There were inaccuracies in the story: ''Donors freeze aid over corruption'' in your issue 117 of The Independent, issue June 25-July 01, 2010, which partly rotated around my name and role at the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE). It is unfortunate that I was not given an opportunity to be heard and hence have a balanced story. The Netherlands embassy Project in question started around 2005. An agreement was signed and funds were disbursed for project implementation. I was neither the president nor a member of UNFFE's board at the time. Project records to verify this fact can be reviewed at the federation.
I was elected by the Farmers Council and took over office in June 2007 when that specific Project was more or less closing. Besides, the roles of a chairman of a board do not include implementing projects and accounting for funds. The writer should have established who is always responsible for project implementation as well as financial management. As a board chairman, I was not even a signatory to any of UNFFE's bank accounts. I neither approved nor handled payments. My role as UNFFE president or chairman was to chair board meetings for policy decisions and also review reports and proposals from management. I wouldn't do this alone, but as a board. It is therefore not right to imply that I was responsible for accounting for funds in regard to the Netherlands embassy project. It's true the embassy wrote to me as the organisational head who was in office at the time but not as the one who was responsible for the project. But even before the embassy wrote their demand letter I had already reported to the Farmers Council twice, informing members of UNFFE's supreme organ about some of these challenges that I and the board had inherited. It was not only the Netherlands embassy. There were other cases like that of Global Fund, Netherlands based Agrittera, unremitted NSSF deductions with bounced cheques, among others.
When I assumed office in June 2007, I asked management why there were many cases of poor financial management, like the ones mentioned above. I was informed that they had an acute problem of staff salaries which were always expected to be drawn from the membership account of the federation. It was indeed evident as many staff salaries were in accumulated arrears. They told me they would borrow internally from other project accounts with a hope of refunding the same account whenever membership or other expected fees would come in. That practice had been going on. This was a serious point of concern to everybody including the donors and it had been one of the major queries during the Justice Ogoola Global Fund inquiry. UNFFE was faulted then for having diverted Global Fund project monies to pay staff salary arrears. A Netherland-based agency, Agriterra, had also queried UNFFE for diverting Shs34 million allegedly for staff salaries. My board continued to discourage this practice and tried to implement a number of governance reforms that Agriterra, one of the funders had put in place as a pre-condition to reinstate its funding. The reforms included putting in place a financial policy manual and also separating clearly the roles of the board and management. We did all that and Agrittera resumed funding. I however, could not reverse what had already been done. So, I was not the creator of those problems. I found them there.
Since 1992 when UNFFE was formed it fully relied on donor support for all its budget needs including administration costs. When the parent donor DANIDA changed its financing strategy and priorities, the federation started getting problems in meeting its overhead costs and thus diverting project funds for salaries for staff started.
The article said that UNFFE's executive had requested the Netherlands embassy to provide them with competent auditors to look into the federation's books of accounts but that the embassy had declined. This is true. It is not any other executive member who wrote and made this request but myself. I made the request in the spirit of transparency to help the organisation know from the audit who did what and who was culpable, rather than putting the blame on the incumbent political head in office. I also wanted to verify through an audit why management staff who were implementing the project diverted the said 17312 Euros and for what purpose. I hope the current leadership of UNFFE will institute audits into all these projects (Netherlands embassy, Global Fund, Agriterra, NSSF unpaid remittances) where funds were allegedly diverted to pay staff salaries and help the federation sort out itself.
Finally, the article alludes to issues of internal disagreements and that some UNFFE top executives were accusing me of arrogance among other things. The writer does not quote any of my accusers. But I wish to state that in any office where leadership is contested for, the elected leader will always have opponents and even adversaries. I could not have been an exception. I don't rule out my opponents having made schemes to tarnish me politically with such accusations and labels because of our internal political rivalry. This is not new in our politics. Being perceived to be arrogant is a subjective opinion of an individual. All that said and done, I am proud that I served my term very well and all the ideas and plans I put forward to strengthen the federation are on record. I did not offer myself to run for another term because of my other political engagements. The UNFFE is now more visible and known than before. I pioneered the concept of farmer policy dialogues aimed at creating platforms of engagement between farmers and policy makers. Through these dialogues, the farmers' voice has been greatly amplified. Our positions as farmers on many agricultural policy options were put on paper and disseminated to many stakeholders of the agricultural sector. I hope this programme will be promoted further by my successors. I however, appeal to all stakeholders of UNFFE including its potential donors to come up with ideas and projects that will make the organisation self reliant. With or without donor support UNFFE should be able to continue running.
Frank Tumwebaze is former UNFFE president/chairman and is now MP for Kibale County, Kamwenge district.
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