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| Ndorwa West Mp, David BahatiBahati, Minister of state MoFPED Uganda. |
No monie shall be lost, says Minister Bahati on the 2.2bn excess money MoFPED mistakenly sent to China
By: Leonard Kamugisha Akida
State Minister for Finance planning and Economic Development, David Bahati has assured the public that no part of the monies the ministry mistakenly sent to the Ugandan Embassy in China shall be lost.
Media reports indicate that Mofped Uganda, on 28th February,2020 mistakenly sent 600,000 instead of $61,000 to the Ugandan Embassy in China to help Ugandan students who are strapped in that Wuhan over the pandemic Corona Virus disease outbreak.
The public is suspicious the 2.2bn may be lost in the unclean hands of selfish individuals tasking the ministry to speak out on its move to have the money safely refunded.
Speaking to parliament today during the 24th sitting of the 3rd meeting of the 10th Parliament, Bahati clarified that the ministry is working tooth and nail to ensure the excess monies worth $538,200 are refunded to the treasury.
Its also on attention that yesterday 10th March, the ministry’s secretary to the treasury, Keith Muhakanizi wrote a letter to the Embassy asking it to refund the excess monies.
“As you are aware, on the 28th of February 2020, this ministry transferred $600,000 (Shs2.2 billion) to the Uganda Mission in Beijing to support the affected students. However, upon receipt of the cabinet extract, we noted that there is a discrepancy between the amounts therein and that stated in the letter from the Ministry of Education and Sports,” the letter reads in part.
The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to direct you to return the excess $538,200 back to the contingencies.” Muhakanizi in a letter to the Accounting office, Uganda Embassy in Beijing.
Accordingly, Uganda has a total number of 105 students studying in China with 65 of them reknown government sponsored students while the other 40 students are on a private sponsorship.
