KOLOLO: During his speech to parliament after the budget speech by Finance Minister Matiya Kasaijja, President Yoweri Museveni revealed he is ready to expose those harassing his minister Monica Musenero Musanza, with facts.
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations (MoSTI) has had a rough two years in office after a parliamentary committee released a report last month to the effect that she had mismanaged COVID 19 funds meant for manufacturing a Ugandan-made vaccine. The report also accused her of mismanaging several funds in the ministry before she aided its transfer to the President’s office.
But President Museveni appears unhinged by the report and has promised to come back and defend her with facts.
“I will come back and defend Musenero. Most of you will hide. God gave me a voice and I can talk. You can talk but I can also talk,” Museveni warned at Kololo Independence Grounds where the parliamentary session sat.
Following this revelation, Top Secrets brings you what was found in Museveni’s file via informed sources.
The report by Museveni’s own investigators has found out that no funds were ever released to Musenero while she presided over the Presidential Scientific Initiative on Epidemics(PRESIDE). Funds were released to the ministry before she took control of it.
The report to Museveni further reveals that the ministry directly transmitted the funds to Scientists organizations including Makerere University, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Busitema University and others and the PRESIDE Secretariat did not receive money, did not have a bank account because it was a Statehouse office.
“Of the budgeted 15.7b for scientists, 2.6b was not released from MoSTI to the scientists,” the report reads.
TOP SECRETS has found out from the report that theresearch work has progressed and President Museveni has been briefed that the current crisis is because people are confusing vaccine research with vaccine manufacturing.
“The investigation is simply one aspect of witch-hunt which has followed a chain of other attacks,” the report adds.
Accordingly, over 10 petitions have been written against the person of the minister by different quarters and prominent of them are suspected staff of the former Ministry.
TOP SECRETS has discovered that the President has been told that some key petitioners who include top MPs and former prominent staff of the ministry, had thought they were in line to become ministers and are hell-bent of working hard to have Musenero removed.