Lawyer asked to refund Shs 39bln meant for Kabale tea growers
KAMPALA, October 25, 2023 – Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises [COSASE] in a report says city lawyer Patrick Katabaazi Kiconco must reimburse a sum of Shs 39 billion that he received from the National Agricultural Advisory Services [NAADS] to pay operators of tea nursery beds in the hilly Kabale district.
The lagislators in their report presented to the House days ago held Katabaazi responsible for not delivering all the funds to the tea nursery bed operators who continue to demand NAADS Secretariat for the money.
Katabaazi had asserted that he was representing a consortium of more than 711 tea nursery bed operators who he claimed to have paid. Nevertheless, the MPs disputed his claims by presenting bank statements that highlighted disparities between the amounts stated by Katabaazi and the actual funds that were received by the farmers.
Following the scandal, Parliament has recommended that government agencies avoid channeling payments through legal representatives as a preventive measure to avert similar incidents in the future. The COSASE report underscores the importance of making future pending payments directly to the intended beneficiaries.
The Auditor General’s report for the financial year 2021/2022 had expressed worries regarding the absence of documentation proving that the funds had reached the designated recipients. The committee was also made aware of transactions in which funds were redirected back to the law firm’s account, raising concerns about possible misconduct.
Katabaazi refuted the existence of any grievances from farmers concerning the payments, but this assertion faced criticism from legislators, who accused him of implying that the absence of complaints equated to satisfaction.
He made it clear that the accountability report presented to NAADS did not encompass the figures referenced by the Members of Parliament, as it served as a summary of payments recorded at that specific moment.
In the course of the hearings, NAADS officials affirmed that Katabaazi’s law firm Pathways Advocates was responsible for generating the accountability schedules.
Counsel Kiconco is also the executive director, and founder of Centre for Budget and Tax Policy, a leading think tank on budget and tax policy in Africa and beyond.
https://thecooperator.news/mps-summon-kampala-lawyer-over-shs-39bln-tea-farmers-compensation/
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