Stung by hard comments made about them by Privatization & Investments Minister Evelyn Anite recently, the promoters of Hamilton Telecom Ltd, one of the 7 companies that are being evaluated to invest in Uganda Telecom, has written a protest note to the President. In a letter dated 3rd July 2018, the company’s lawyers Kinobe Mutyaba Advocates refute claims that their client is a financially-constrained company with no means to raise the $70m which UTL Administrator Twebaze Bemanya’s assessment report showed they are capable of raising to get a stake in UTL. Basing on the Finance Intelligence Authority (FIA) report assessing all the companies, Anite wrote off Hamilton and addressed cabinet two weeks ago strongly disputing the company’s credentials as a suitable investor to come into UTL. The outspoken minister, currently abroad for a study leave, was subsequently interviewed and quoted in the press corroborating her statements against the company.
That weekend Hamilton and Bemanya, who Anite accuses of exaggerating the company’s capabilities, endured bad publicity. It’s this that the lawyers protest in their letter to the President. They go as far as implying that Sydney Asubo, who heads FIA, is an ill-intentioned public official who doesn’t mean well for investments in this country. The letters also highlight the company’s capabilities and claim its promoter John Mukalazi Kamya has done a lot to make this country better. The lawyers write almost similar letters, communicated as notices of intention to sue, to the AG (for whom Anite is an agent), the New Vision and Daily Monitor newspapers for reporting Anite’s comments and some of the other things that happened in cabinet that day. The law firm involved is the one for Simon Peter Kinobe who is the new President Uganda Law Society (ULS). Being a leader heading a public institution like ULS has caused some media rights defenders to criticize Kinobe for not prevailing over his client not to go after media organizations that merely reported what had transpired in the cabinet meeting. “It’s really not good strategy. You can take on the politicians and the AG but not the media who merely reported what transpired. As a leader for ULS, it’s important that he forges strong partnerships with the 4th estate,” remarked one of the media rights lawyers we spoke to for this article. More can be seen in scanned copies of the lawyers’ letters to the President, the AG and the media organizations. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755.
