The Minister of Trade, Francis Mwebesa, has suspended David Livingstone Ebiru, the Executive Director of Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), for six months to pave the way for investigations into allegations of bribing the Board with Shs100m for extension of his contract, misappropriation of public funds and misconduct.
While appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE), which had summoned the bureau to respond to the Auditor General’s queries for the financial year ended June 2022, Mwebesa expressed shock at Ebiru still holding office despite having ordered the board to suspend him in June 2023.
On Wednesday, 19 July 2023, Ebiru confessed to bribing the Chairperson and Board of UNBS with Shs100 million to avoid his pending suspension.
Both the Inspectorate of Government (IG) and the Minister of Trade had recommended the suspension of the ED.
While appearing before a parliamentary committee on Friday, Ebiru withdrew his statement earlier made before Parliament that he bribed the Board with Shs100m for an extension of his contract, saying the remarks were made out of anger and high animosity between him and the Board.
“I wish to formally submit to withdraw that statement because I took note that it offended many people and it was quoted out of context. So, regarding the issue of offering my chairman Shs100m for protection as reported, I want to withdraw it formally because I know it was recorded but I want to confirm that it was out of the environment we were operating in, high tempers, high animosity so it was really not intended to harm anybody,” said Ebiru.
The Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, asked Ebiru to comply with the suspension, so as to allow smooth flow of business at UNBS, as any interference may affect the Bureau’s mandate of ensuring minimum standards of good Ugandans consume.
“You people are in charge of quality control of the commodities we consume. So, when you seem not to be orderly and there is all this chaos, we are thinking, what standards are you keeping? We get worried about what we consume. Because ultimately, it could harm us, so sort out your house, that is the bottom line,” Ssenyonyi noted.
Ssenyonyi also tasked the minister to explain why he wrote a letter to Ebiru, suspending him for six months on 26 June 2023, but on 27 June 2023, he wrote another letter to the Chairperson of the UNBS Board rescinding his earlier decision.
He also tasked the Board Chairperson, Charles Musekuura, to state why he was given the authority to suspend Ebiru but he didn’t.
Musekuura told the committee that Ebiru actually rejected the suspension.
Mwebesa on his part said that he was shocked to see Ebiru still in office yet he had suspended him.
Mawokota South MP, Hon. Yusuf Nsibambi, read for the minister the Uganda National Bureau of Standards Act, which gives the minister powers to appoint the Executive Director, stating that the suspension, therefore, can only be done by the minister, not the board.