PAC orders arrest of Ministry of Tourism PS Katusiime
The Committee was told that Katusiime took her annual leave a few days to the scheduled meeting with Parliament.
The Public Accounts Committee has ordered Police to arrest Doreen Katusiime, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Tourism from her residential home, after MPs accused her of habitually refusing to respond to accountability queries and instead, delegating her roles to her juniors in the Ministry.
The Committee was told that Katusiime took her annual leave a few days to the scheduled meeting with Parliament.
Muwanga Kivumbi, the Chairperson public accounts committee (PAC) said, “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. 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 in 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 added.
Kivumbi was forced to issue summons for the arrest of Katusiime after the clerk to the Committee revealed that the Permanent Secretary pulled a similar move last year, forcing the Committee to consider the audit report of the Ministry of Tourism.
He said his decision was meant to put an end to her “disrespectful behavior”.
“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,” said Kivumbi.
The CID officials attached to Parliament failed to trace the whereabouts of Katusiime, prompting the Public Accounts Committee to issue fresh summons requiring her to attend a meeting on 19th March 2024.
MPs accused Katusiime of habitually snubbing meetings called by Parliament, requiring her to account for funds allocated to her Ministry.
“You recall aware we suspended the meeting and summoned the Permanent Secretary to appear, the Criminal Investigations Directorate is having difficulty tracing her, and the time we had set had elapsed, we want to extend the same summons to Tuesday 19thMarch 2024 at 3Pm, the CID is thereby directed,” said Kivumbi.
