A stormy meeting chaired by President Museveni on Wednesday night to resolve the fights between Evelyn Anite, the Investment and Privatisation Minister, and Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) boss, Robert Mukiza, ended with the President calling for Anite to forgive Mukiza, and have speedy investigations instituted into the loan agreements signed to re-develop the Namanve Industrial Park infrastructure.
The Attorney General will lead the investigations into loan agreements to address the glaring issues with a report expected in two weeks to be presented to the President for action.
Government secured USD 200 million (UGX 735 billion) in 2019 sourced from UK Export Finance, for the development of the Kampala Investment Business Park (KIPB) in Namanve, Mukono District by a United Kingdom-based contractor Lagan Group Ltd.
According to details obtained from the State House meeting chaired by President Museveni, and attended by the Finance Ministry and UIA officials, Museveni instructed that the 8 million Euros (UGX 32 billion) that Mukiza wanted to pay the contractors of the Namanve project for price variations was an illegal payment because the money was part of the loan and the project work had not been completed.
It is also said the contractor of the Namanve project rejected the idea of being paid a price variation which he had not asked for, and the UGX 32 billion has remained questionable as to whether indeed Mukiza was going to pay the money to the contractor, or perhaps there was another motive.
A Price Variation Clause is often included in long-term contracts, such as construction contracts or supply agreements, where the cost of materials or labor can change significantly over the course of the contract. Without such a clause, one party may be left bearing the cost of these changes, which could result in financial hardship.
On refund of the 546 million ‘service award’ obtained by UIA, Museveni made it clear it was wrong for UIA management and project team to pay themselves out of the loan amounts, and instructed that money should be refunded back to the coffers for execution of the project.
Counter accusations
Anite and Mukiza went on to confront each other in front of the President, with each accusing the other of backstabbing their work.
For instance, Anite said that Mukiza accused her of sabotaging his work at UIA, indicating that at the worst, he would report her to his Father-in- law, Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho, commonly known as Salim Saleh. The main squabble arising from this issue is that Mukiza accused Anite of having special interest in a piece of land in Namanve industrial Park, but the matter was quashed by Minister Kasaija noting that the accusations were false.
Anite had on Thursday night castigated Mukiza for ‘lying’ and sharing ‘false information’ about her to President Museveni after sharing snippets of a meeting between the President and the UIA boss, Mukiza.
“Who will save Uganda and Ugandans from the corrupt? I can’t believe the corrupt like DG UIA @mukiza_robert resort to lying about me to @KagutaMuseveni in a bid to save their neck.Good news is the truth always wins.I promise to stay truthful to God,myself and my country,” Anite wrote on her X handle at 1:25 AM on Thursday night.
President Museveni called for peace between the two officials, and asked Anite to forgive Mukiza noting that as the president, he has also faced similar accusations but still forgives people.
However, Anite has remained unphased, and still took to her social media yesterday to vent her anger towards UIA officials, and has infact called for an exhibition to expose corruption at UIA and Finance Ministry.
TRIBUTE | Miriam Ekirapa Musaali: A Testament of Faith, Courage, and Enduring Strength Against CancerGenesis of the matter
According to a June 13th letter, Minister Anite wrote to the UIA Board of Directors instructing UIA staff and project management team members to refund the illegal honoraria within 24 hours which was received almost a year ago on 23rd July, 2023.
A day later on 14th June, UIA Boss Mukiza wrote Lagan- Dott Namanve Limited, the authorised contractor of the project requesting for account details to refund the honoraria received by UIA staff.
Anite said she got wind of the illegal payments after she obtained information from the British High Commission through Lagan, the contractor of the project.
As Ministers, we supervise the (UIA) management through the board, once I was informed in writing I called the board to give me minutes indicating they didn’t approve of the payment,” Anite said.
According to information obtained from the UIA website, the long-awaited project for the development of the vital infrastructure network in Kampala Industrial and Business Park (KIBP) in Namanve took off in January, 2020 before Covid-19 disrupted the project’s progress.
Kampala IBP, popularly known as Namanve Industrial Park, is Uganda’s flagship industrial park created by an Act of Parliament in 1997. It is operated by Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), the country’s primary investment promotion agency and provider of one-stop services for investors, both domestic and foreign.
The Namanve Project is funded by the Government of Uganda through contractor-facilitated financing arrangements with the primary objective of contributing significantly to Uganda’s development through industrialization and creation of jobs.
Key infrastructure to be developed include a network tarmac roads, bridges, traffic management systems and solar lighting, water distribution network including a reservoir, sewerage network, waste treatment system including for solid waste. Others are power supply systems (grid power and solar), fibre optic network, a close circuit television network, workspaces for small and medium enterprises, and fire-fighting systems.
Although all 2,200 acres of land in the industrial park are allocated to investors, most of them have found it challenging to set up shop due the complex geographical terrain and inadequate basic infrastructure.
In order to deal comprehensively with the infrastructure challenges, the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, entered into a memorandum of understanding with United Kingdom-based contractor Lagan Group Ltd. for the development of infrastructure in the industrial park.
In the project, UIA is the “Employer” and will oversee its management and supervision while the Owner’s Engineer is a consortium of three firms namely Roughton International Ltd., Turner and Townsend International Ltd., Joadah Consult Ltd. and Basic Group Ltd.
Estimates suggest the project will create 25,484 direct jobs in the construction phase, a further 39,800 in the short term and over 200,000 jobs once the industrial park is fully operational.
