MPs probe $5.5m Museveni war pay to Burundi

President Museveni ordered senior officials in the Ministry of Finance to pay more than $14.2 million (about Shs35.5 billion) to Burundi, MPs heard yesterday. The claims are now a subject of investigation by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The acting Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi, told PAC that Burundi supplied material to President Museveni’s National Resistance Army rebels during the bush war (1981-1986) and after the liberation war; the support was converted into a national debt.

However, PAC Chairman Kassiano Wadri said: “Money given to Museveni’s rebels fighting in bush was a private matter and they did not have any legal mandate to commit the country. If these NRA rebels had been captured by the government in power then, they were going to be charged with treason.”

It has also emerged that while under a debt relief agreement signed between the two countries, Burundi had cancelled interest of $5,504,302 (about Shs13.7 billion), President Museveni through unclear circumstances ordered Ministry of Finance to pay the interest on account that Burundi was a poor country.

The directive

In one of his letters on the matter, the President on March 2, 2009, told then Attorney General Khiddu Makubuya and Finance Minister Syda Bbumba to assist Burundi, saying: “Burundi is a poor country which is recovering from war and therefore, cannot be considered to be like rich nations to which we owe debts. I am therefore, of the opinion that where we can, we should support them. The agreement notwithstanding, can we pay this amount of $5.5m as an ex-gratia to the people of Burundi?”

Mr Muhakanizi told PAC that President Museveni and his Burundian counterpart met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the two leaders agreed that $5.5 million that had been waived be reinstated and donated to the people of Burundi as ex-gratia.

Daily Monitor