Vice President Gilbert Bukenya on Thursday came under fire from the parliamentary public accounts committee on his alleged role in the illegal leasing of VIP cars used in the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Bukenya was accused of influence peddling, flouting procurement laws and causing a financial loss of six billion shillings to the government of Uganda. This arises from his decision to lease rather than directly purchase executive BMW cars used during CHOGM.
Nandala Mafabi, the Budadiri East MP who heads the public accounts committee, said in December 2006 Bukenya chaired a meeting in which he directed the mode of procurement of the cars. According to Mafabi, Bukenya took this decision individually and should take personal responsibility for the loss.
The Vice President refused to accept the blame. He said all decisions of the CHOGM cabinet sub-committee he chaired were made with the consent of others.
Bukenya said the Ministry of Works and Transport was in charge of implementing the decisions of the committee. He said it should explain the doubling of fleet transport costs and procurement decision.
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