The Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) has threatened to withdraw the budget for Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) over legal related issues.
It follows the failure by the Deputy Chief Coordinator of OWC, Lt Gen Charles Angina to prove the legal basis on which the government entity operates yet it receives public funds from National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS).
While appearing before the COSASE committee on Wednesday, Angina was asked to explain the relationship between OWC and NAADS but the committee members were not satisfied with his response.
He told the committee chaired by Bugweri county MP, Abdul Katuntu that Operation Wealth Creation was created by an executive order by President Museveni to iron out the inefficiencies in NAADS.
Angina said that OWC is guided by the Standard Orders of Procedure of 2015 drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.
“We came in after previous interventions that did not yield the desired results. We all know how NAADS’ performance was wanting and how they used to parade fake results which prompted the President to shift the mandate to OWC where the army officials had been tested while dealing with veterans,” Angina said.
The standing orders stipulate that OWC officers will supervise delivery and lead in the distribution of strategic interventions to benefiting households, report to OWC secretariat housed in the Office of the President, with copies to Ministry of Agriculture, legislators and line agencies.
However, Katuntu together with Rubaga North MP, Moses Kasibante, Women’s Representatives for Koboko; Margaret Baba Diri and Anita Among insisted that the army is not provided for under the NAADS Act in the distribution of seeds across the country.
“If the President thought it fit to change the operations of NAADS, he would have called for an amendment within the NAADS Act to cater for OWC, ” Katuntu said.
Katuntu told the officials that the committee might recommend that the budget for Operation Wealth Creation for the 2018/19 financial year is not passed until legal isues are resolved.
Subsequently, the Commitee has summoned the Attorney General, as well as Ministers for Agriculture and Presidency to appear with officials from the OWC Secretariat next week on Wednesday.
Last year, sections of the media reported that Gen Angina was mobilizing MPs to turn OWC into an agency by what he refered to as a legal framework. The Observer reported that part of the General’s plan was for OWC to handle procurement of inputs themselves by way of deploying “cadres” to the contracts and procurement committees of NAADS. The General argued that NAADS had failed and were the reason for poor quality and late deliveries.
These reports did not go down well with other government agencies in the Ministry of Agriculture. NAADS Executive Director, Dr. Sam Mugasi responded advising Gen Angina to stop the blame game.