The Attorney General has been summoned by court to defend government against charges of failing to pay a debt of about Shs 400 million shillings.
The money in question was incurred after the police hired the services of Fire Masters, a private firefighting and fire equipment distributor, to put out a raging fire that had engulfed the British American Tobacco (BAT) company warehouse in Kyambogo, a Kampala suburb.
The request was made by Assistant Superintendent of Police Simon Musoke of the Fire Brigade and, the High Court Deputy Registrar Festo Nsenga issued the summons against Attorney General Fred Ruhindi, giving the AG 15 days to respond to the accusations. High Court judge Justice Yasin Nyanzi will preside over the case.
Court documents indicate that on January 14 last year Fire Masters Manager Alex Kalenge was contacted by ASP Musoke, to help police put out a notorious fire.
In response, Kalenge deployed firefighting equipment including five trucks and dozens of men, who helped put out the fire in two days.
According to Kalenge, ,.
In the plaint Kalenge also said each of the firemen, 37 in number, were let out at US$50, while each firefighting truck cost US$280 for hire per hour, bringing the total amount under contention to US$184.000, over the two-day operation.
