Mr. Brendan Rogers:

We talk about the office of the Prime Minister as though it were a small office or just a government department. That is actually not the case. The office of the Prime Minister has a number of ministers. It has grown incredibly in recent years as it is taking management control of various projects and programmes. It is a vast office which has grown far too quickly, and that is one of the reasons the auditor general wanted to have a look at it. There is no evidence to the effect that it goes beyond the chief accountant. That is the information we have.

In fairness to the Government of Uganda, it has given the auditor general incredible investigative powers and has set him up independently. When the committee visited Uganda in 2008, one of the issues he raised was that, as he had been placed in the ministry of finance, he was too near the government. He has since moved out of government and into new buildings; his staffing has been increased and he has received money to pay for good staff. The President, apparently, has given him these special powers. To date there has been no attempt to stymie his work.