text: Igg Completes Investigating Uwa, Boss Sseguya
  Appeared in The Observeron 08 Aug 2017
  The Inspectorate of Government has completed investigations into the allegations of bribery and mismanagement levelled against Dr Andrew Sseguya, the executive director of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
  Ali Munira, the spokesperson, Inspectorate of Government, told URN over the weekend that the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Justice Irene Mulyagonja has already dispatched the report to the president.
  "We completed the investigations and handed over the report to the president who is the complainant. We cannot reveal our findings because the report is not ours," Munira said.
  In a May 2, 2017 letter, President Yoweri Museveni wrote to Mulyagonja ordering for investigation into the affairs of UWA. He listed eight issues he needed investigated - key among them was that Sseguya authorized the export of pangolin known as Olugave in Luganda, its meat and scales contrary to international conventions.
  He noted that in July 2014, UWA issued a permit for the export of over 7,000 kg of pangolin scales to Laos in Asia. Pangolin scales, skin and meat are all highly valued, making it the most illegally traded mammal in the wild, according to International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
  Pangolin meat is a delicacy among the newly affluent parts of China and Vietnam. Museveni also expressed displeasure over the reported theft of 1,300Kgs of impounded Ivory worth Shs 3 billion from UWA stores and murders in national parks among criminals fighting for proceeds from poaching.
  He also asked the IGG to investigate Sseguya for trying to get a bribes from Centenary, DFCU and Crane bank so as to maintain the Shs 28 billion deposits in those banks.
  "When the banks refused to bribe him, he withdrew the money and caused loss of Shs 1.5 billion. Even without causing financial loss, it is criminal enough for a public officer to take bribes." reads Museveni's letter.
  Museveni also asked the IGG to investigate the procurement of the software for tracking gorillas in disregard of the laid down procedures. He was also bitter that UWA has failed to act on his advice to install an electric fence around national parks.
  "Up to now, the UWA people have never either acted on it, or had the courtesy to tell me why they cannot," he said.
  A reliable source in the office of the Inspectorate of Government, says the UWA boss is implicated on three of the eight issues raised by the president.
  According to the source, Sseguya is implicated for authorising the export of pangolin contrary to international treaties, soliciting bribes from Centenary and Crane banks and failure to implement the president's directive to install an electric fence around the national parks.
  Don Wanyama, the president's press secretary told URN this afternoon that he wasn't yet aware of the report, but hastened to add that if the IGG has confirmed then there is no doubt the report was handed over.