Former Permanent Secretary to the Office of the Prime Minister Mr Keith Muhakanizi predicted and forewarned about the iron sheets scandal which has gripped the office and caused arrest of three ministers.
Mr Muhanizi, who passed away last week, officially complained to the Public Service Ministry about Ministers at the OPM overstepping their mandates.
Speaking on Saturday at his funeral at Kololo this Saturday afternoon, Mrs Lucy Nakyobe Mboye told mourners that the Karamoja iron sheets scandal broke out just weeks after Muhakanzi reached out to her office to complain.
“I know that many of you are asking how did the iron sheets saga come up when he was PS in that office; but Keith had seen it coming and he had been to my office a few months before this happened,” Nakyobe said.
“One afternoon he came to my office and he accused me of not inducting the ministers. He told me that he had been quarreling with the ministers because they are in stores, they are in accounts, in procumbent, in HR; they are everywhere.
“He told me, I have come to report myself because if you hear anything, you know that I have disagreed with the ministers. He said I have warned them that these stores are going to cause them problems and indeed a month and half passed and this problem came.”
Nakyobe told mourners that when Muhakanizi was hospitalized in Milan, she called him seeking his advice because the scandal was persisting and making the government ‘look uglier.’
“So, I asked him, what do we do to cool it down, and he told me, I warned those ministers; let them take responsibility.”
According to Nakyobe, the late Muhakanizi had proposed a full overhaul of the OPM owing to the string of scandals that had hit the office.
“We agreed that when he returns, he would write a cabinet memo proposing restructuring of the OPM so that it concentrates on coordination and supervision so that implementation goes elsewhere.
The Head of Public, as such appealed to President Museveni to appoint another strong and fearless person to replace Muhakanzi, who will be able to follow up on this matter.