President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has replaced imprisoned Permanent Secretary (PS) for Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, Geraldine Ssali, with Alex Kakooza, who was the former PS for Ministry of Education.
The reshuffle happened during the Ministry of Trade top management committee meeting on Friday, July 26, 2024, convened by Francis Mwebesa, the Minister of Trade, and attended by the Ministers of State, undersecretaries, directors, and commissioners of the ministry.
This comes after Ssali was arraigned before the Anti-Corruption court on July 18, 2024, for allegedly causing financial loss and coniving with Members of Parliament (MPs) to embezzle cooperative society’s funds.
She has since been remanded to Luzira Prison together with the accused MPs, including Michael Mawanda of Igara East, Ignatius Mudimi of Elgon County, and Paul Akamba of Busiki County.
During the reading of the national budget for the financial year 2024/2025, President Museveni warned that some MPs had been plotting with government ministries and agencies to steal public funds through budget alteration and extortion schemes. As a result, the president vowed to crack down and to use harsh measures to crush corruption. He noted that finance ministry officials admitted that for years, some MPs had been tampering with the budget, moving government priorities, and replacing them with their own needs in exchange for kickbacks.