By Joachim Twino
During the Monday cabinet meeting, President Museveni thrice asked Attorney General William Byaruhanga for advice on how URSB boss Twebaze Bemanya could legally be punished for insubordination. Museveni accused Bemanya of insubordination at two levels one by way of frustrating strategic Presidential directives and secondly disrespecting his direct supervisor and line minister on the UTL issue Evelyn Anite. Museveni was furious that his clear directive that Kenyan telecom giant Safaricom be included on the list of companies that were being vetted to invest in Uganda Telecom had been circumvented by Bemanya’s elusive acts.
RUTO’S ROLE;
William Ruto is the Kenyan Vice President and it was him who directly reached out to Museveni saying the Kenyan telecom giant was interested in becoming the strategic investor the GoU was looking for to invest in UTL. Museveni then rang Evelyn Anite and directed her to ensure the Kenyan wish was considered. He looked at this as an opportunity to deepen EAC integration. Anite passed on the information to Bemanya who for the last 14 months has been running UTL as the administrator. She asked him to include Safaricom on the list but Bemanya dragged his feet saying this wasn’t possible because legally the process to receive companies on the UTL list had long been closed. Anite said “okay can you as administrator put that in writing confirming to them you have received the President’s directive?” Bemanya still refused and when Anite cautioned him of the dangers associated with being perceived as defying the President, Bemanya reportedly said he wasn’t bothered. He insisted he was administrator by law and not because of the magnanimity of Museveni or Anite herself. He repeatedly told her he was answerable to the High Court which put him in that position and not Museveni or any of his Ministers. Museveni kept ringing Anite asking how far they had gone. This prompted Anite, renowned for her blind loyalty to Museveni, to seek the help of influential city lawyer Kiwanuka Kiryowa (KK) to help her draft the letter in appropriate terms. KK is the man who initially marketed Bemanya to her as an appropriate URSB CEO with whom she could do business on the UTL revamp. KK drafted the letter which Anite got onto the UTL in administration letter head, signed it and sent to the Kenyan telecom Safaricom. Unfortunately, it was already too late and by the time it reached, the Safaricom management’s priorities had changed. It was no longer considered appropriate to invest in UTL. Museveni reached out to Ruto who told him “Your Excellence your people are at fault. They delayed to get back to us and these people moved on to invest in something else.” Museveni was reportedly very bitter and vowed to crack the whip on Bemanya who Anite and KK assured him was the cause of all this loss of time.
CABINET MEETING;
In the Monday cabinet meeting, Anite asked Bemanya to come and he indeed came with three other URSB officials involved in the UTL revamp. At the cabinet meeting, which ended after 10pm, Anite carried a prepared document. She always relied on Bemanya’s administration team to prepare her talking points whenever she was to update cabinet on the UTL progress. This time she didn’t. She prepared the paper herself. It traced the origins of efforts to revamp UTL, the hurdles faced and how they have been mitigated but most importantly she briefed colleagues on benefits the generous incentives package cabinet had offered had had on the UTL revamp. These include waiver on corporation tax, free business supplying data to all government MDAs and directing UCC to extend the UTL spectrum space (which had only 2 years remaining) by another 20 years. She reported that as a result of these incentives, UTL had become very attractive with a total of 7 companies expressing interest to invest in it. She explained that whereas the orthodox role of the administrator is to dispose of the company’s assets and ensure creditors are paid, in the UTL case this had been exceeded. She named the seven (7) companies as Hamilton Telecom Ltd, Teleology Holdings Ltd, Neubacher Montage LLP, Mauritius Telecom, Telecel Global, Bayliss Consortium and Afrinet Kenya Ltd. But the Monday discussion eventually concentrated on two companies namely Hamilton and Mauritius Telecom. Anite reported that Finance Intelligence Authority (FIA) had been involved doing due diligence on the 7 companies Bemanya the Administrator came up with.
FIA FINDINGS;
She disclosed that whereas Bemanya favored Hamilton simply because it offered to inject $70m in UTL, the FIA report preferred Mauritius Telecom which Bemanya was vehemently opposing on grounds that the $45m they were offering to invest in was too little. Quoting the FIA report, Anite faulted Bemanya (who uneasily turned in his seat as she spoke) for believing clear falsehoods told by Hamilton promoter John Kamya Mukalazi (a Ugandan hassling in the US) yet the company in its entire life had only Shs200,000 on its bank account in Uganda and another $510,000 on its accounts abroad. She told cabinet that she had questioned Bemanya as to where such a poor company would raise the $70m from. She explained, quoting the President who later corroborated the same, that in this entire process what mattered was not only how much money a company offered but also its technical capabilities to ensure the internet delivered on the NBI was at the level of 4G network. She said she agreed with the FIA assessment in favor of Mauritius Telecom because besides the $45m, the company had well illustrated technical capabilities to deliver the much desired 4G network. She insisted the Mauritius Telecom proposal was logically more believable than that of Hamilton that increasingly seemed hard to believe. She said even her colleague David Bahati had joined her in trying to get Bemanya to forget about Hamilton but the URSB boss was obstinate and increasingly sidelining everybody in favor of Hamilton. This news website separately established that this same company was at some point associated with Bukoto South MP Hajji Mbabali Muyanja. Anite told cabinet that she had credible grounds to believe Bemanya had been compromised to favor Hamilton. Somebody focused her on Bemanya’s plan to ensure Hamilton produced the $70m they had promised. His condition was that they would initially deposit 10% in the first three days and balance within 7 days. Anite then burst out saying “That man is lying; he even offered me some kitu kidogo [bribe] but I chased him.” That at that point, Bemanya told Anite he was ready to go ahead with Hamilton because he was the administrator-and that her views or those of Museveni didn’t matter because he is appointed by court and he is guided by the law. “I will go with the highest bidder because that’s what the law tells me,” he reportedly told her. She took this to be insubordination and apparently reported to the President as much.
MUSUMBA SWINGS;
At this point Isaac Musumba, a renowned Bemanya man since his days on the URSB board which recruited Bemanya, took to the microphone to defend the URSB boss. He quoted the Insolvent Act and concluded “Your excellence and honorable colleagues there is nothing wrong this man did because he followed the law.” Museveni, who appeared very disturbed by Musumba’s submission, shut him up and asked him to keep quiet. He said complying with the law wasn’t good enough. “We also have the President’s strategic guidelines and I was very clear. I told these people let’s look at the money but most importantly on technical capability because the ultimate goal is to have the 4G network,” the President said insisting Bemanya had crossed the red line. He repeatedly asked AG William Byaruhanga to legally advise him on the most appropriate way to punish officers who engage in insubordination like Bemanya had done. “There is no doubt it’s the AG who saved the day otherwise Mzee was clearly going to fire that man from URSB and UTL right there in that cabinet meeting,” said a minister who was at the meeting. Otafiire then weighed in defaulting Anite. “Honorable colleague I’m Bemanya’s supervisor and you know this very well. If there was indeed any problem of insubordination why didn’t you report to me?” Otafiire said insisting that as his supervisor he would testify to the President the man had followed the law and never intended to defy anyone. Otafiire also speculated that its possible FIA, whose report Anite and Bahati insisted was final, could have been compromised because its report over favored Mauritius Telecom. “I doubt their impartiality,” he repeatedly said. He also challenged Anite to prove she wasn’t biased in favor of Mauritius Telecom. The youthful Koboko Municipality MP, whose guts to stand up to giants like Otafiire shocked many in that cabinet meeting, said “When I refused to toe his line, the Administrator [Bemanya] said he would mobilize other people onto his side and I hope my senior colleague isn’t among those he mobilized.” She then said there are people who are after her life because of her firm stand against bribery in government.
Museveni called the meeting to order and once again asked the AG Byaruhanga to legally advise him on the most appropriate punishment for Bemanya. The AG said “it’s okay your excellence I would like to give you something very comprehensive and in writing.” Museveni then said ‘that’s okay.” He directed the AG to head a committee to study the FIA report and interview Bemanya again to get his defense. He expects that comprehensive report to be ready in two weeks counting from next Tuesday. AG will chair it with Bahati, Frank Tumwebaze as ICT minister and Security Minister Elly Tumwine comprising it. On Tumwine’s behalf, ISO will be involved to properly look at the 7 companies afresh with emphasis on both their financial and technical capabilities. “So now that man [Bemanya]’s future as URSB boss will clearly depend on what that committee report says about him but clearly his days are numbered because the H/E hates people who use the law to challenge his authority,” said one of the very insightful ministers we spoke to for this article. Museveni told the meeting it was very unacceptable for Bemanya to hide behind the law to contradict his directives. “Who are you to tell the Minister that I have refused; tell the President to call me himself if he has any directives to make? Who are you to prevent the President from issuing out directives through his ministers?” Museveni reportedly said exhibiting anger towards Bemanya.
Gen Moses Ali went almost native vowing to crush Bemanya. “Cabinet is like the Supreme Court. Its clearly above the High Court which he says puts him there. I’m saying let’s make a decision on this man since we are at the level of Supreme Court,” submitted Moses Ali who had earlier on shut up colleagues who were saying Bemanya be given chance to defend himself. Ali said: “He can’t talk in cabinet because he isn’t cabinet level.” The President supported Ali on this saying “I’m very disappointed with this man. He will go and defend himself in that committee we have put up to investigate him.” Museveni repeatedly said: “How can a mere technical person say that I call him directly? What then are ministers for?” Many are now likening Bemanya’s fate to that of former energy PS Stephen Isabalijja who, in total disregard of the President’s directive, considered an Italian firm for a job in his ministry against the President’s clear guidance and advice. The President is said to be angrier having got intelligence reports that some of the invisible guys behind Hamilton Telecom had previously approached Anite fronting a company called Liquid (something) but on consulting State House, she was told not to entertain their bid. On being told point blank that they stood no chance, the same guys considered coming under Hamilton. Bemanya’s acts could have been inadvertent but insisting on a company thought to be representative of interests of guys about whom the big man was already apprehensive could, more than anything else, have sealed his fate. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755.
