Humanist

In 2016, using beans loaded with impurities as the analytical framework, I authored a blog post: “UNBS is incompetent.” Ten days ago, I was reminded of it when I was shopping in a prestigious supermarket in Entebbe. To my utter shock, unabashedly, beans packaged in clear polyethene bags through which the impurities clearly stared one in the face were on the shelves. We are talking huge stones bigger than the beans, rotten discoloured aflatoxin infected beans, and other impurities.

No difference with the beans from the duukas. I called one of the supermarket aids and pointed out the obvious impurities to her. She took a pack to the back and returned saying that the manager had said something or rather that they cannot be expected to catch all the impurities at point of packaging. It was not just the one pack. Every single pack had impurities.

It is against this background that I am digesting the bombshell story, “UNBS Director accused of misappropriating Shs12.5 billion,” and the ongoing probe into the Uganda National Bureau of Standards by the Uganda Parliament’s Committee on Public Accounts – Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE).

This exchange between the COSASE Committee Chair and the UNBS Executive Director (ED) speaks volumes and reveals much, much, much more than meets the eye.

COSASE Chair: David Livingstone Ebiru, are you confirming this committee that you bribed (UNBS) Board Members with 100 million shillings?

UNBS ED: Yes sir.

Where did you get the 100 million shillings?

I borrowed the money.

So, this was personal money?

Yes sir.

And you handed it over to who?

Representative of the Board Chair, a Board Member, Mr. Omara. He came and picked it from my office.

Was it cash?

Cash.

In a bag?

In a bag.

The letter was a ransom that “you know you are in trouble.” I was even shown a letter from the Minister to him to dismiss me arising from that letter from the IGG (Inspector General of Government). So, I was told: “you see this, read it.”

And that happened in a restaurant called Panamera, opposite Kampala Parents. The Chairman’s residence is in Naguru, so he called me there. “Come urgently, this is the issue, to cool this, do the needful.”

 It is just that am not a spy, I do not have a record of that.”

Source: NTV Uganda

What possessed him to answer the questions in such a manner? Really what? And sincerely, why did he not just borrow the money, invest it in an income earning venture and then resign? Many questions I have of why he incompetently handled the situation when he was caught. I mean this is a highly schooled man with first class degrees and with tens of years of work experience in senior management positions.

The cultural anthropologist in me has kicked in. I would urge him to look into his recent past and atone to the spirits of his in-laws whom he has directly and or indirectly offended. Because, how he is handling the situation does not scream clean rational mind. It screams mind uneasy and possessed.

Could it be the spirit of his late mother-in-law? Could it be the spirit of two late sisters of his late mother-in-law? Could it be the spirit of the late brother of his late mother-in-law? Just saying, it is time for him to reflect on what is the matter with him. How did he not even have presence of mind to invoke the “I need to consult my legal counsel before I answer that question” move!

As a nation we really need to re-think and rationalize the many statutory bodies that we have and with similar mandates. What is the value-add of UNBS? What is the value-loss of UNBS? If the former outweighs the latter, then keep UNBS. If it is the opposite then please shut it down and let us stopping haemorrhaging tax payer funds that could be put to better public service delivery.

Featured photo @ The Independent