By Mulengera Reporters
During the Monday COSASE session, Committee Chairperson Nkunyingi Muwadda was very belligerent as always. He was in a combative mood and in the hot seat were the top management officials from Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) to face his wrath.
Dr. Protazio Sande, the Ag CEO, suffered most along with his Company Secretary Francesca Nakaggwa Kakooza (FCG). The MPs accused him of occupying of CEO in acting capacity without following proper due process, and Nakaggwa for failing to advise members of the governing board properly. Dr. Sande controversially replaced IRA founding CEO Ibrahim Lubega Kaddunabbi, who had led the regulatory entity for an eternity.
Some of the MPs claimed that PSST Ramathan Goobi (who sources say resents Kaddunabbi because back home in Butambala he refused to render adequate support to his younger brother Eriasa Mukiibi Serunjogi against NUP’s Muwanga Kivumbi during the January 2026 campaigns) usurped the Finance Minister’s powers in proclaiming Sande to serve as Ag CEO. An impression was created that the Board had been weaponized by haters at the Finance Ministry to marginalize Kaddunabbi.
At the end of it all, the MPs unanimously agreed with Nkunyingi’s move to dismiss and chase away the IRA delegation on grounds that there was no proof that Sande had validly been appointed to serve as Ag CEO. His instrument of appointment was only available in soft copy form on his phone yet the MPs insisted on a well authenticated hard copy.
Nkunyingi directed that the IRA delegation returns on Monday 10th August with all the board members plus some of the old board members who have since ceased to be part of the same. While heaping a lot of blame on the Company Secretary Nakaggwa, the MPs even doubted adherence of the top leadership at IRA to the most basic corporate governance requirements. The IRA delegation was primarily here to respond to queries raised in the Auditor General report of the FY2024/2025 but Nkunyingi said it would be suicidal to proceed without the Committee being sure that Dr. Protazio Sande is validly appearing before them and that he isn’t an impostor.
The old board members who must come along for the 10th August session include Dr. Isaac Nkoote Nabeta, the former chairman, Grace Bakunda who deputized him and James Muwawu. Nkunyingi, who kept asserting how the COSASE Committee has a lot of powers, insisted that even the PSST Ramathan Goobi personally appears on that same day at exactly 8am. Nkunyingi also accepted proposals by some of the MPs that even Kaddunabbi comes along since the audit queries before the Committee relate to transactions of the FY2024/2025 when he was the incumbent accounting officer.
SANDE REGISTERS HIS FEARS:
As Nkunyingi listed the documents they are supposed to bring and as members prepared to depart, Dr. Sande sought clarification. He specifically sought to know why the Committee was putting him in big problems by assigning him the duty to ensure the PSST, who is his boss, appears before them. He said he was fearful and unable to handle that task. Nkunyingi arrayed his fears by saying the Committee will handle that.
He then spoke about the three former board members making it clear he wasn’t in position to enforce their attendance since they aren’t part of IRA anymore. He said whereas he might find their phone numbers and be able to even call them, he wasn’t comfortable being responsible for their attendance or non-attendance of the 10th August session. Nkunyingi said the Committee can help on that too. The Ag CEO had also displayed a demeanor of someone uncomfortable being tasked with enforcing Kaddunabbi’s attendance of the same, prompting Nkunyingi to ask why he had a lot of nervousness towards the man he is supposed to have replaced.
Nkunyingi joked that Dr. Sande might be fearful of that day because Kaddunabbi, who is already in court to challenge his ouster, might use the 10th August session to assert and insist that he is still the lawful and valid CEO for IRA. In the end, Dr. Protazio Sande reluctantly agreed to reach out and ensure that Kaddunabbi is adequately notified about the need for him to show up on 10th August.
There was general hostility among some Committee members who are angry over the fact IRA could have been one of the government MDAs which have always been unwilling and generally reluctant to come to interface with the accountability committees of Parliament.
While registering their dismay with Nakaggwa, who is the Board Secretary, MPs made it clear it was unacceptable for a regulator like IRA to breach any of the corporate governance rules. Nakaggwa tried her best to explain herself until it came to a point when she made it clear she wasn’t prepared to talk about certain things without express authorization of her bosses in the Board whose chairperson and vice chair the MPs ended up demanding to hear from directly. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
