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Poor work relations among three diplomats at the Uganda Embassy in Kinshasa, DR Congo have disrupted operations and threatened to soil the country’s image, the ambassador has revealed.
In a letter to the Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, Uganda’s top envoy in DR Congo, Ambassador James Kinobe, said; “As the situation stands today, the Mission cannot deliver effectively.” According to sources, Ambassador Kinobe is on a collision path with Ms Nurh Byarufu, the first secretary /political affairs and Ms Fulgensia Tumwesigye, the second secretary/ commercial affairs.
Maj. Kinobe, a former state minister for Youth, said in his letter that the conflict originates from how the mission finances were handled. He also said that his call for accountability and transparency on how money is spent given that Ms Byarufu, who doubles as the accounting officer, was a single signatory to the account, sparked bad blood.
“The second one has been about my demand for finance committee meetings. I realised that Byarufu was not used to the practice of discussing financial matters transparently in meetings and used to handle them privately with the then Head of Mission,” Maj. Kinobe wrote.
Maj. Kinobe says Ms Tumwesigye is the main impediment to the operations of the Embassy. “I do not have anything personal against her and I honestly do not know the motivation for destructive actions,” he said.
Attempts to reach Ms Tumwesigye failed but Regional corporation minister Isaac Musumba said political heads at the ministry asked Ambassador James Mugume to handle the matter but they hadn’t received feedback. Ambassador Mugume was not answering our calls by press time.