KAMPALA – Parliament, through the public accounts committee, has ordered the arrest of Doreen Katusiime, the permanent secretary of the ministry of tourism, after she failed to appear before the committee.
Katusiime is accused of refusing to respond to accountability queries raised following the mismanagement of funds in the ministry of tourism and instead sending delegates to appear before the committee on her behalf.
The chair of the public accounts committee Mr Muwanga Kivumbi,, said Katusiime is fond of dodging summons from parliament’s accountability committees.
This is a habitual person in terms of dodging Parliament and accountability committees, and I have looked through the file, and because of her behaviour, the committee was forced to consider the report without her appearance, and she is back at it again, same trick, same personality,” he said.
Kivumbi ordered the criminal investigation department to accompany the undersecretary to Katusiime’s home and bring her before the committee.
Do you know where the accounting officer stays? I am going to give her criminal summons, CID; you accompany the Under Secretary; go to her home and get her here, he ordered.
He continued to protest the time wastage caused by Katusiime as a result of dodging committee meetings, saying MPs have spared time off recess to come attend committee meetings only to be made to look like fools.
“This business of wasting our time will not be tolerated. That is the way you have been behaving; I will not get you off. There is nothing you are going to echo; you did it deliberately. The MPs were asked to come here; Parliament is on recess, and they are here to do their job, only to be made to look like fools by the actions of one person. I don’t want us to waste our time; you are going to stay here, he said.
The committee learned that Katusiime took her annual leave a few days before the scheduled meeting with the Parliamentary Accounts Committee.
