UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Ms Beti Kamya, the Inspector General of Government (IGG), has requested that the High Court overturn a report by Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) that implicated her and Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija in the USh10.6 billion land compensation.
The IGG is now demanding USh5 billion in general damages, USh800 million in exemplary damages, and USh700 million in punitive damages, claiming that she has been subjected to a great deal of humiliation, mental torment, misery, and reputational harm.
On August 4, Parliament approved COSASE’s findings and demanded that Ms Kamya and Mr Kasaija be investigated.
Ms Kamya, through her attorneys at ASB Advocates, stated in a notice of motion seeking judicial review of the COSASE findings of September 23, that the COSASE report was unlawful, inappropriate, and unreasonable.
She said that COSASE took an unreasonable choice to probe her for allegedly “starting” the extra spending procedure without any proof to back it up.
The ombudsman further stated that the findings and recommendations were reached by procedural impropriety or an unreasonable assessment of the evidence, circumstances, and relevant legislation.
She further claimed that the COSASE investigation was invalid since the alleged disputed spending had already been investigated and cleared by the ad hoc committee, as well as by the entire Parliament.
The COSASE committee, led by Nakawa East MP Joel Ssenyonyi, discovered that at least four landowners in various regions of the nation were unlawfully rewarded for their land.
Mr Geoffrey Mugisha, Mr Stephen Nagenda, Ms Natalia Namuli, and Kosia Rwabukurukuru are among them.
The committee noted that Ms Kamya, who was then the Minister of Lands, began the additional budget to compensate land claimants, although the Uganda Land Commission was required to do so (ULC).
The committee also said that the USh10 billion in compensation was distributed among phantom applicants.
Ms Kamya informed the committee that she was carrying out the President’s direction to pay the family of the late Kosiya Rwabukurukuru.
For instance, the committee discovered that Ms Namuli was not the legal owner of the land for which she was to receive USh2.3 billion in compensation.
The committee was surprised to see that the legal team of Lubega and Buzibira Co. lawyers who defended her received USh2.3 billion in illicit payments.
Ms Kamya made it clear in her affidavit that she didn’t request a supplemental budget, but rather that the Finance Ministry give money to the ULC to quickly resolve land claims, including those based on presidential orders, court orders, and claims from sick claimants who expressed an urgent need for medical care.
“…unlike other supplementary budgets, Parliament instituted an ad hoc committee to scrutinise the compensation claims wherein the committee went on the ground and visited the families of the claimants and in its findings verified and recommended payments to a tune of Shs10.62b,” she states.
She adds: “The Parliament’s ad hoc committee was appointed and mandated to inquire into the matter and its findings and report suggested and recommended that Parliament appropriates funds for the settlement of specific claimants as indicated in its report.”
She maintained that the COSASE committee investigations, which resulted in the “impugned” report, were carried out improperly and in breach of natural justice principles.
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