Activist petitions court to quash appointment of BoU’s director of supervision

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | An activist has petitioned the High Court Civil Division in Kampala seeking to terminate the appointment of Dr Twinemanzi Tumubweine the executive director in charge of supervision at Bank of Uganda.

In his suit, Arnold Anthony Mukose argues that Twinemanzi is not fit to be in that position due to lack of experience in commercial banking, which is one of the key requirements for the job.

The applicant notes that the Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile in February 2018 appointed Twinemanzi and was in August 2020 confirmed as the Executive Director in charge of Supervision without the opinion of the Attorney General.

Through his lawyers of Kwesigabo, Bamwine and Walubiri Company Advocates, Mukose argues that the procedures leading to Twinemanzi’s appointment were improper and tainted with irrationality and unfairness.

Mukose argues that before Twinemanzi’s appointment, there was no internal and external advertisement of the job, no request by the executive director administration to the governor to recruit an executive director in charge of supervision through headhunting and other issues were never considered.

Mukose says that he is aware that Twinemanzi has a pass degree of Bachelors of Science in Statistics and Applied Economics which he obtained in 1996 at Makerere University.

“He has never worked in any commercial bank, has no work experience relevant to commercial banking and is accordingly incapable of effectively working as Executive Director in charge of Supervision”, reads the petition in part.

The evidence before the court indicates that after Twinemanzi had been appointed to that position where he replaced Justine Bagyenda, complaints were raised to the Inspectorate of Government and attempts by the Governor to answer them were unsatisfactory.

The records also indicate that the IGG directed the central bank not to ratify any actions or decisions taken by the Governor in relations to the appointments and transfers until such a time when the investigations have been concluded or when the Directorate directs otherwise.

But to date, investigations have never been concluded which is one of the grounds Mukose is basing on to challenge the appointment and confirmation of Twinemanzi.

In 2018, President Yoweri Museveni also put up a tripartite committee headed by Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri County MP) to investigate the issues surrounding new appointments and changes at Bank of Uganda.

But in the February 2019 report, the Committee found that the Governor unethically recruited new staff in a massive staff restructuring process that took place on February 7, 2018, and they also did not meet the minimum academic qualifications.

The committee also noted that Tumubweine who has a PhD in Economics had stated that his first degree was a first-class degree, yet he obtained a pass degree which is much far below the required minimum qualification for the position of Executive Director in charge of bank supervision.

The report also showed that he lacked working experience in commercial banking.

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