The National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board (NLGRB) is facing heat over mishandling contracts.
Officials appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises chaired by Nakawa West MP Joel Ssenyonyi, to explain irregularities and allegations that the NLGRB awarded contracts to unqualified companies.
Ronald Kimanje, a Records Officer at NLGRB, told the Public Accounts Committee that he resigned from a contracts committee due to pressure from his superiors. He accused the CEO Denis Ngabirano of interfering with the procurement process and had been putting him under constant pressure to approve contracts for certain companies.
Kimanje also said that the contracts committee had been unable to meet regularly due to lack of quorum. This had led to delays in awarding contracts, which Ngabirano had blamed on Kimanje.
“The CEO was always asking me about the status of the contracts committee,” Kimanje said. “He would say things like, ‘Why are you delaying these contracts?’ or ‘Why are you not approving these contracts?'”
Kimanje spilled the beans saying he quit the contracts committee because his higher-ups were interfering too much.
Kimanje mentioned an incident when they finally had enough people to hold a meeting, and he offered to be the committee secretary. But, they needed certain documents for the procurement, and the CEO wanted the meeting minutes. Since the minutes hadn’t been approved by the committee yet, Kimanje couldn’t hand them over.
Also appearing before Cosase, Ngabirano defended himself against these allegations. Ngabirano agreed to pressurizing the contracts committee about their slow meetings and procurement delays. He says he even wrote a letter asking Kimanje to explain what was going on.
He however denied any interference or trying to favor any specific company calling the allegations against him a form of blackmail because he never got a response to his letter.
To add more perspectives, Deborah Kituyi, the Head of Legal Affairs at NLGRB, chimed in. She said the delay in awarding contracts was mainly due to the limited availability of committee members for meetings. Some of them had other responsibilities like field duties, which caused scheduling problems.
Deborah made it clear that the CEO never instructed them to give contracts to specific service providers. She explained that the delay happened because the minutes of the Committee were taking longer to process, just like Kimanje had mentioned.
The NLGRB is a government agency that is responsible for regulating the lottery and gaming industry in Uganda. The agency is responsible for awarding contracts to companies that provide lottery and gaming services.
The allegations against the NLGRB are serious and could have a significant impact on the agency’s reputation. The Public Accounts Committee is expected to release its findings in the coming weeks.