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Members of Parliament (MPs) have now made it clear they want the Anti-Money Laundering Bill (AMLB) No 13 of 2009 passed as soon as possible.

Uganda has lagged behind the rest of her East African Community (EAC) neighbours and other countries that have already passed their regulations on money laundering. Without setting a deadline, the legislators said if nothing is done in the near future, Uganda could be blacklisted as a money laundering conduit in the region.

"This is our bill. There is a political will to have this bill passed because it's critically needed by the people of Uganda so that we don't create the weakest links," said Mr Tindamanyire Kabondo Gaudioso, Chairman Finance Committee and Economic Development in parliament.

The Finance Committee of parliament made the resolution last week during a three-day sensitization workshop for Members of Parliament held in Entebbe.

But the legislators noted that there were still some concerns in the 96 page draft bill that needed to be ironed out.

They cited concerns of how to enforce the law against the "strong" and "untouchable' both in politics and business, how to handle retired politicians who have ceased to be politically exposed and provision to cater for compensation to victims of unsuccessful prosecution under the law.

Other concerns were the possibility of the Act being used against political opponents, ability to regulate cross border movement of cash, immunity to employees of the authority, the possibility of the bill scaring people keeping their money in the banks, the creation of an authority, a board and Uganda Anti Money Laundering Committee (UAMLC).

"The law is good. It's a step in the right direction. But we need to set a threshold. The organization must be protected in terms of budget allocation and security of tenure of office.

Otherwise, once the institution is set up it will be full of junk," said Geoffrey Ekanya (Tororo Municipality).

Ekanya said a clause on laundering minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) should be included in the bill.

"Up to now, Congo isn't at peace. Uganda has been a hub of laundering minerals and this should be included in the Act," he said.   

Money laundering is the process of engaging in financial transactions that conceal or disguise the identity, source, location and destination of the money.

Derived from the word laundry, it is the process of converting "dirty money", the proceeds of crime, to "clean money".

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Uganda's Finance Minister Ms. Syda Bbumba, said Uganda's cash based economy where a large number of transactions are done using cash, lack of a national identification system and the large un banked Ugandan population were some of the challenges in the fight against money laundering.

Bbumba said there were porous borders that enable transportation of cash, arms ammunition across the national borders.

"I want to pledge Government's total commitment to ensure that the law is enacted and money laundering is criminalized," the Minister said.

Bank of Uganda Governor Mr. Emmanuel Mutebile said for long, banks have been implementing guidelines issued by BoU, but that the Central Bank now wants the guidelines to be reinforced by the law.

"This has been a very long journey. It has taken us almost ten years to have this Bill endorsed and ready for parliamentary discussion," Mutebile said.

 The Parliamentarians also raised concerns on the bill's clauses.

This article originally appeared in The East African BusinessWeek.
 
 

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