Major development partners to suspend funds over UNRA merger

Also on Thursday, the National Tribunal Bill, 2024, which sought to merge the Tax Appeals Tribunal with the Electricity Disputes Tribunal was rejected and as a result, Constitutions Affairs minister Norbert Mao was forced to withdraw it, thereby requiring that the Bill be subjected to a fresh process.

The same script may play out once the House Committee on Physical Infrastructure is asked to present its reports on the fate of the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) and the Uganda Road Fund (URF) that the Executive wants to be sent back to the Ministry of Works and Transport.

But it has since emerged that once dissolved, road projects funded by the World Bank and African Development Bank (ADB) will be suspended.

According to Mr Dan Kimosho, the chairperson of the Committee on Physical Infrastructure, the two banks conditioned that the projects they are funding will only be executed by UNRA, not as a department within the Ministry of Works.

He also noted that the two funders stipulated that financing through the Ministry of Works would only be released when a fresh assessment is done on the Works ministry.

"If we repeal UNRA today, all these projects will be suspended and the lender will come back to assess the Ministry of Works. There is no specific time as to how long this assessment will take," Mr Kimosho said. “When a contractor is halted from continuing to work, they are charging damages to the government. I am looking at how many projects are we going to be charged on as the assessment goes on.”

However, State minister for Works Ecweru assured MPs that the government would still secure the funding.

"I want members to know that we have many other funders who are handling other projects. So those are not going to be interrupted, but mainly these two [World Bank and ADB] have insisted that in the event that rationalisation is concluded, they are likely to suspend [funding],” he said.

He added: “I can assure you that the World Bank and ADB are dealing with the Government of Uganda, they are not dealing with the agency. So the confidence that they have in the government is not lost. It is only the implementation that they want to be straightened.”

To allow the committee to prepare a comprehensive report to be tabled before the House, committee vice chairperson Tonny Away demanded that the Ministry of Works assure them that projects would go on even after merging. He said this would inform the committee’s decision on the report.

In more than three interfaces held across two weeks, the government presented a defective certificate of financial implication on the UNRA Bill, and remained unclear on the exact terminal benefits to be given to the 1,577 workers once rationalisation is implemented.

On Tuesday, State Minister for Public Service Mary Mugasa, junior Finance minister Amos Lugoloobi and the State Minister for Works Ecweru appeared before the Kimosho-led committee in an attempt to convince legislators to abolish UNRA and URF, something the trio struggled to do.

The trio was expected to answer questions about the inconsistencies on the certificate of financial implication, job security, the exact terminal benefits, fears about the likely dangers of red tape adversely impeding the progress on Uganda's road sector and the fate of staff to be affected by the planned rationalisation.

“The technical officers who possess the requisite qualifications and are willing to join the mainstream public service will be given the priority while filling the positions in the approved structure,” Ms Mugasa said, adding, "The Division Fund has been created under the structure for the Ministry of Works and Transport to accommodate officers handling the function of fund management under URF.”

"The Department of National Roads has been created under the structure for the Ministry of Works and Transport to accommodate most of the staff from UNRA. The Division of Ferry Services has also been created under the Department of Maritime to absorb the staff handling ferry services,” she added.

The MPs appeared unconvinced.

Based on the information gathered about the irregularities surrounding the certificates of financial implication, Mr Kimosho notified Mr Lugoloobi that his committee was in possession of a letter authored by Deputy Solicitor General Pius Perry Biribonwoha directing that the terminal benefits calculated by UNRA be upheld.

"A certificate of financial implication be issued with a figure including severance pay as calculated by UNRA and footnote be made to the effect that the amount claimed by UNRA will only be paid if it is subsequently definitively determined that staff are entitled to severance pay,” Mr Kimosho read Mr Biribonwoha’s letter in part.

He added: “Since the figure is merely an estimate, the certificate of financial implication will be in line with Section 74 of the Public Finance Management Act.”

This would mean the Ministry of Public Service drops the Shs46 billion initially planned as a terminal benefits package for UNRA staff.

While appearing before the same committee on October 15, UNRA executive director Allen Kagina told MPs that the government would have to spend at least Shs196 billion on terminal benefits for her staff.

In response, Mr Lugoloobi said, “The document you are reading is the letter that I have. I want to submit that the conclusion therein…I thought that this could solve the matter. We could then move from the certificate earlier issued and we issue a certificate that captures this conclusion.”

Consequently, Mr Lugoloobi promised to amend the certificate of financial implication. He didn't define the exact date on which this would be done, but MPs insisted that they would not proceed with the Bill unless the said certificate of financial implication is availed.

Accusations

On several occasions in the RAPEX legislation process at Parliament, a litany of irregularities and insufficient preparation have emerged.

As he tabled the Minority Report on the National Tribunal Bill, 2024, Erute South MP Jonathan Odur revealed that a defective certificate of financial implication had been attached to the said Bill and key stakeholders such as the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) had not been consulted.

The planned amendment, if endorsed, he said would contravene the provisions of the Constitution.

“It is important to note that this Article, not only commands Parliament to establish tax tribunals but also to prescribes the nature of tax disputes that can be lodged before the tax tribunal. The deliberate use of the word tax before tribunal signifies the intention of the framers of the Constitution to baptise it as a tax tribunal,” Mr Odur said.

These grounds overpowered the majority report that had endorsed the government plan.

In another dramatic display, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, led an Opposition blockade of Parliament’s second reading of the National Coffee Amendment Bill, 2024. In successive instances witnessed on Wednesday and Thursday, Mr Ssenyonyi marshalled his troops to obstruct the mid and final stages of processing the National Coffee Amendment Bill.

On Wednesday, Speaker Among opted to call off deliberations on the said item while she adjourned the House sine die on Thursday. It is, therefore, not clear when the Bill will be finalised by Parliament.

ABOUT AGREEMENT

‘‘In the event of rationalisation of UNRA, the provisions of Section 6.01 of the ADB loan agreement/ section 5.01 of the ADB loan agreement will be evoked if as stated under the provision, the legislation establishing UNRA has been amended, suspended repealed or waived or if in the opinion of the Bank, the legal character ownership of control of UNRA has changed...’’ Mr Dan Kimosho, the chairperson of Committee on Physical Infrastructure