Uganda’s Senior Government Official Halts 80 Billion Shilling Fraud Scheme!

As government departments are locked in financial scandals day in and day out amidst World Bank threatening to cut aid, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Mrs Geraldine Ssali Busuulwa halted the plan which had been hatched by top officials in the Ministry of Finance, some Ministers and a group of Members of Parliament to swindle Sh80b taxpayers’ money.

When Ssali was appointed PS for the ministry of trade some three years ago, she found in place a plan to shift the ministry to a new building belonging to an individual claiming that the current building (Farmer’s House) was dilapidated to house the ministry.

Geraldine Ssali Busuulwa – Permanent Secretary Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives

Apparently, the ministry was going to part with Sh8b per year in rent at the new building and had already drafted a tenancy agreement to house the ministry for a period of 10 years!
Currently, the trade ministry rents Farmer’s house (current home) at Sh1.4b per year; the building is fully owned by the Uganda government under Uganda Property Holdings Limited, an institution which is under the President’s Office.
The thieves had actually alleged that the building was among those KCCA and the Ministry of Works condemned for destruction.
However, Ssali instead consulted KCCA and the Ministry of Works who made an inspection and informed her that the building was not among the condemned structures and would actually accommodate more floors.

The technical officials from both KCCA and the Ministry of Works noted that even though the building was constructed many years back, it’s more firm than even some new structures.

From that technical advice, she objected to the plan to shift the ministry and opted to carry out renovation at the cost of Sh6.2b.

In our next edition, we are going to expose the entire group behind this fraud!

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