Last week, newspaper adverts notified the world about the impending auction of all property belonging to Aya Investments Uganda Ltd including the gigantic 5 Star Hotel situated on Nakasero Hill not very far from State Lodge. Covering a space of 32,000 Square meters, 23 floors, 296 rooms, 37 suites, 2 restaurants, 3 bars, 9 meeting rooms, executive lounges and business centers, the Hotel controversially belongs to 48 year-old Ugandan businessman of Sudanese origin Mohammed Hamid.
The property is being auctioned to recover over Shs600bn debt that is due to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa which is being represented by two top Kampala law firms namely MMAKS Advocates & ENSafrica Advocates. The auctioning of the property was previously authorised by Court after Hamid lost protracted litigation process under which he was protesting unfair loan conditions.
On the verge of losing what had become famous for being the tallest building in Kampala, Mohammed Hamid (clearly cracked and deserted by all the powerful political connections many had originally come to associate him with from as early as the mid-2000s) has lately been crying foul while claiming there is a conspiracy by powerful foreign lenders against indigenous and local Ugandan businesses.
This isn’t entirely true because in most cases political connections and corruptly-procured contacts in high places like State House blind such nascent Ugandan tycoons to become overly excited and overlook the need for corporate governance and end up running down their own businesses.
Hamid has also since called on the President (renowned for shunning reputation-damaged tycoons) to come to his rescue while wildly claiming that the impending disintegration of his business will portray policy failure on part of the NRM government which has always preached private investment-led growth for the country.
He asserts that the South African lenders mistreated him, something that entitles him to special protection from the GoU whose Attorney General Kiwanuka Kiryowa has since made it clear that the state won’t interfere in private business operations between individual Ugandan business people and their lenders-be they Ugandan or foreign.
LARGER PICTURE:
The larger picture is that Hamid is just one of the many Ugandan business actors who have fallen into deep problems with lending institutions after years of being perceived as mere proxies and fronts associated with riches which actually aren’t theirs. This had been a Kampala story for years, if not decades.
Ugandans, including people who supposed to know better, casually claiming so and so is a front for the First Family. He/she represents so & so. Gen Salim Saleh has often been misunderstood or misrepresented along those lines as has been First Lady Janet Museveni.
Besides Hamid, the following Kampala tycoons or businesses have had to carry their cross quite often ending up in Court after sharply disagreeing with their lenders: Ham Kiggundu, Patrick Bitature, Deox Tibeingana of the famous Rivonia Suites near the Nakawa Court and Mathias Magoola of Dei Bio-Pharma Industries which was supposed to manufacture pharmaceuticals and vaccines at Matugga etal.
The list is indeed long and the Mukiibi St. Lawrence Academic institutions is another example of prosperous businesses Ugandans have recklessly had to baptise First Family’s without ever being required to corroborate their claims. Richard Tusiime’s Red Pepper Publications is another example of a private business that has gone under inspite of decades’ held view that it was the First Family’s & more so Gen Salim Saleh (who actually was always a victim of Red Pepper’s sensational reporting).
Now, as we all know, many of these are beginning to get into real problems with prime properties on which they rode to become famous household items getting advertised for impending auctioning in newspapers. Ironically, the very Ugandans who used to claim these are Museveni’s or First Family’s are conspicuously silent. No one is stepping forward to explain how and why what was supposed to be First Family properly is on the verge of being auctioned.
They won’t tell you why and how Gen Museveni is all of a sudden merely, indifferently, looking on when what is supposed to be his First Family’s is being scrutinised and auctioned publicly through the newspapers. Those who previously parroted such claims ought to now be subjected to some public scrutiny too and required to apologise for propagating fake news as opposed to merely being permitted to get away with such deception.
THE OBJECTIVE TRUTH:
Here is what we think and consider to be the truth. Private businesses will always opportunistically seek to be on excellent terms with the politically powerful whose circle in Uganda has significantly remained unchanged for close to 4 decades. Such close association to the politically powerful, both real and acted or exaggerated, comes with plenty of advantages for businesses including market access, excellent rapport with taxation and regulatory authorities.
It also gives confidence to accounting officers in charge of key decision-making at State parastatals and MDAs to award generous contracts to businesses perceived to be deeply connected and friendly to the ruling establishment.
And quite often, business executives will deliberately exaggerate such relations and connections to the politically powerful and in Uganda, because we are vastly inept, gullible and unsophisticated, people tend to fall for such as evidence that business A or B is owned by First Family members or those closely connected to them.
Dr. Kin Kariisa’s NBS has suffered so much stereotyping that some have resorted to casually christening it “Natasha Broadcasting Services” to depict President Museveni’s daughter to be the owner whereas not. Pastor Bugingo’s Salt Media business has equally been christened First Family’s as have all Hassan Basajjabalaba’s businesses over the years.
But such are Ugandans: they never hold themselves to account even when their original deceptive thoughts turn out to have totally been untrue as we now know now of the Aya Group, Patrick Bitature, Ham Kiggungu, Mathias Magola and many others!
The bitter truth is that all these businesses are incorporated and owned by self-made Ugandans who struggle like any other person (including leveraging on political connections sometimes they pay or bribe to land an invitation to a State House function) to make it to the top and when they do, because we have no idea what they have been through, we conveniently christen them or their resultant business successes what we consider to be the truth (whereas not). (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at [email protected]).