The embattled Uganda national drug authority chairman Dr. Medard Bitekyerezo on Monday tried to defy the IGG of Uganda and go ahead with the swearing in function for the controversially reappointed board members.
However, his disobedience flopped and didn’t take him far when it became clear that several board members weren’t prepared to take such a risk. They risked being arrested by the IGG for disobeying lawful orders the way it one time happened on the Kyambogo university board members.
The UNDA board has 20 members but only a few turned up with others staying away having realized that Dr. Medard is a man who is not worth dying for. Those who came included the veterinary association president Akashaba, the medical stores representative, counsel Catherine Adoch Idro.
Another one was Hajjat Hanifa Ssengendo who was in favour of staging a defiant swearing in ceremony and is wife to opposition MP Latif Sebaggala, Dr. BD Otto, Jonans Tusimire who represents the association of pharmacists, herbalist Jamil Mukwaya, Rose Byanyima & Bilbard Baguma who heads the joint medical stores.
The rest didn’t come and to them, now was the best time to show Dr. Medard that mistreating fellow board members at UNDA can’t go unpunished.
Many of them have for years been unhappy with Dr. Medard for using the ‘NDA Commission,’ which is like a board within a board, to sideline them from money making opportunities.
The NDA board has a budget of about Ugx2bn per year which goes mostly on training and travel abroad plus sitting allowances. Disgruntled board members have for many years been angry that Dr. Medard sidelines them in favour of his five favorites who sit with him and keep monopolizing all the good money making deals under the NDA Commission.
The blue eyed members of the chairman travel many times and make a lot of money in per diem and also get the chance to meet prospective suppliers of drugs to the entities NDA regulates and supervises, while on such benchmarking and training trips abroad.
The NDA board commissioners have mostly been travelling for conferences, training and luxury shopping holidays in countries like Dubai, Turkey, Dubai, Kenya and Rwanda.
Last month alone, some of Dr. Medard’s favored board members, who sit on the NDA commission, thrice travelled to Dubai for the ‘pharma expo’ where they enjoyed life, pocketed dollars for per diem and also rubbed shoulders with prospective drugs suppliers to Uganda, who included wealthy Chinese and Indian pharma investors.
Those who didn’t get the chance to travel have been bitter since that time and have no tears to waste crying over the fact that the Dr. Medard era as head of UNDA, has come to an end.
There has also been a lot of sour graping over the USD2500 which the board has been spending per head on internal three day trainings done inland. These have been happening at least thrice a year and Dr. Medard’s favored pones would make good money.
Some board members are full of bitterness that Dr. Medard would sideline them from the expensive foreign trips saying there is no money, yet at the same time Dora Namyalo who heads quality management systems at UNDA and Diana Kabuzire who heads the legal department would travel, without being board members.
The head of HR JBT has also been Dr. Medard’s favorite and he is even the one who recruited him after he was forced out of his job at IDI, unclear circumstances. Namyalo who worked in UK for 15 years before getting a short lived job at CIPLA, has also benefited a lot from Dr. Medard’s patronage.
UNDA legal counsel Diana Kabuzire who one time had career-shattering issues with Dr. Solomon Onen the GMP, was also for long assured of safety and protection for the 9 years Dr. Medard served as chairman UNDA.