Gov’t looks on as Kyambogo University continues to sink in corruption and power struggles

Kampala:  The architects of the merger of three institutions to form Kyambogo University in 2003 could not have anticipated the chaos that is currently bedeviling the institution.

 For almost two years now, the institution continues to make headlines; with students and lecturer’ strikes, protracted legal battles, interdictions, arrests of officials and yet this is all just a tip off the iceberg.

 So much is amiss that belligerent events continue to unfold as government looks on, indolently hinting on a solution in the offing while other authorities like Police, Auditor General, and Inspector General of Government (IGG), tasked last year by Parliament to keenly scrutinise the problems of Kyambogo, are yet to produce as single report.

 A report released in 2007 by the IGG following the first major strike that led to a temporary closure of institution was simply shelved, and recommendations to Parliament provided therein to take action were ignored which now casts more doubt on the upcoming reports.

 What went wrong?

Ms Jessica Alupo, the minister of education and sports, thinks the process of merging these institutions “was never streamlined at all.”

 The institutions: Uganda Polytechnic Kyambogo (UPK), the Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo (ITEK) and the Uganda National Institute of Special Education (UNISE), all located on Kyambogo hill were brought under one roof, a move that sought to create a third public university but was the start of problems.

 They were established: UPK in in 1928, ITEK in 1945, UNISE in 1988.

 UPK started as a small technical school on Makerere hill and was transferred to Kyambogo hill in 1958 as Kampala Technical Institute, before it was renamed Uganda Technical College and finally UPK.

 ITEK started as a government Teacher Training College in 1945 at Nyakasura, in Fort Portal, and was transferred to Ruharo and then Ntare hill, all in Mbarara town, before being transformed into a National Teachers' College and later ITEK in 1989.

 Academically, ITEK was affiliated to Makerere University and was already offering the Bachelor of Education degree on mature entry and in terms of infrastructure had the best buildings.

On the other hand UNISE started as a Department of Special Education at ITEK in 1988, and later became an autonomous institution by an Act of Parliament in 1998.

 The Education Minister then, Prof. Khiddu Makubuya, issued a statutory instrument on July 18, 2003, forming the university, in accordance with the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act of 2001 and the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions' (Establishment of Kyambogo University) instruments of 2003.

 Although this establishment had been conceived as far back as 1999, implementation was met by resistance from UNISE, which enjoyed privileges like funding from donor agencies like DANIDA, NORAD, among others.

 ITEK on the other hand boasted of the best physical structures which gave them an upper hand to house the headquarters of the university, including the Vice Chancellor’ seat.

 Ideally, the three institutions were at different stages of development, had different administrative settings, ambitions, staffing; which were all ‘hastily’ weaved together.

 “The semi-autonomy of the three was underscored,” Ms Alupo acknowledged.

It took the task force led by Prof. Albert Lutaalo Bbosa; from ITEK three years to convince UNISE join the university propositions.

 The task force focused only on the merger but not a road map, including guidelines nor the necessary ‘structures’ that would aid the institution throughout its germination.

 “No clear guidelines spelling out a coalescing administration were put in place,” said one academic staff, Paul Isiko.

 For example, in ITEK one required a Master’s degree to qualify as a lecturer while in UPK and UNISE senior lecturers needed only Bachelor’s degrees.

 “While combined it meant some lecturers were more qualified than the others for the same job at different payments, Isiko added. “The entire process of merging was not given time to evolve.”

 The merger was also commanded by ITEK, which boasted of highly qualified staff and took first all the ‘juicy positions’ which bred unparalleled sentiments at the onset.

“Other institutions, though silently felt isolated with a likely hyperbole for separation,” Mr Isiko said.

 Chaos, intrigue and greed set in

Paul Okwir, a former administrator at the University, however pours cold water on repeated assertions that the ill-equipped merger is to blame for the crises dogging Kyambogo.

 “The problems there are more of self-centered. Who is eating what, and with whom,” Mr Okwir, acknowledged, “People who have been there since the merger have mastered their art of greed and whoever threatens this scheme becomes an enemy.”

 He adds that, “well” it is still comprehensible that strong institutional frameworks were not drawn while conceiving the merger, “but management has over the years addressed these institutional issues.”

 “To my knowledge, there is a lot of staff redundancy, duplication of roles and underpayment of staff, which has resulted into greed, and fighting personal wars.”

 In 2005 the Vice Chancellor Prof. Lutaalo undertook to harmonise the entire salary, remuneration and employment systems, but still traces of staff from ITEK remained visible as the most qualified and most paid.

The staff eventually called for the sacking of the VC in 2006 only to be opposed the Education Minister; Namirembe Bitamazire saying the manner they wanted him out was illegal.

 In 2007 the staff went on strike accusing Prof. Lutaalo (the only professor at the time) of incompetence due to old age, nepotism and maladministration, leading to closure for a few months.

 Prof. Lutaalo was eventually sacked along with the Bursar Mr David Biganja and the university secretary Ms Gorreti Katushabe, and a committee known as ‘Validation Committee; constituted to look into the staff grievances like salaries, promotions and integration of staff.

 The State minister of Higher Education, Mr Gabriel Opio, called for investigations by the Inspectorate of Government into the situation, but the report was eventually shelved after sanity returned.

 Dr. Mpande Basiima, a former principal at UPK and Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Finance and administration, was then chosen acting Vice Chancellor in 2008, but was later thrown out following controversies on salary payments and distribution, staff integrations, which was following the Auditor General’s report on monies meant for salaries that President Museveni had given to the university.

 The exit of Dr. Mpande left Dr. (now Prof.) John Opuda-Asibo, the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of academics as the acting Vice chancellor while the position was being advertised.

 “Dr. OPuda equally wanted the job he was acting in but the search for a substantive VC was taking place,” one staff member recalls. “No wonder he was instrumental in causing later chaos, and fighting Ndiege but unluckily he could also not get the job.”

 Need for an outsider

In face of the status quo, essentially administrative, academic, and infrastructural wrangles, management sought a ‘messiah’ who could unite them again, iron out their differences and work for the furtherance of the Institution.

 By all means the messiah had to be someone from the outside, unknown to the history and problems of the institution.

 Eventually in January 2009 a 50 year old year old Kenyan national, Prof. Omolo Isaiah Ndiege was appointed as the new Vice Chancellor. He had been an associate professor of organic chemistry at the University of Nairobi until 2007, and a visiting professor at the departments of Chemistry and Pharmacology at Gulu and Makerere universities respectively up to 2008.

 The fall out with the Ndiege

By 2011 Prof. Ndiege was sitting in a ‘hot seat’ facing opposition from majorly the staff, who were accusing him of being a dictator.

 But insiders say, Prof. Ndiege found camps in administration which he was tasked to man.

 “This was supposed to be done without compromising, favouring or annoying either camps, but such middle road is hard to take,” one administrator who requested not to be named, narrated. “Incidentally things fell out of his hand when he got aligned to one side in trying to right a few wrongs of another, and worst of all tightening bolts on all loose ends where monies were being grossly siphoned.”

 “We really appreciate Ndiege for his few achievements but at this time, he must go,” said Jackson Betihamah, chairman of Kyambogo University Senior Administrative Staff Association (Kyuasa).

 “He failed to put into context the problems affecting staff members and he will never change even if we gave him a chance.”

But Prof. Ndiege indicates that campaigns to kick him out started in the first month of his tenure.

 “I don’t know what the staff problem is, but all I know is that my methods and plans were for the good of Kyambogo.”

 Subsequently the campaigns hit fever pitch in 2012 after the lecturers under their respective associations, Kyambogo University Academic Staff Association (Kyuasa), National Union of Educational Institutions (NUEI) and NUEI, lay down tools and called for his suspension.

 They among others accused him of running down the institution through a domineering leadership style complemented by intimidations and bullying; that could not be sustained any longer.

 Gripped by panic the university council (the top decision making body), constituted a seven member ad hoc committee to investigate the claims and offer recommendations.

  The committee’s report led by Engineer Frank Ssebowa exonerated Prof. Ndiege on a list of accusations but faulted him on lacking inter-personal skills that included poor work methods, witch-hunting some staff and poor handling of top management.

 The report further recommended a three months’ amnesty to Mr Ndiege to change his ways; which the staff refused to comprehend saying he would ‘harass’ them more and thus resumed the strike, which led to the closure of the university for a month.

 The university council voted in October that Prof. Ndiege be sent on forced leave in ‘Public Interest along with 11 other senior officials accused of abetting mismanagement, but the later were later secretly bounced back in office.

 A Parliamentary Committee on Education and Sports investigating the outrages at Kyambogo produced a report; which similarly cleared the embattled Ndiege on some wrong doings and agreed that, “some of the problems attributed to him were beyond a one man’s making.”

 The only hope currently lies in the IGG, Justice Irene Mulyagonja’ report which is expected to specifically pin officials behind the curtains of corruption, power struggles, and intrigue.

 Prof. Ndiege’ return in office from the suspension has triggered off another confrontational strike as the staff determinedly want him fired or “will never return to offer services.”

 Students are have been left stranded, pondering what is the next step as November 25 as been set as the examination date.

Side bar

Insiders also point to rising disparity of student numbers, and lecturers yet the facilities are limited. For example, between 2001/2002, students were 4,534, in 2008/09, they were 14,000 and in 2010/11, they were 24,174, and now are estimated at 30,000.

Aside the organizational wrangles; some staff believe there are external pressure forces at play, especially during Ndiege’s tenure where Education ministry officials involved in the parceling and theft of the vast university played and are pushing the staff to boot him out.

 Justice Mulyagonja, in an interview on the progress of the ongoing investigations at Kyambogo said, “ the cases being handled are over 40, ranging from procurement dirt, nepotism, fraud, illicit land transactions, mismanagement,” among others.

 Asked once about Kyambogo’s problems, Kampala Police Metropolitan boss, Felix Kaweesi, suggested, “a complete overhaul of the entire system and bring in new people”

 Ms Alupo said, “government is aware of all these crises and is mulling a collegiate system for Kyambogo once the IGG concludes her probe and provides recommendations.”

 The colleges system is expected to minimize the current highly uncoordinated, overloaded and duplicated structures.

 The IGG’s report on mismanagement is expected towards the end of this month and will be presented to Parliament to take final decision.

 Report pins Museveni on abetting Corruption; Is he really to blame?

KAMPALA:  A rights body in early October targeted a salvo at President Museveni, literally placing all culpability for the high-level corruption that has ravaged the country over the past two decades at his doorstep. 

Mr Museveni, who will mark 28 years in power in January, has headed a government that has been beset by an integer of corruption scandals. A plethora of statutory anti-corruption bodies have been set up as a result, and a number of high level investigations have been conducted.

But Human Rights Watch (HRW), in partnership with International Human Rights Clinic of Yale Law School in America, note that neither of those moves has led to a senior regime official serving a jail term or suffering any serious punishment.

In the report they released on Monday, titled “Letting the big fish swim: Failures to prosecute high-level corruption in Uganda,” the bodies fault Mr Museveni’s approach.

“The President’s public rhetoric regarding rooting out corruption is frequently belied by his public statements on specific cases,” the report says in part.

Whenever Mr Museveni made comments on pending corruption cases, the report says, they “were often seen as tacit signals to witnesses, prosecutors and in some cases, judges.”

The report draws heavily on earlier reports about corruption in the country, and specifically where the President has undermined prosecutions or the potential for successful convictions of members of inner circle or senior bureaucrats in government.

Quoting the Uganda Debt Network’s “Corruption Dossier”, for instance, when then Security Minister, and current Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi (also the NRM secretary general) was implicated in the dishonest sale of land to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF)-the workers’ pension fund.

The report adds that, President Museveni was quoted in the media about the case saying of Mr Mbabazi, also a bush war hero and childhood friend, “I will not run away from old friends.”

The list of cases alluded to is endless but notably, the Shs500 billion Chogm case where the President said, former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya (the only one implicated) has no case to answer, and the Shs1.6 billion Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) fund case where only former Health minister Mike Mukula was brought to justice.

The said corruption is in the form of "nepotism, bribery, and misuse of official positions and resources" in the country

According to Maria Burnett, the HRW principal researcher, any magniloquence on Court trending cases continually frustrates the political will in the fight corruption.

“Yes, the laws are there but do they serve the purpose?,” Ms Burnett noted, “They have only been successful in netting the small fish while creating reality of untouchables.”

The report, further, indicates that media attention often concentrates on the "big fish who got away" and any solutions proposed rely on essentially on "technical responses."

"Those responses overlook what, based on past actions, can be described as the government's deep-rooted lack of political will to address corruption at the highest levels and importantly, to set an example- starting from the top – that graft will not be tolerated.”

But the President’ Spokesperson, Tamale Mirundi, criticised the authors of the report saying, they only wanted to tarnish the name of the head of the state.

“Such a report cannot be  written by Angels so am not surprised by the allegations made,” he said, “The authors are funded by donor countries and any result must be in their appealing interest.

“In any democratic institution (like where the report authors come from) corruption is fought by state institutions which the President has ensured. What else do they want?”

The regime factor and politics of patronage

Ms Burnett said, while efforts to fight corruption are in place and promising, they often coincide with the interests of the government which is as old as 27 years now yet it also “inconceivable” that some officials can be sacked or tried.

Several bureaucrats whose names appeared somewhere on the corruption sheet continue to be appointed in public offices either as a sign of appreciation or loyalty to the regime.

"Members of his inner circle – from both military and cabinet – have been accused of theft and improper procurement of state resources by the media, civil society, the auditor general, and parliament," but are still in government.

As a result “Uganda is likely to become yet another model example of the so-called ‘resource curse' in Africa,” the report observes.

Mr Mirundi, noted that government cannot be blamed because it has remained and continues to ensure the same discipline as was exhibited in the Bush war.

“Why didn’t they talk about the President’ relatives like Sam Kuteesa or Alice Kaboyo who respectively tried and even jailed over corruption?

A similar report released by Transparency International in July this year, equally painted a grim picture that corruption grown steadily, putting Uganda amongst the 17 most corrupt countries in the world.

Early this month, The Economist, a British news magazine, observed:” Mr Museveni is virtually the only decision-maker in the government. Almost nothing gets done without his nod.”

The article titled, ‘A leader who cannot bear to retire’, maintained: “But while the president’s signature on a policy paper is necessary, it is not sufficient to move the sluggish state machine into action. Plenty of officials have their own agendas and exploit the president’s remoteness. They undermine or obstruct initiatives blessed by him if they can do it undetected and make some money.”

This to Mr Mirundi, “is subjective and an avenue by the donor community to discredit government.”

Paul Mwiru, the deputy chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, informed that, corruption is an ideology of the NRM and cannot be easily fought with Museveni in power.

“As head of the executive just recently have given him several recommendations on officials like Pius Bigirimana [OPM scandal], Stephen Kagoda [Internal Affairs] and Asuman Lukwago [Health] which all have been overlooked. If he cannot take action then he is the problem.”

Shorting comings in laws and implementation

The HRW report lauds Uganda’ measures on taming the “wide spread” corruption as being robust, but notes that both the laws and implementers (Courts, Police) often suffer setbacks from the government itself.

Ms Burnett said, the findings were based on interviews with several officials in the judiciary as well analysis of about 100 cases at the Anti-Corruption Court, which has since been halted.

"In some Anti-Corruption Court cases involving well-connected individuals, senior officials have directed prosecutors to delay prosecution or prematurely try a case with incomplete or weak evidence.

While the Auditor General has been year after another, unceasingly uncovering the gross misuse of public office and resources swept under the carpets; other state anti-graft bodies like the Inspectorate of Government and Police often take less actions as recommended by the former.

"Investigators, prosecutors, and witnesses involved in such cases have been the targets of threats and requests for bribes, the report adds, but, “In some Anti-Corruption Court cases involving well-connected individuals, senior officials have directed prosecutors to delay prosecution or prematurely try a case with incomplete or weak evidence. Investigators, prosecutors, and witnesses involved in such cases have been the targets of threats and requests for bribes."

Anti-corruption crusader, Bishop Zac Niringiye, concurs that, “this points to the fact that Mr Museveni is the source of the problem.”

“We are having a Political form of corruption which is extremely dangerous, and straight from the top head,” he notes, “It is no longer a secret, and that explains why action cannot be taken against certain officials.”

Mr Mirundi, however, said the President cannot be the problem because his work is to ensure prevalence of institutions which he has done.

“Corruption prevails because the public doesn’t hold leaders accountable yet even (you) the media are not credible in reporting the issues,” he stressed, “How many times has the President blocked the Courts from sitting or ordered that his henchmen be left freely?”

The Big scandal syndrome

Bishop Niringiye is also of the view that, “We should even be more worried since every scandal involving loss of large sums of money has our President mentioned somewhere in between the lines.”

Recently the President has been mentioned in corruption allegations, among others, the Shs130 billion Tullow Oil bribes; the Shs142 billion Bassajabala compensations; the Shs40 billion Dura cement saga, and Shs300National Identity card project.

Cissy Kagaba, of the Anti-Corruption Coalition, called this a “Big scandal theory where Mr Museveni’ name is cited in every deal relating to large amounts of money.”

“Why is it always him and the few he cannot punish?” Ms Kagaba contends, “We must rise up early enough to challenge this status quo because the system has cultivated itself as here to stay.”

She added, “Corruption is indeed a big problem and I agree with the report findings that the President is the biggest problem because he ideally runs everything straight from the markets.”

Side bar

Other issues raised by the report include, failure of the president and Parliament to empower key institutions, either by failing to fill key vacancies or by failing to establish institutions."

The continued occupancy of office by officials who have been implicated in corruption yet their underlings have either been prosecuted or jailed.

The lack of protection for prosecutors and witnesses which has resulted to focus on "low-level corruption involving small sums of money, while the 'big fish' have continued to accumulate wealth and power."

Following the oil money; What else has Uganda reaped apart from Fighter Jets?

At any Oil and Gas revenue workshop economic experts, will always weigh in on how Uganda should better utilise its returns from the nascent sector.

So far, the argument has been that Uganda invests the money in infrastructure and social services like education and health and to focus on improving the traditional sources of income like agriculture to avoid the infamous Dutch disease and rent seeking.

However as the debate on how to use the money grows tougher, how much oil moneys so far has entered Uganda’s economy since its commercial viability was announced in 2006?

Daily Monitor’s oil reporters, Isaac Imaka and Fredric Musisi, step away from the expert and social commentators’– how-to-use-oil-revenue– arguments to look at how much money has so far come in, and what it has done.

Oil producing countries mainly get oil money in form of signature bonus, training fees, annual surface rentals, data purchase, permit fees, withholding taxes, capital gains tax, value added taxes and royalties

Most of the money is paid directly to governments in form of taxes but also oil money comes into the economy through payments to local labour, through corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditures, and through payments to the local service providers.

This story will ignore the $1.5 billion (shs3.9 trillion) paid by Total and Cnooc respectively to Tullow on the farm down– that money did not enter the economy, because it was Tullow’s.

At the onset, it is important to note that apart from CSR expenses, most of the money spent by the oil companies in their quest for oil will be paid back as recoverable cost.

The auditor general will audit the total recoverable cost and the oil companies will recoup their expenses through a percentage of the oil produced called cost oil.

In its submission dated 9th November 2011 to the Parliamentary committee investigating the oil sector, Uganda Revenue Authority gave the total amount of revenue collected so far from all the oil companies as $449,424,960 (shs1, 686,164,870,551). The money was got as capital gains tax and stamp duty when Heritage sold its interests to Tullow oil plc.

URA also reported that it received tax payments from subcontractors exclusive to the petroleum sector amounted to shs149, 759,281,477.

The subcontractors include those with offices in Uganda and offering services exclusively to the petroleum sector.

The ministry of Energy also reported a $4,490,047 (shs11.6 billion)  non-tax revenue collection from signature bonuses, permit fees, data purchase from over four years over ten year period.

According to the oil ad hoc committee’s report, the total government revenue collection from oil to shs1.8116 trillion– mainly from non-tax revenues, stamp duty, and capital gains tax.

Oil companies on the other hand say they have injected an extra shs10 trillion in the economy bringing the total figure to shs11.8 trillion.

UK’ Tullow Oil PLC (Uganda) takes the biggest chunk of the shs10 trillion with a shs7.3 trillion investment since 2004. The company, however, spent $1.45 billion (shs3.8 trillion) of its current investment on the acquisition of Heritage oil’s Ugandan interest. This means it has so far directly injected $1.35 billion (shs4 trillion) in Uganda.

Of the shs10trillion, Total and Cnooc say they have injected $600 million (1.5 trillion) and $500 million (shs1.3 trillion) respectively in the economy.

The money and the lack of transparency in government

The last time anything was communicated about whereabouts of the oil money collected by government was when Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, the bank governor, told parliament that the president had used the money to buy fighter jets. Since then, secrecy and confidentiality has mired the sector as regards revenue collections.

Currently, Bank of Uganda maintains four categories of Oil Revenue related accounts: Uganda Revenue Authority – Tax Collection (USD), Government of Uganda-Oil Revenue Account (USD); Government of Uganda-Oil Revenue Account (UGX) and the ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MOEMD) Non Tax Revenue (NTR) that holds Non-tax related oil revenue (UGX) alongside other non-tax revenues.

However, all those will be replaced by a petroleum fund, into which shall be paid all petroleum revenue, which accrues to government.

That notwithstanding, the lack of transparency and the continued refusal by government to sign up to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) which challenges it to declare what it gets from the sector calls for a question whether Ugandans will easily know what government gets from the oil– even before the demand for better usage of the revenues starts.

The lack of openness on the government side, in an environment where oil companies claim to be willing to publish what they pay makes it hard to juxtapose the figures from the two sides and easily follow the money.

“Government recording of oil revenues is largely different from the way companies do it. If what they agreed on is not known to the public then it becomes difficult to ascertain the missing links,” Mr George Boden, a Global Witness-campaigner told journalists at a recent oil and gas discussion.

Where is the shs10trillion injection?

Oil companies claim to have injected shs10 trillion strewn over a 10-year period, although from the presentations from the three biggest players shows that most of the money has been spent in the last five years.

With a shs10 trillion injection from one nascent sector with over shs5 trillion of that injected in the last five years, Uganda’s economy, according to the African Development Bank Economic outlook, grew by 4.4 per cent in 2012, the lowest in ten years.  Does this mean that oil, as a sector or a resource, has a light footprint?

Total and Cnooc failed to share with this newspaper how and where there money has been spent so far but in its country report launched a fortnight ago, Tullow says it has spent  $4.8 million (shs1.2 billion) on social investments.

This includes two schools in Kaiso Tonya village worth $600000 and a $2.8 million that Tullow says it has spent on a health centre five hospital in Buliisa district.  The oil company has also spent $150,000 on Kyehoro health centre II since 2007.

Tullow also claims to have spent $600000 (shs1.5 billion) as a discretionary investment to support the opening of an enterprise centres in Hoima in partnership with Traidlinks, a not-for-profit specialist in enterprise and market development.

This initiative, Mr Conrad Nkutu, the Tullow Corporate Affairs manager says, has helped over 2000 farmers get advice on how to use compensation funds, access seeds and market.

Uganda’s UN Mission in a mess

ON THE SPOT: Appointments of first-timers, including of  a couple, to same mission raises concern as Kutesa plans to take rotational UN General Assembly presidency next year

KAMPALA - The government has secretly appointed US-based Duncan Muhumuza as deputy head of Uganda’s Permanent Mission in New York as Kintu Nyago, whom President Museveni named a diplomat in August, last year, prepares to leave Kampala to assume the same office.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, defended the sudden change as “normal”. It followed the promotion of Mr Muhumuza, reportedly on the direction of State House, from First Secretary to an Ambassador, skipping the career Foreign Service ranks of Counsellor and Minister Counsellor.

Mr Nyago was the President’s deputy principal private secretary until he was politically re-deployed as ambassador and deputy Head of Uganda’s New York Mission during the general reshuffle of the country’s envoys on August 18, 2012.

A year later, Nyago is yet to assume the new role. He previously told this newspaper he was to take up the New York post by early July, and in an interview last week, said he expected to report as “the substantive deputy head of mission” this month.

“You can have two Captains in a battalion; one a commander and another without command responsibility,” he said in response to Mr Muhumuza’s elevation. He said he expected no challenge to his authority or duplication of duty because “I should imagine they (New York Mission staff) are professional.”

The goings-on at the Ugandan Mission in New York have become of interest and under greater scrutiny as Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa prepares to take over the rotational presidency of UN General Assembly next year. Analysts say now is the time for Uganda to deploy its most experienced and knowledgeable career diplomats to the post since running the UNGA presidency is demanding and a mistake during the period could cause irreparable damage to the country’s international standing.

On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs permanent secretary James Mugume said it was “normal” to have both Muhumuza and Nyago as deputies reporting to Amb. Richard Nduhura, the substantive permanent representative.

“The Appointing Authority can appoint anyone to anywhere at any time,” he said in response to the timing of the deployment of Muhumuza, a son to Eliphaz Laki, a county chief in Ankole slain in 1972.

There are several procedures, including financial considerations, to be fulfilled before Mr Nyago can take office, the PS said.

According to Harold Acemah, a retired career ambassador and Uganda’s former diplomat at the New York Mission, wealthy nations such as the United States, the UK and Russia do assign one ambassador for each of UN’s political; economic; social and humanitarian affairs; de-colonisation matters; finance and budgets; and, legal committees.

There is no precedent of Uganda appointing two deputies to the UN Mission and Amb. Acemah said parachuting Mr Muhumuza from First Secretary to Ambassador would be “irregular”. “Unless his appointment is political, it would be outside Foreign Service guidelines,” he said.

A senior government official told this newspaper, an account we could not independently verify, that Mr Muhumuza - a lawyer - is a US Green Card holder, meaning he would, as an American citizen, not fully enjoy diplomatic immunities and privileges such as local tax exemptions.

In the Tuesday interview, PS Mugume also defended developments at the New York Mission where the Minister Cousellor Beatrice Pacunega, a former State House Protocol official, allegedly worked to have her husband and former Kyambogo University lecturer Manano Pacunega, deployed as Counsellor at the same UN Mission.

He said: “It is okay because we have many couples [working at various diplomatic missions].”

Arthur Kafeero and Margaret Kafeero, who were both incidentally deployed to the New York Mission, are the latest Ugandan couple to serve at the same station. Prior, a Ugandan couple assigned to Nairobi often fought in office and eventually divorced to the embarrassment of the country.

 DRC plunder case returns to haunt Ugandan officials

UNSAVORY DETAIL: Justice Sebutinde says defence lawyers gave country away, and World Court likely to set amount of reparation to DRC in 2014

KAMPALA- Uganda lost the case brought against it at the International Court of Justice by the Democratic Republic of Congo for plunder of its natural resources due to an avoidable mistake by defence attorneys, a senior official has said.

Justice Julia Sebutinde, whom the UN voted as a judge of the World Court in December 2011, in the first of an insider’s account on a verdict likely to cost the country $10 billion, said Uganda’s legal team erred when they submitted to the court as its evidence a report of a commission of inquiry chaired by Justice David Porter.

The said report confirmed pillage of DRC’s resources, but absolved implicated top Uganda government and military officials including President Museveni’s brother Salim Saleh whom a 2001 UN panel of experts named adversely in its report on illegal exploitation of Congo’s wealth.

It would appear the government acted in haste to clear the names of those close to the centre of power, and inadvertently ended up legally selling out the country.  

Commenting on the Porter commission findings during a public lecture in Kampala on Friday, Justice Sebutinde wondered what more evidence Uganda needed to incriminate itself than admitting to the World Court that an inquiry it commissioned established Congo’s resources were looted.

“One undoing was the famous [Justice David] Porter report, which I understand Uganda attached as its evidence [yet] he (Porter) himself had found plunder took place,” she said.

According to media reports, Uganda had by the time court ruled on the case in 2005 paid foreign lawyers representing it $865,000 besides expenses on the Attorney General and other officials. The DRC government subsequently made claims of $6-10 billion in compensation, a figure Kampala disputed. 

On Friday, Justice Sebutinde said ICJ is preparing to determine the final reparation for the 1998-2003 war plunder since Kampala and Kinshasa failed to make headway in diplomatic negotiations authorised by court, mainly due to frosty political relations.

“The damages to be paid to Congo will affect the lives of Ugandans who pay taxes. We should, therefore, be mindful of what our country gets into, and what it might lead us into,” she said, exhorting Ugandans not to live in the delusion that proceedings of the foreign won’t affect them.

ICJ is one of the six organs of the United Nations, and its verdicts are final and binding on states such as Uganda that submit to its jurisdiction.

In Kampala, Foreign Affairs permanent secretary James Mugume said high-level political negotiation with DRC are still ongoing and was hopeful an agreement could be reached without the World Court having to determine it.

He said: “We are currently at the verification stage [of the reparation claims], and when done then we shall go back and inform the court in Hague.”

The PS said there was no working figure for the compensation and the widely reported $10 billion fine was a media creation, and hinted the reparation payment could be swapped with expenses that Uganda incurs in diplomatic and security undertaking to stabilise the restive eastern Congo.

Charles Okoto, the DRC ambassador to Uganda, was not available for comment but his government has always wanted the payment expedited.

Justice Sebutinde was in Uganda at the invitation of The Netherlands embassy in Kampala to, among other things, deliver a paper on the Role of International Law in promotion of global peace to mark 100 years of the existence of the Hague-headquartered Peace Palace.

She said the court’s President had cleared her to sit on the bench in 2014 when the Uganda-DRC case comes up for review, although her Ugandan nationality initially raised concerns of probable conflict of interest. Sebutinde said she would act without bias and stick to the laws, and that Kinshasa would be allowed to choose a judge to sit in to represent its interests.

Utilities

The December 2005 World Court ruling:

“The Republic of Uganda, by acts of looting, plundering and exploitation of Congolese natural resources committed by members of the Ugandan armed forces in the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and by its failure to comply with its obligations as an occupying Power in Ituri district to prevent acts of looting, plundering and exploitation of Congolese natural resources, violated obligations owed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo under international law… and unanimously, decided that failing agreement between the parties, the question of reparation due to the Democratic Republic of the Congo shall be settled by the Court…”

Context

During hearing of the case, Uganda made a counter-claim that DRC forces ransacked Uganda’s embassy in Kinshasa during the war and mal-treated Ugandan in violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Court, however, dismissed the counter-claim.

Is KCCA jumping gun over Kampala-Jinja highway?

Is KCCA jumping gun

over Jinja highway?

NON-STARTER? Experts pour cold water on capital’s flagship infrastructure project as City Hall admits the blue-print for the Shs9b contract it has already awarded isn’t even ready!

KAMPALA: A proposed flagship infrastructure project to widen the section of Jinja Road connecting to Kampala central business district into a six-lane carriageway is being scorned up by experts as not well-thought out, and unlikely to abate traffic gridlock.

Kampala Capital City Authority Executive Director, Ms Jennifer Musisi, broke news of the re-construction on her twitter handle in August, announcing then works should have commenced early last month. 

The exercise stalled, and City Hall now expects Energo Projekt will begin the road expansion later this month.

According to KCCA officials, three lanes on either side of a separator alienating oncoming traffic will be created when the work is completed in about six months.

The section of the thoroughfare to be upgraded stretches from Katalima Road junction in Nakawa satellite town to the light-controlled Jinja Road intersection, meaning KCCA will dig up the road on which it in the past year spent billions to beautify.

City Hall officials say an expanded Jinja Road will ease motorised traffic flow in and out of the central business district where most gainful employment activities are concentrated.

Infrastructure experts agree a broader motorway permits speedy traffic movement, but challenge the KCCA plan because it is piecemeal and does not address likely heavier traffic build-up at narrower points where the widened road merges into narrower carriageways after Nakawa and Jinja Road junction.

Dr. Kiggundu Amin Tamale, a Makerere University lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Physical Planning, who discounted the proposed project as “another problem with the poor planning in this country mainly to eat money.”

“Planning for a city goes beyond expanding roads alone, which KCCA is majorly focusing on while turning a blind eye on issues like the destination of vehicles and parking spaces,” he said.

Dr Tamale is not alone. Officials of Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), a central government agency responsible for national roads excluding those under KCCA jurisdiction, say the city’s approach is a non-starter.

First, if each lane is approximately 3 metres wide, a rough estimate shows a minimum of 25 metres of space would be required to enlarge the carriageways and as well provide for the island separating them; the side-drains, pedestrian walkways and road reserve for, among other things, conveying utilities.

Such vast land may be secured from Jinja Road junction if KCCA encroaches on southern part of Centenary Park, but no big chunk will be available from around Jinja Road Police Station and on the stretch straddling via Game shopping mall onward to Nakawa township centre. The alternative would be for KCCA to knock down private roadside property, which would require public sensitisation and prior compensation none of which KCCA has done or appears ready to do given the stated project take-off timeline.

So, how does City Hall escape from the trap and justify value-for-money in the planned Shs9 billion investment?

Mr Johnson Akankwasa, the project site supervisor, said “the stretch between Lugogo Indoor stadium and Game stores shall be not expanded because that width is too small and we don’t have money.”

He added: “It will maintain a two-lane driveway because widening it may involve compensations, money KCCA doesn’t have although a few modifications will be carried out. Poor planning in Kampala did not start yesterday or today.””

KCCA’s self-contradictions on the infrastructure whose detailed plan it admits is “not ready”, has prompted UNRA to christen it as “shallow” from conception.

“I cannot comment much on their development but am also skeptical if it will improve traffic problems,” he said.

When asked for the project’ master plan and artistic impression of the project, KCCA officials said they under review and “not ready”, yet a Yugoslav construction company, Energo-Projekt, has already been enlisted to start work for a period of six months.

“Widening this particular road section is to allow smooth flow of traffic in and out of the city,” Mr Akankwasa said, without explaining how motorists poured from three lanes will maneuver on narrower carriageways in the usually most crowded city centre.

The road upgrade is to cost Shs9 billion, money KCCA says was mustered from internally generated revenue. Industry specialists say the money is inadequate to finance credible reconstruction of 8.4 kilometers to a high caliber surfaced highway.

A Traffic and Transportation engineer, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely, said Jinja Road as an export/import gateway conveys the largest traffic volume in the country and questioned where the huge traffic would be diverted to pass when the section of the highway is under construction.  

“It seems KCCA officials first act and think later,” the engineer said. Experts say sorting out traffic bottlenecks in cities requires a comprehensive approach - tackling development of traffic networks broadly since changes on one are likely to affect the operational capacity and efficiency of another.

In the Jinja highway re-building project, key stakeholders such as utility providers have not been consulted yet the engineering works will affect under-ground installations such as water pipe and telephone cables.

National Water and Sewage Corporation (NWSC) managing director, Eng. Silver Mugisa, said they have a network of water and sewerage pipes along the site earmarked  by KCCA, but have not been formally notified by the Authority.

The telecommunication companies promised to consult one another on the development, but had not reverted to us with their joint position.

A consequence of the exclusion of utility providers in the planning process is that if no under-ground ducts are prepared for them to convey utilities; they are likely to dig up sections of the newly-built road for a conduit to pass the utilities, creating a weak spot for emergence of potholes.

Our investigations show that UNRA has prepared an infrastructure master plan with proposed changes to Jinja Road and its intersection at Kitgum House, contrasting with what KCCA plans to implement.

For instance, the Roads Authority has an ambitious blue-print to construct a fly-over from the Wampewo Avenue-Jinja Road-Old Port Road round-about, running above the existing Jinja Road bit and a 90-degrees left side bend at the traffic lights to connect to Mukwano Road via Access Road.

Both plans do not appear to integrate the adoption of rapid bus transit system as recommended under a 2010 World Bank-sponsored study done by UK consultancy, Integrated Transport Planning (ITP).

The feasibility study appraised the existing public transport system and suggested a mass passenger movement option other than the 14-seater taxis and commercial motorcyclists or boda dodas. Reforming the transport mode would require investment in supporting infrastructure, which neither the Jinja highway upgrading nor UNRA’s exotic fly-over project addresses.

That would be crucial considering that Integrated Transport Planning confirmed Jinja thoroughfare as the busiest gateway in the country with daily passenger volumes higher by 15, 000 than on Entebbe Road.

The specialists warned that if nothing was done to tackle Kampala inner-city’s messy transportation, forecast demand levels on Jinja Road in 2013 reveal would surge to 175, 000 passengers per day, representing 45 percent on (countrywide) demand levels

KCCA Spokesman Peter Kauju said the World Bank pulled out of the rapid bus project, but he evaded discussing details of the Jinja highway reconstruction project, saying over several days that “the plan was not yet finalised and our engineers are still reviewing it”.

Pioneer Easy Bus Company (PEBC), which began cheaper public transportation services in Kampala and to neigbouring districts in 2010 without proper policy framework and preferential infrastructure facility, folded up after a few months when saddled with debt of billions of shillings in unpaid taxes to Uganda Revenue Authority.

Mr Rashid Ssekandi, the chairman of Statewide Transport Agency, which owns more than 400 14-seater taxis, said the problems of traffic jams in the inner-city emanate from poor public transport regulation.

“Even if KCCA widened all the roads without improving how people use private vehicles and how publics use commuter taxis, then we are wasting resource.”

According to Eng. Andrew Kitaka, the Authority’s engineering and technical services director, there will be a provision for one-sided on-street parking on the new road from Airtel House to Lugogo Indoor stadium.

For a capital city whose last comprehensive structure plan was made in early 1990s, the housing boom and creation of new district plus urban population explosion has compounded implementation of physical plans, creating a motley land use challenges.

Any attempt to re-organise Kampala into a livable city of the future, according to Dr tamale, should address guided development of self-sustaining satellite towns to de-congest the central business district, link spatial patterning to investments in preferred traffic modes and undertake comprehensive, not piecemeal, infrastructure developments. 

The 2010 Kampala Capital City Authority Act, which transformed the city management from the troubled Kampala City Council to the more executive KCCA, created Kampala Metropolitan Physical Planning Authority (KMPPA) to superintend physical development planning in the city and the metropolitan areas. However, the metropolitan planning authority has not been constituted following power wrangles at City Hall, which has drawn in the line minister, stalling preparation of outline and detailed schemes as well as approval of development plans.

Dr Tamale argues that Kampala is a mono-centric city; hosting the country’s most key national installations, institutional headquarters, best schools and medical facilities as well as highest paid jobs, which collectively attracts more people yet the city grapples with housing shortage, and seems unprepared to invest in condominiums directly or through public private partnerships.

“What planning for a city would you expect from a setting like this? The result is the half-baked developments”.

Another downside to densification of these physical developments is that the country could drag to a halt in the event of a disaster requiring, say, a security lockdown over Kampala.

“And when you widen the road without first addressing a proper public transport system, you create an impression that the roads are wide so attract more cars leading to more congestion,” said Dr Tamale who runs Centre for Urban Studies and Research, a local not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of urban sustainability and development in Uganda.

Kampala’s resident population is estimated at 1.72 million, according to the 2012 mid-year Uganda Bureau of Statistics demographic and household survey report, although a million or people pour into or transit through the city every day, straining the available services.

Matters are made worse that Uganda as a country has no urbanisation policy, resulting in organic growth of most towns and cities in part due to acute human, financial and other resource constrains.