By Mulengera Reporters
During a recent Cabinet meeting, a team from NSSF came to present details about the Bwebajja government administrative offices campus which is meant to house offices for all government of Uganda MDAs.
The idea is get all the MDAs in one place to increase efficiency while saving on the billions that go into renting office premises. The same intervention will help to decongest Kampala City which ought to be left to concentrate on commercial and business activities.
President Museveni, who is very contemptuous of GoU MDAs having to operate in rented premises, has for long been very outspoken and supportive of the government campus idea at Bwebajja.
Funding had always been a problem until some wisdom emerged during one of those State House meetings that this is something Uganda’s NSSF could ably handle; provide the funding, do the construction and gradually recover their savers’ money from the government which, gratefully, can never default. Museveni whole-heartedly bought into this NSSF involvement idea because it can save on the country’s scarce foreign exchange.
During a recent Cabinet meeting, a slot was provided for teams from NSSF to come and update Cabinet (the Ministry for Presidency is the implementing GoU agency which explains why even Hajji Yunnus Kakande was there too).
It was communicated during the Cabinet meeting, which President Museveni personally prioritised and attended, that NSSF was availing a total of Shs1.3trn which would be lent to the GoU at the interest of 21%. The President demanded to know how much the NSSF would end up recouping and getting back at the end of the loan recovery period. It was disclosed to him that this total would come to Shs4.7trn.
Even when this would be after the construction of the entire government offices campus, when everything is fully in place, Gen Museveni instantly hit the roof. Saying this was open “stealing, thefty and cheating the government,” the President furiously shut up whoever was speaking in favor of this “broad day plunder” and that was the end of the discussion on NSSF providing the funding.
Some leaders from both the Gender Ministry and OPM tried to defend the NSSF funding terms but the President wouldn’t give his ear to any of the stuff they were saying.
“That’s all broad day theft. Let’s call it cheating and stealing from the government of Uganda because that’s what it is. In fact, we should get our own money and forget about this NSSF circus,” Museveni roared as Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja pleaded with him to allow the NSSF team more time to go back and review their entire presentation and be given another date to return and make a more realistic submission.
The President, who was equipped with facts showing that there is a lot of concessional funding whereby international lenders are willing to lend the GoU at an interest which is as low as 2-3%, said he was tired of being taken for granted. The man from Rwakitura made reference to the SGR and several other public infrastructural projects in education and health sectors which have been funded using money lent to the GoU at a much lower rate than NSSF’s 21% for the Bwebajja-based GoU administrative offices campus.
At the end of it all, the paper was deffered as the concerned officials at OPM and the Gender Ministry were tasked to go sit down with the team from the Ministry of Presidency to come up with a more realistic submission that is less extortionist and can effectively align with the President’s patriotic desire to give priority to locally-sourced lenders or funders for the government administrative offices campus project. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
