UNBS CLARIFIES ON SIMBA CEMENT TYCOON CLAIMS

On 13^th July 2018, we published an article about the investors behind Tororo-based Simba Cement running to the President seeking protection against some of their competitors who were allegedly out to harm them for working towards rapidly bringing down the price of cement per 50kg bag. The story showed that their decision to charge Shs25,000 per bag at a time the rest of the industry insisted on Shs40,000 had got the Simba Cement investors many enemies in the market. We also reported that serious threats had continued being made on the company employees by anonymous persons. And that the President had offered to remedially visit Tororo to embolden the investors during a public event. The visit, according to dependable sources, is being planned for the last week of August on a date that is the President’s protocol team is yet to confirm. We also reported that the investor had faulted the UNBS leadership to the President saying the regulator hadn’t helped him enough besides the UNBS’ name being used to anonymously threaten the investor that his Simba Cement can possibly be banned on the market on grounds of inadequate quality standards. This is a charge the UNBS top management has since vehemently refuted when they got back to us regarding the impugned article. Dr. Ben Manyindo, the UNBS ED says the story wasn’t only unbalanced but also misrepresentative of his organization and the values its employees stand for. “UNBS doesn’t employ rogues and our policies and core values are clear,” he informed this news website. “Those who have gone contrary to them [core values] have no place in the organization…UNBS is a government institution and cannot be used by anyone outside its mandate. You are at liberty to expose anyone doing wrong things…”Manyindo’s submissions were subsequently fortified by Public Relations Head Godwin Bonge Muhwezi who spoke to us maintaining that the image of his organization had unfairly been distorted by these media reports. He stressed there is no way UNBS, that is mandated to regulate businesses, can be used by business rivals to frustrate their competitors that are properly going about their business. “We would like to categorically state that UNBS as an industry regulator does not in any way engage in unfair trade practices. Our role is to ensure prosperity of businesses through fair trade practices and to protect consumers and the environment from dangerous substandard products on the market,” said Muhwezi dismissing contrary allegations as maliciously damaging. UNBS is a statutory body responsible for developing and promoting standards and quality of products and services to facilitate fair trade, promote local industries and protect consumers.