a person who worked in Commercial banks for some time, the pointer was that chances were that the ‘scam’ had proved the way to finally have the proceeds to my fundraising shared!
ii. When I heard about a court case, I was surprised; however, I tried to be patient because I thought the court would come out with the source of funds that were shared in a very primitive way. Second, I thought we would get to know the right beneficiary of the funds that were stolen.
iii. If Bank of Uganda staff had not played a role in the ‘Pension Scam’, Bank of Uganda would have got independent auditors to get to the truth of the matter.
iv. So, the court was used to distort facts, and even today, the truth regarding the Pension Scam is not in public domain because Bank of Uganda staff were part of the beneficiaries under the ‘ghosts’ talked of.
v. If Bank of Uganda had hired independent auditors, the following information would have been readily got without need for court intervention because that is what supervision of banks by Bank of Uganda actually means:
I) The source of the money which was paid disguised as pension funds.
2) Who was or were the actual beneficiary / beneficiaries before the funds were diverted.
3) The real ‘ghosts’ who were paid in disguise. This should have been possible given the names of those who physically collected the money from CIB.
4) From (3), the big fish who sent the ‘ghosts’ to collect money on their behalf would have been established.
5) The recovery process of the money would have been easily undertaken.
6) The role of CIB in the fraud would have been clearly brought out. At least we know that the bank was involved in fraud where Pensioner name and photo were not matching, that one Till was assigned the role of paying ‘ghosts’ and that from each ‘ghost’ CIB earned shs 150,000 and only one withdraw from each ‘ghost’ account was allowed
7. SOME OF THE DISTORTIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS IN THE COURTS OF LAW OVER THE CIB ‘PENSION SCAM’
I. It is interesting to learn that when the Committee of Parliament got interested in the ‘Pension Scam’, they invited former CIB staff who had been involved. These included: Ishaq Ssentongo who had been Assistant Manager Operations and Rahma Nakigozi, the Head of Cash.
II. The two told Committee members how they had been coached on how to handle those transactions. “We were all coached on what to say”. “You should say this or else you go to prison”, that is what the former staff told the Members of Parliament.
III. Don’t forget. Write what we told you, say what we agreed on. The bank will stay but Rahma will not stay!
IV. Nakigozi said, ‘they did not know they were facilitating fraud, since we were just following orders from top bosses’.
V. She said, I used to fill in withdrawal vouchers for the supposedly pensioners who signed and left the bank with cash’.
VI. She explained that after collecting a number of withdraw forms, she would take them to the then Bank Manager Muhammed Terkel, who with other staff packed the money for the ‘pensioners’ in the strong room.
VII. Ssentongo, on his part, denied the accusations, equated the working atmosphere at Cairo Bank to a ‘School environment’ where everything was done on order and without rules or regulations.
VIII. ‘Cairo Bank was like a school environment where you have a headmaster, no rules, no regulations, no everything. All the information you were supposed to get was from your bosses as far as those account opening forms were concerned. I was receiving everything on my desk’, he said.
IX. Chimp reports wrote: ‘Late Nyombi blamed CIID for the collapse of the shs 165bn pension case. In the article I quote: “The bank’s lawyer Macdusman W Kabega argued that CIID boss Grace Akullo had promised to give bank lawyers a Fresh Report which would be used in court, not the old one. Lawyers prayed to court to ignore Komurubuga’s report since a new report would be issued by a senior officer to water down the case’. This marked the beginning of the downfall of the case.
X. On October 31, the ‘new report’ was signed by Grace Akullo and on the same day Tom Magezi a Lawyer from Kabega’s Law Firm which represented CIB swore an affidavit claiming that he had ‘come across’ a report by the Director CIID which he said, ‘heavily impacted’ on his application suing Government.
XI. “I deemed it vital and necessary as my duty to bring it to the courts’ attention and hereby do so’” reads Magezi’s affidavit in part.
XII. The judge would later rule in favor of the bank quashing the DPPs decision to prefer charges of theft and conspiracy to defraud the Government shs 165bn.
XIII. A total of 3,432 ghost pensioners were created and inserted into records at the Pensions Registry by staff in Public Service Ministry. The ghost pensioners having been created, a Parliamentary approval appropriation for Pension Budget to pay these so - called pensioners was secured by the Ministry’s officials.
XIV. Thereafter, payment schedules bearing the names of ghost pensioners were relayed by the Ministry officials for processing. The officials assigned Electronic Financial Transfer Numbers in respect of the names on the schedules sent to the bank.
XV. The Accountant General then prepared a Treasurer order to the Director Bank of Uganda for the issue of funds from the Consolidated Fund Account and the funds were transferred to the Public Service Pension Account.
XVI. Thereafter, Bank of Uganda on the basis of the payment schedules prepared and sent the procured funds to CIB where the Secretary of the East African Community Beneficiaries Associated, Peter Sajjabi had opened accounts at CIB through the personal introduction and clearance letter from the association of beneficiary.
XVII. The Attorney General said in his legal opinion that the “bilateral relations between Egypt, the owner of CIB and Uganda cannot be ignored, hence the urgency and acting with caution observing the legal and due process requirement of the miles of natural justice before preferring charges against the bank”.
XVIII. The Police in a final report signed by the Director of CIID which exonerated CIB from any wrong doing placed the responsibility on a few employees of the bank who colluded with the officials of the Ministry of Public Service to carry out the scam.
XIX. It is understood that the new Akullo report on reaching the office of the solicitor general had got crucial evidence which was tendered in the earlier report missing. “Upon reading the said report we realize that it departs in material respects from the earlier report prepared by Police,” wrote J. Atwine on behalf of the Solicitor General to Barbara Kawuma Bugembe, a Senior Attorney, Anti-Corruption Court Section.
XX. In an article: ‘Cairo bank chief, ex - staff trade accusations over pension scam‘. Of July 13, 2015 by Deo Walusimbi, I quote: ‘CIB Admitted that its employees colluded with fraudsters to steal pensioners’ money, but insisted that as a company, its hands were clean.
XXI. However, former bank staff later turned up in Parliament and accused CIB managers of coaching them on what to tell the Members of Parliament.
XXII. CIB used photographs against ghost pensioners’ names and paid out the money. “Olulimu Ogwal said that he found his picture against the name Wandira Joseph Paul who was paid shs 74m”.
XXIII. Ishaq Ssentongo a former Assistant Manager for Operations and Rahma Nakigozi former Teller told Members of Parliament that they were coached by Darwish Osama and the lawyers on what to tell the Members of Parliament.
8. FUNDRAISING WHERE BARCLAYS BANK UGANDA (BBU) AND NOW ABSA UGANDA WAS ASSIGNED TO COLLECT THE PROCEEDS
I. In 2014, on my Birthday in October, I decided to make a second trial at fundraising so that I could stand for President of Uganda in 2016. This time I did more serious work. I put up two Blogs. The challenge was to get a Bank which I thought would not do what CIB did to me in 2010. I approached Barclays Bank Ntinda Branch. The manager accepted to open an account in the name: Kiwanuka Kituuka Account No. 6004631844. This time, I included details of the Bank Account on my blog running on the Internet. The blog name: “Kiwanuka Kituuka for Presidential candidate of unity in a federated Uganda”,
The second blog address: “Kiwanuka Kituuka for 2016 Uganda Presidential Candidate”.
II. I thought it very important to inform Bank of Uganda about my intentions to raise Ushs 60bn to facilitate my standing for President of Uganda in 2016. The email addressed to the Governor Bank of Uganda - Prof. Emmanuel Tumisiime Mutebile was dated 11th January 2015. Unfortunately, even this time, I did not get any response from Bank of Uganda. Up to the time of writing this document, Barclays Bank (ABSA Uganda) claim that they never received monies to the credit of my account.
III. I only want to tell Uganda Bankers to stop taking some of us for fools. It is illogical for anyone to tell a direct lie. Serious work as I have cannot have failed to realize returns in form of financial support. There is someone who can be fooled, but I think the banks need to be transparent.
IV. The NRM Government wonders why people did not vote them in some areas. How can people vote you when those connected are stealing what is due to us. It is surprising that some have without shame earned titles like City Landlords. Nobody bothers to find out how these assets are got. Talk of declaration of assets by public servants. Does it serve any purpose?
V. Let the NRM Government get clean. Not long ago, the Governor Bank of Uganda decided to sack Justine Bagyenda. There were no charges that got known to the general public, only that she had been Director Bank Supervision for a long time. Nobody seems interested in investigating the source of her riches. She was seen move with property from the Bank after she lost her job, it is not clear whether anybody took interest in knowing exactly what this lady took from the bank.
9. CONCLUSION
I. Uganda has a debt portfolio not less than Ushs 56 trillion. Much of what the country earns locally goes to servicing the loans. Those people in Uganda who can attract foreign resources should be respected. If they manage to get funds into the country, it is best to see to it that they access the funds as long as they have no connection to destabilizing the country. These Ugandans have ideas that can help the country move forward. I had an idea of making Namutamba a model Parish and a Centre of excellence which would be visited by others to learn from. Unfortunately, I was denied access of the funds. I believe I am not alone.
II. Second, there is urgent need for the Government of Uganda to address what I point out as ‘What has gone wrong in the Uganda funds remittances system”.
III. Third, I look forward to the powers that be to address the issue of the funds I raised in 2010 and 2015. Much as I was able to convince donors to give that money, I have the brains that can turn around a few things for the betterment of the lives of the people in Uganda.
“FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY”
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