By Our Reporters
On Monday close to a 1,000 accountants, auditors & other stakeholders converged at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel Entebbe for the 25th Annual Conference for East & Southern African Association of Accountants General (ESAAG) under the theme: “Public Financial Management Reforms; the engine of sustainable Development Goals & Economic Growth.” Hosted by Uganda’s Accountant General Lawrence Semakula, the conference ends Friday 2nd March. All Accountants General of the 14 ESAAG member countries are attending the event whose opening ceremony was presided over by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga who was accompanied by Finance Minister Matia Kasaijja. During the morning hours, Kadaga and Kasaijja made speeches in which they decried corruption and inefficiency which they said must be overcome for Africa to realize sustainable economic development. The duo underscored the importance of audit and accountability institutions and welcomed international participants to Kampala. On his part Mr. Lawrence Semakula, the Accountant General of Uganda, explained that ESAAG is a forum through which Accountants General regularly interact to share experiences and learn from each other on how to achieve improved financial management. The ESAAG membership currently stands at 14 member countries. Patrick Ocailap, who deputizes PSST Keith Muhakanizi and represented him, said that continuously undertaking Public Finance Management Reforms is the only way the Accounting and Auditing institutions can contribute towards wealth creation, poverty reduction and sustainable development.
MATEMBE COMES IN:
Whereas the morning sessions were clearly characterized by discussions on very serious stuff, things loosened up abit in the afternoon session which commenced with a powerful presentation by Miria Matembe who was designated as the day’s inspirational speaker. Speaking about leadership, being the topic organizers allowed her to choose herself; Matembe combined humor, knowledge and experience to keep her audience entertained. At some point she had to request the audience to “laugh sparingly” saying time wasn’t on her side.
She underscored the importance of personal integrity of accountants and auditors as corporate leaders in their organizations insisting that however much the likes of Ocailap will root for financial management reforms, sustainable development and other desired goals won’t be achieved when the individual accountants making critical decisions are not morally upright. She said leaders in much of Africa have turned out similar or even worse than their predecessors. She gave the example of Kenya where “the thieving Kalenjin mafia of the Moi era was replaced with a worse Kikuyu mafia under Kibaki” who came to power promising to stamp out corruption.
Speaking forcefully as usual, Matembe urged the accounting and auditing leaders assembled to be cautious to discern the difference between ambition and vision. She asked them to always epitomize shared visions for their respective organizations insisting that using one’s corporate office to pursue personal ambition will always lead to turmoil in the organizations they lead. Careful to avoid over politicizing an accountants’ gathering, Matembe peripherally referred to her country Uganda faulting President Museveni for failing to clearly distinguish between what is supposed to be the nation’s shared vision and his personal ambitions as a leader. “I know things are not good in my country when it comes to integrity in leadership and I know the situation is hardly any different in your respective countries.
Don’t lie to me that your countries are any different because I know this continent suffers the same scourge as if our leaders were fed on the same breast. It’s clear this Africa is the same and suffers the same problem of bad leadership both in the politics and corporate world,” Matembe said adding that many of the apolitical people in the corporate world have no moral authority to condemn political corruption in our governments because “you are hardly any better when it comes to being accountable.” Repeatedly quoting from the Bible, Matembe urged accountants to emulate Jesus Christ and to always lead prayerful lives.
The organizers chose Matembe, whose presentation was clearly appreciated and attracted a standing ovation, largely because of her historical role in promoting integrity and accountable leadership in Uganda during her days as the Minister of Ethics & Integrity in President Museveni’s government. She caused laughter when she said: “Its many years since I left government where I was dropped because I insisted on integrity but I have been okay. There isn’t one single day that I have starved or gone without food.” She said her personal experience is proof you don’t have to be a crook and compromise integrity values for you to live decently after leaving public office. See more in pictures our lens men took at the event (for comments on this & other Mulengera news stories, reach us on 0703164755):
