Old ghosts return to haunt Finance Ministry Internal Auditor General amidst retirement controversy
The tenure of Fixon Akonya Okonye, the Internal Auditor General (IAG) at the Ministry of Finance is set to end in October, 2025 after clocking the mandatory retirement age of 60 years.
Whereas there has been whispers that he was supposed to retire in June this year, he confirmed to this publication last week that it is instead October.
“My mandatory retirement is 25th Oct 2025. I’ll continue working until that day without fear or favour,” he said.
However, top-level sources at the Finance ministry have intimated that a lobby group of powerful politicians and technocrats is seeking to have his tenure extended by President Museveni with a fresh contract.
These efforts are reportedly led by Speaker of Parliament Anita Among.
On the other hand, a number of ministry technocrats are seeking to have him retire honorably to avoid a management impasse that could have a damaging effect in the ministry.
The office of internal auditor general (OIAG) supervises all internal auditors in government institutions to ensure all government resources generated and allocated to such institutions are utilised according to plans stipulated by governing councils and boards of such institutions.
Okonye, who has worked with the ministry since 1992, has served as the internal auditor general since 2015.
According to insiders in the ministry, Okonye is one of the few long-serving technocrats remaining following sweeping changes in recent years that saw a number of retirements or transfers. These include Kenneth Mugambe, the former director Budget and Lawrence Semakula, the former Accountant General.
OLD GHOSTS
The reason why several Finance ministry officials want Okonye out is premised on his somewhat controversial tenure as the IAG.
Sources say Okonye should have exited the ministry long time ago with a possibility of jail over several scandals where his name has been cited prominently had it not been the hand of ‘Godfathers/mothers’.
In fact, his name has appeared in a number of sagas such as the infamous Pension payments, Cooperatives compensations and the recent Bank of Uganda (BOU) heist.
There have been concerns about his competence, with Members of Parliament questioning his ability to effectively audit government programs.
60BN BOU HEIST
According to sources, he narrowly survived being part of the people arraigned in court in regards to the BOU-Finance ministry Shs 60 billion scandal.
As the supervisor and deployer of all internal auditors in government institutions, his role in that saga was the failure to deploy an internal auditor to supervise the vote 130 [Treasury Operations] on which the heist was made, sources say.
Vote 130, caters for statutory expenditure – obligations that government must meet in a financial year like interest payment on loans, cashing out matured bonds and treasury bills, among others.
It is a vote that strictly goes to servicing of national debt and other financial obligations and has since been rising now to over 20 trillion.
And because of lack of Okonye’s alleged oversight, on September 10, 2024, $6.1 million (Sh22.5 billion) meant for the World Bank repayment was fraudulently sent to a company called Roadway Ltd. Two weeks later, on September 26, another $5.9 million (Sh21.7 billion) intended for the African Development Fund was wrongly transferred to MJS International in London. The funds, originally meant to clear government loans, were funneled into private accounts.
“Jennifer [Muhuruzi], the Finance ministry acting director of Treasury Services and Asset Management, is innocent in this saga and couldn’t detect the fraud immediately because there was no internal auditor for that vote. The Public Finance and Management Act stipulates that every vote has to have an internal auditor, something Okonye had allegedly frustrated for years,” says a deep source.
Sources say when the saga unfolded, Okonye secretly contacted his Godfathers/Mothers who eventually intervened and saved him from arrest.
Asked about this saga, Okonye said he did nothing wrong and that’s why investigators let him off the hook.
“Deployments of staff are made by the Permanent Secretary / Secretary to the Treasury who has a Deployment Committee that chairs to render technical advice. Even without a specific person deployed, the [Finance Ministry] Headquarters team audits is guided by the risk assessment. Treasury has always been audited and advice rendered through reports issued,” he said.
PENSION SAGA
Back in 2012, Okonye, who reports to the Finance ministry permanent secretary, also avoided prosecution in the infamous 2012 pension scam in which Police CID investigators grilled him for paying gratuity to ghost people using Cairo bank and withdrawing money through ATMs.
Acting as the commissioner, Internal Audit, in the ministry of Finance, Okonye was accused of fraudulently paying more than 3,000 ghost pensioners, costing the taxpayer Shs169 billion.
Okonye was alleged to have known the ongoing fraud in the pension department of the ministry for Public Service but failed to act or even notify the authorities.
Okonye says this matter was highlighted in several of his annual reports and he was exonerated.
Okonye also told Public Accounts Committee MPs later on that his office was by-passed on verifying the list of pensioners at the time the payment was made.
Okonye told the committee that his office dealt with collection of bio-data of pension and gratuity recipients but was never consulted on the verification of final payment schedule from the Public Service.
MAAIF 10BN SAGA
In the scandal, investigators from the Inspectorate of Government (IG) established that during the FY2020/21, the ministry’s technocrats misappropriated funds totaling to Shs 10.2 billion to Bukalasa Agricultural College (BAC) and Fisheries Training Institute (FTI) at different times. The funds were related to activities during the Covid-19 lockdown. It culminated with the IG ordering officials to refund the money.
Some of the internal auditors implicated were Godfrey Odong, Stephen Nzogi, Betty Nanyondo and Kenneth Mugumya. Okonye allegedly used his position to protect indicted juniors from prosecution. That he did this through promotions and transfers.
Asked about this, Okonye says this was also handled to satisfaction in in his then annual reports, though he didn’t share the reports requesting us to get them from our sources.
“Agriculture matters and pensions matters were well reported in my annual reports,” he stressed.
400BN DOMESTIC ARREARS INFLATION SAGA
In 2020, parliament’s Finance Committee raised doubts about Okonye’s competence following an independent audit that revealed that the Finance ministry had inflated domestic arrears to a tune of Shs 400bn.
Okonye’s report to parliament had indicated that government’s domestic arrears stood at Shs 2.1 trillion but upon getting subjected to a review by Ernst & Young, a private auditor, a private audit firm, figures showed the public debt at just Shs 1.7tn.
Okonye told the MPs that it could have been an error and there was no thieving intent.
All in all, Okonye is of the view that “well designed frauds can go unnoticed temporarily but not for long.”
“Internal Oversight, External Oversight, Parliament or Boards, Management and systems in place will eventually detect and deter fraud. That is what has happened,” he emphasised.
RETIREMENT STANDOFF
Okonye’s expertise and knowledge of the ministry are undeniable, but the controversy surrounding his extended stay has cast a shadow over his legacy.
Critics argue that his extended stay might hinder the progress of junior officials having failed or deliberately refused to mentor them.
“He’s determined to stay, despite reaching retirement age,” said a senior ministry official, who wished to remain anonymous.
Sources close to the matter indicate that Speaker of Parliament Anita Among is leading the effort to extend Okonye’s tenure through a fresh contract with President Museveni’s approval.
However, some ministry technocrats are opposed to the move, citing potential management impasse and damage to the ministry.
In response to the controversy, Okonye told this publication that his retirement date is October 25, 2025, and he will continue working until then.
He also denies”Godfathers/mothers” allegations, asserting that he has served on merit and grown in his role through dedicated service although he doesn’t deny belonging to the same tribe with the Speaker of Parliament.
“I am serving on merit and I have grown in the Service on merit through many years of dedicated Service. The Rt Hon Speaker has a job to perform in Parliament. To belong to the same tribe, can surely not be an offence. I have served on merit including serving as President, Senior Vice President and Vice President of the Institute of Internal Auditors because my competences and skills were valued not because of knowing individuals,” he stressed.
“To the best of my knowledge, the job will be advertised externally and the best candidate will take it, not politics.”
There have been concerns about his competence, with Members of Parliament questioning his ability to effectively audit government programs.
Watch this space as this controversy unfolds in our subsequent publications.
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