Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The new chairperson of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee-PAC Central Government, Medard Lubega Sseggona has pledged to lead a team that will work within ‘the four corners’ of ethical conduct and values.
Sseggona was speaking shortly after receiving a hand over report from Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the outgoing PAC chairperson. Nandala has been chairperson of the Committee since 13th February 2019.
The Public Accounts Committee is appointed by Parliament to examine the accounts of different ministries, missions abroad, and other entities in the Central government, showing the appropriation of funds for public expenditure and how they were spent.
“Yes you have heard unsubstantiated stories about parliament and its committees. You may find that there are some few, some who are not even Members of Parliament who go around shopping for bribes. Anyone who falls prey to such conmen will have himself or herself to blame,” said Sseggona.
Sseggona says that the new 43 member committee that he is going to lead pledges and commits to the people of Uganda to live by ethical and professional standards.
He also appealed to members of the Committee to be guided by values of commitment and time management.
“Everything that this committee does is time-bound, and time therefore is of essence,” Sseggona explained. “We have timelines within which to deliver to the country and that calls for discipline. And discipline among others means that we may have to drop some of the other commitments we have elsewhere and commit time to the people of Uganda.”
The new Committee chairperson appreciated the culture of handing over responsibility, a virtue he described as very scarce among people.
He thus committed: “It is my commitment that during my tenure in office, this office belongs to God and will be used to serve the purpose of God. This office belongs to the people of Uganda and will and must be used to serve the purpose for which the people of Uganda created it.”
The Busiro East MP said that PAC is more or less a disciplinary committee of public officers and therefore cannot be a very popular office. He however said that this notwithstanding, they shall and continue to make the office a more friendly but functional.
He boasted of having former chairpersons and deputies of PAC as some of the assigned committee members and that this empowers him and the entire committee to take parliament to greater heights.
In his handover report, Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the former PAC chairperson said that his leadership worked during the tough times of Covid-19 but even amid the challenges, they worked extra time and were able to complete the backlog and have the committee business up to date.
He reported that his leadership completed considering audit reports for financial years 2016/2017, 2017/2018, 2018/2019, and 2019/2020 on the health sector, Justice, Law and Order sector, Central government, and Education sector. He however said that those for Missions Abroad for 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 financial years could not be handled.
He tipped the new Committee chairpersons to work with other sectoral committees saying that when meeting a particular sector, it is important for the chairperson of that particular Sectoral committee to be informed and they send a staff because they have inside information on the sector.
Nandala also pointed out challenges faced during his leadership, citing lack of storage space for documents, member absenteeism, failure to absorb PAC staff in the Parliamentary Commission Service, unprofessional conduct of some parliament staff and others.
According to Nandala, if these challenges are addressed, the committee work will go on smoothly.
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