Hon. Lady Justice Catherine chairperson Commission of Inquiry into UNRA
KAMPALA: The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of\r\nMismanagement, Abuse of Office and Corrupt Practices in the Uganda National\r\nRoads Authority (UNRA) has been extended by another three months.
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President\r\nYoweri Museveni, on September 5, 2015, signed a new instrument extending the\r\nCommission time from the original three months – which was to expire on\r\nSeptember 7, 2015. "The Commission shall submit a report of its findings and\r\nrecommendations…to the President in December 2015,” the new instrument read in\r\npart.
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The\r\nCommission’s Chairperson, Hon. Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, who was\r\nrecently appointed alongside six others to the Court of Appeal, has welcomed\r\nthe extension.
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"It\r\ncomes at an opportune time as the Commission prepares an interim report on the\r\nwork so far handled. The extra time granted will go a long way in helping the\r\nCommission to cover all the areas of the Terms of Reference,” she said in an\r\ninterview.
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The\r\nCommission has in the past three months covered about 60 per cent of its\r\nmandate in which it has investigated into the handling of civil works,\r\ncontracts management, the handling of more roads, and areas of procurement. She\r\nsaid part of the Commission time was taken up by the extensive paperwork and\r\ndesktop preparation works before the field and public hearings that was quite\r\nextensive.
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"We\r\nhope that the next quarter will be a little faster because we got quite a lot\r\nof information. But the amount of public interest outpaces the time the Commission\r\ncan ever have,” said Hon. Lady Justice Bamugemereire.
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The\r\nother Commissioners on the five-man probe team include: Ben Okello Luwum,\r\nAbraham Nkata, Eng. Patrick Rusongoza and Richard Mungati. Others include\r\nCharles Emuria (Commission secretary), Daniel Rutiba (assistant commission\r\nsecretary), Andrew Kasirye (lead counsel), and Mary K. Kutesa (assistant lead\r\ncounsel).
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The\r\nCommission conducts public hearings at the Imperial Royalle Hotel’s Equator\r\nHall in Kampala.
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The Commission Terms of Reference
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1. To\r\ninvestigate and inquire into the procurement and contract management processes\r\nby which UNRA awarded contracts for national road works.
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2. To\r\ngenerally examine, investigate the procurement of works, services and supplies\r\nby UNRA.
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3. To\r\ninvestigate and inquire into the management, supervision and administration of\r\nnational road works by UNRA.
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4. To\r\ngenerally examine and inquire into the legal and corporate governance\r\nstructures of UNRA.
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5. To\r\ninvestigate and inquire into the financial management systems of UNRA.
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6. To\r\ninvestigate and inquire into the acquisition of land by UNRA and generally to\r\nexamine the basis and methodology employed by the Authority to compensate land\r\nowners and persons affected by national road works.
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7. To\r\ninvestigate and inquire into the management, supervision and administration of\r\npublic weigh-bridges by UNRA.
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8. Generally,\r\nto inquire into any other matter which appears to the Commission, to be\r\nreasonably related to the matters above or to be in the public interest.
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9. To\r\nmake appropriate recommendations based upon their findings for remedial actions\r\nor such other actions against persons found to have acted improperly in the\r\ndischarge of their public duties and those persons who benefited from the impugned\r\nactions of the public officials.
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10. To make appropriate\r\nrecommendations upon their findings for criminal prosecution or other actions\r\nagainst any person found to have engaged in criminal or improper conduct.
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11. To make any other\r\nrecommendations as it may consider appropriate in the public interest.
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http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni-extends-UNRA-probe-term-/-/688334/2863278/-/12koscy/-/index.html
Posted 9th, September 2015
