By Mulengera Reporters
Privatization and Investment Minister Evelyn Anite has written to the Attorney General William Byaruhanga (copying in the President and other top officials) announcing the ousting of Mr. Twebaze Bemanya who has been running UTL as Provisional Administrator since April 2017.
In the letter titled “Removal of Administrator of Uganda Telecom Ltd,” Anite runs through the chronology of events leading to Bemanya’s posting at Uganda Telecom and informs the AG that as the absolute shareholder in the company (following the exit of the Libyans under UCOM), the Finance Ministry (on whose behalf she writes) has come to the conclusion that Bemanya has metamorphosed into someone they can’t do business with anymore.
She asks the AG to proceed to Court and commence the process paving way for the installation of Mr. Bemanya’s replacement whom she says is being sought already. She says as the biggest creditor and absolute shareholder, the government is in order to make the changes now that they can’t work with Bemanya anymore.
The Minister argues that being the absolute shareholder currently and the creditor with the biggest claim of Shs207bn, the Finance Ministry is (on behalf of GoU) mandated to make all the decisions on behalf of the company under the Insolvency Act and the relevant regulations.
“We have encountered difficulty in dealing with the Administrator and have completely lost confidence in his ability to continue serving the role of UTL Administrator. In effect a decision has been taken to remove Mr. Bemanya Twebaze [Official Receiver] as the current Administrator and to immediately replace him with an individual that we will indicate,” partly reads Anite’s letter that is also copied to Mr. Bemanya.
“The purpose of this letter is to request you to urgently apply to Court to replace the current Administrator within the context of section 172 of the Insolvency Act 2011 and the Insolvency Regulations 161(1). I will be pleased to swear an affidavit to support the application where the supporting reasons will be elaborated. I implore you to have the petition filed without any delay to ensure that the Administration of the company progresses without any issue. I will appreciate your prompt response.”
THE BACKGROUND
The two (Anite and Bemanya) have lately been at loggerheads with the Minister and some MPs accusing the Administrator of resenting scrutiny. Bemanya maintains that his track record is very clear and he has a name to protect. Last Friday he told reporters he won’t become corrupt simply because Anite and MPs allege he is. Anite retaliated by daring him to accept audit arguing it’s the best way for his track record to be ratified.
On Monday, Anite appeared on Radio One’s popular talk show called Spectrum where callers sarcastically urged her to call in Magye [the military] to sort out UTL just like she had threatened at the height of the ugly Togikwatako fracas in Parliament.
The moderator claimed Mr. Bemanya had been invited but opted to stay away. Some of the callers said using the radio talk show was indicative Anite had been overwhelmed by Bemanya but some other callers, including a retired Magistrate, urged her to exercise her power as the appointing authority and herd Bemanya out of UTL, which she has finally resorted to doing. It remains to be seen how easily she will be getting her way on this UTL saga.
