By Aggrey Baba
When city tycoon Hassan Basajjabalaba finally appeared before Parliament’s COSASE on Wednesday, he turned the tables on Government, arguing that the State demanding answers over the UGX 140.487 billion Bank of Uganda (BoU) exposure also has unpaid debts arising from deals it cancelled involving his businesses.
Basajjabalaba’s appearance came a week after he skipped an earlier COSASE summons and days after Bank of Uganda officials had been grilled over the same exposure. Instead of treating the UGX 140.487bn as a straightforward debt owed by his company Haba Group, he linked the money to the much older compensation disputes between his businesses and Government, a position which directly contrasts with the picture emerging from BoU. Fully Basajjabalaba submission contained in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfD8ojBtf5A.
BoU’s Head of Legal, Dorothy Masifa Ochola, told COSASE that the guarantee behind the exposure was issued on instructions from the Ministry of Finance. She also acknowledged that no security had been obtained from Haba Group before the guarantee was issued and that BoU had not taken direct recovery action against the company at the time of the hearing.
Basajjabalaba’s account is that BoU’s involvement can’t be separated from Government decisions that generated compensation claims involving his companies.
The businesses had agreements concerning properties including Nakasero market, St Balikuddembe/Owino, Shauri Yako, Nakawa and Constitutional Square. After some of the arrangements were cancelled, Basajjabalaba and his companies pursued compensation, leading to financial arrangements involving different commercial banks and eventually BoU guarantees.
He told COSASE that Government cannot isolate the UGX 140 billion exposure from the circumstances that produced it.
The committee must now establish what Government was supposed to pay Basajjabalaba and his companies, what was actually paid, how the compensation was financed, why BoU guarantees were issued and how the resulting exposure eventually became Haba Group’s obligation.
The dispute has already passed through the courts. Basajjabalaba told Parliament that the Constitutional Court in 2020 ordered recovery of money paid under the contested arrangements, but the Supreme Court later set aside that decision on jurisdictional grounds.
Basajjabalaba also revived his claim over City Square. He told COSASE that his company won the tender in 2001, paid UGX 1.635 billion to the then Kampala City Council (now KCCA) and secured a five-year lease with an option for another 49 years. The proposed redevelopment was later halted and became part of the wider compensation dispute.
The City Square issue has resurfaced after Government considered a fresh development proposal for the property. Basajjabalaba said he was waiting to see whether one property would effectively be given to two different interests.
His appearance has consequently widened the COSASE inquiry. The committee came looking for answers over UGX 140.487 billion, but the city tycoon wants the investigation to also account for the Government decisions, compensation claims and financial arrangements that, according to his version, ultimately produced the BoU exposure. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
