UIA boss Robert Mukiza and State minister for Privatisation and Investment Evelyn Anite. PHOTO/COMBO
Until Wednesday, the threesome of Evelyn Anite, Robert Mukiza and Morrison Rwakakamba, were your average bosom buddies. Nearly the same age, Ms Anite, a journalist-turned-politician, and currently the State minister for Privatisation and Investment, will make 40 years later in November; Mr Mukiza, the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) director general turned 45 in March; and Mr Rwakakamba, the board chairman, is 47.
Ms Anite is also among the handful of tricenarians in President Museveni’s Cabinet whose median age is 60.
Sartorially, the trio stood out by their sense of fashion: Ms Anite often dazzling in stiletto heels, and Mr Mukiza who stands out in photos and crowds, rocking fit stretch suits.
They also seemingly shared ideas about public policy, and particularly their docket: investment promotion. On numerous occasions they appeared in tow with President Museveni at commissioning of factories, or at investment forums in and outside the country.
But that was then. On Wednesday evening, Ms Anite took to her X account to lament being falsely accused by Mr Mukiza during a meeting at State House.
“Who will save Uganda & 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 & my country,” Ms Anite fired off the post at 10:25pm.
The surprise unravelling followed an animated meeting at State House, Entebbe, convened by President Museveni earlier in the day. The meeting attended by Ms Anite and UIA’s executive management was in relation to a cocktail of issues surrounding the loan-funded Kampala Industrial Park Development (KIPD) project. Of specific interest was the question of the Shs545m “honoraria” paid out of the KIDP project funds to Mr Mukiza and 14 other staff members
UIA is the statutory body charged with initiating and supporting government’s investment initiatives and policies, a mandate that has been blandly steered for the most part as the institution oscillated from one crisis to another, especially internal wrangling.
The last three years have been going well for the Mukiza-led UIA, until the fallout that started last week from the Shs545m ‘service award’.
UIA boss Robert Mukiza, President Museveni and State minister for Privatisation and Investment Evelyn Anite. PHOTO/COMBO
Mr Mukiza’s predecessor, Ms Jolly Kaguhangire was booted out of office in June 2018 after a brief tenure that was marred by frenzied squabbling with the board. The then board led by now Buyanja East MP, Mr Emely Kugoza, subsequently interdicted her on grounds including gross insubordination and incompetence.
Ms Kaguhangire was cleared of the accusations by an ombudsman-led investigation but the board declined to reinstate her. Rather, the board went back to the streets and scouted for a new director general, Mr Mukiza, whose appointment President Museveni initially stalled pending resolving issues surrounding the former’s ouster. In May 2021 Mr Museveni green-lighted the Finance minister, Matia Kasaija to appoint Mr Mukiza.
Ms Anite attempted to intercede for Ms Kaguhangire but the latter’s irreconcilable differences with the board meant there little magic to be pulled. With a new board chairperson and director general, it meant a new chapter to steer the crisis-laden agency. With the latest fallout between Ms Anite and top management of the agency she is supposed to supervise, it remains unclear how the two sides will work cordially.
The fallout
Last week on Friday, Monitor broke the story of how Ms Anite had directed Mr Mukiza and 14 others to immediately refund the Shs545m ‘service award’ back to the KIDP project account within 24 hours from the receipt of her letter.”
She warned of “dire consequences” in case of failure to do so.
In a June 12 letter to Mr Rwakakamba, Ms Anite described the payment as “despicable, uncouth, barbaric, and uncultured especially for a project that has stalled for five years against its initial completion date of January 5, 2024”.
“All these tantamount to mischarge (sic), abuse, and corruption at the expense of the taxpayers of Uganda,” Ms Anite wrote, the letter also copied to Ombudsman Beti Kamya to launch an investigation into the matter.
On the same day, Mr Rwakakamba wrote to Mr Mukiza to “implement the directive accordingly”.
Two days later, a letter purportedly signed off by Mr Mukiza and addressed to the authorised representative of Lagan-Dott Namanve Ltd surfaced on social media. In the letter dated June 14, the former was requesting bank account details on which to refund the monies.
On June 15, Ms Anite posted on X thus: “Fellow citizens, thank you very much for all your support to me in the fight against corruption. The good news is the DG @mukiza_robert has agreed to refund the money he & team received from the infrastructure loan, which Ugandan taxpayers will have to pay back with interest.”
By now the trio had been summoned for a meeting at the State House on June 19 to resolve the matter. The meeting, according to inside accounts, turned stormy as Ms Anite and Mr Mukiza exchanged bitterly to the amazement of the small audience present.
Minister Evelyn Anite poses for a photo with UIA officials recently. PHOTO/COURTESY
The UIA side threw shades of allegations against Ms Anite for allegedly frustrating one of the President’s pet projects. This, as a shocked Anite was overwhelmed and turned emotional as she defended herself.
During the meeting, sources intimated, it appeared as though the President had been briefed about the allegations against the minister earlier on “and her presence appeared like a set up”. She was also admonished for turning the issues into a social media fodder.
Ms Anite declined to comment when contacted about the matter on Friday.
UIA officials, too, declined to comment on the matter.
Dirty money?
Sources revealed that although the President stopped Mr Mukiza and his team from refunding the Shs545m as previously directed by the minister, he expressed his displeasure about the money having been taken out of resources for a project funded by a loan.
The President further halted payment of €8m (Shs31.7b), which was about to be paid, to the project contractor as “variation expenses” in relation to infrastructure works inside the industrial park.
The President, however, warned that any official who squandered money off the project will be dealt with decisively as part of the ongoing war against corruption.
The ministry of Finance in 2018 borrowed €249m (about Shs1 trillion) from the UK Export Finance and Standard Chartered Bank of London to finance development of KIBP to facilitate industrialisation. The project includes tarmacking roads and bridges, a small and medium enterprise (SME) hub, and related amenities to ease investors setting up industries.
However, the project has been rocked by, among others, claims of officials extorting and frustrating investors, dubious parcelling of land, parcelling of land to phoney investors, and inflating costs of project development.
Mr Mukiza and eight UIA staff paid themselves Shs280m on July 23, 2023, off the project funds for undertaking “additional responsibilities” to bridge the gap in the supervision of the infrastructure development of the project in August 2022.
Mr Mukiza received Shs82m; his deputy, Dr Paul Kyalimpa—who has since resigned from UIA— Shs58m; Ms Patience Kabije, the contracts and claims manager, Shs43m; Mr John Bwambale Kyamakya, the transactional and contractual risk manager, Shs43m; Ms Amina Nassaka, the contracts and claims assistant, Shs17m; Ms Suzanne Akware Okissa, the records manager, Shs17m; Ms Joanitah Kambedha, a documentalist, Shs8m; and Mwanga Muzamil and Augustine Katale, both drivers, Shs4m each.
Other staff received money in the second tranche in euros included, the KIPD project manager, Mr Alex Nuwagira, Shs92m; Mr Felix Tumukunde Beinamaryo, the project engineer, Shs55m; Mr Emmanuel Muhumuza, the project architect, Shs49m; Mr William Sande, the project quantitative surveyor, Shs36m; and Mr Dominic Mugesera, the project accountant, Shs30m. These form part of the KIPD project management team.
UIA defended that the group received money for carrying extra workload following termination of the Owner’s Engineer (OE) on August 29, 2022, resulting in additional responsibilities which were assigned to the project management team assisted by some UIA staff.
“The UIA board proposed that UIA management considers remunerating the staff for their additional responsibilities, and guided to execute it within the law,” reads in part an internal memo.
The maneuvers
Sunday Monitor has gathered details that question payment of the honoraria. Sources inside UIA, however, recounted the acrimonious departure of the Owner’s Engineer in question, a consortium of Roughton International Ltd, Joadah Consult Ltd, Turner and Townsend International Ltd and Basic Consult Ltd. This, we understand, followed disagreements with the project management team over several issues, including alteration of bills of quantities.
Following the departure of the OE, the KIDP project manager brought the matter to the attention of management. A dozen temporary staff were hired to “bridge the gap”. The staff, insiders revealed, were initially hired for six months but have been on the project for two years under the same terms. The temporary staff, sources revealed, would be buttressed by UIA staff.
However, the remuneration of the staff became a subject of internal debate in mid-2022 between management and human resource (HR).
The HR, sources added, advised that neither acting allowance—for standing in for someone— nor honoraria—defined as pay to staff on special assignment and involving specific targets and timelines— were allowable in this case. The HR also advised that the enlisted staff would be eligible for “responsibility allowances” which would be modest.
For instance, on Mukiza’s list of payees; Ms Kabije who received Shs43m is listed as the contracts and claims manager.
According to the UIA website, she is listed as the ‘corporation secretary & head legal and board affair’, under whose docket contracts and claims are overseen. Mr Kyamakya who received Shs43m on account of being the transactional and contractual risk manager, is the UIA chief internal auditor. Ms Kambedha, who received Shs8m as a documentalist, was a receptionist at the time; while Muzamil, who received Shs4m as a driver on the special assignment, was already a UIA driver, attached to the director general’s office.
The first tranche of Shs280m was paid July 23, 2023, sources revealed, with full view of the board and officials in the Ministry of Finance. Ms Anite only raised the reflag on June 12, 2024, two days after Mr Mukiza had submitted a request for another round of payment.
