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Auditor General reminds accountants of their role

By
Badru Kasadah
-

Accountants in the country have been urged not to forget their roles, which include advisory.

Speaking at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel at the just concluded seminar for accountants organised by the Institute of Certified Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU), the Auditor General, John Muwanga emphasised the need for accountants to play their advisory role in organizations.

He noted that many organizations are facing challenges partly because accountants did not play their key role of advising management and the board on what is right for the institutions’ health. The same function, marking ICPAU’s 25 years of existence saw the institute reward the best performers since it was founded.

Held at a dinner gala, among those recognised included; Gerald Kasanya, the second Chief Executive  Officer of ICPAU who was recognized and awarded the Gold Services award.

The others were; Betty Kiganda, the first secretary to the CEO (The late P.K. Bahemuka). She was recognized as a Gold Award winner.

Catherine Asiimwe the Auditor of Uganda National Roads Authority was awarded as Young Accountant of the year. The CPA of the year was won by Selestino Babungi, the Managing Director of UMEME.

John Muhaise was recognized with the accountancy services award for his virtual contributions to the profession.

The ICPAU Annual seminar which brings together over 1,200 accountants is a flagship event for Certified Public Accountants and senior business professionals in Uganda.The three-day seminar focuses on essential insight into the current issues surrounding the accountancy profession.

 

 

 

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Uganda moves up in latest FIFA rankings

By
Our Reporter
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Uganda Crane Team

Football governing body FIFA have announced the latest rankings with Uganda climbing up 2 spots to the 71st place and moved one place up in Africa to the 14th.

Following the Cranes’ 1-0 win over Egypt, the 3-0 win over Rwanda as well as their 1-0 loss to Egypt in the return leg during the recent international break, Cranes now have a total of 486 points from the 464 last month.

Uganda remains the best in East Africa with Kenya dropping 6 places to 88th, Tanzania (125th), Rwanda at 118th, Burundi (129th), while Sudan stands at 134th.

Africa’s highest ranked nation Egypt dropped five place and now appear in 30th spot, while South Africa fell to 80th position following their two defeats against Cape Verde.

Cape Verde, Uganda’s group D opponents in the AFCON 2019 qualifiers were the biggest climbers moving 47 places to 67th.

Guatemala was the worst mover falling 31 slots to 131.

Egypt maintains the top spot in Africa at 30, Tunisia follows closely at 31st, Senegal at 33rd, Congo DR at 42nd, while Nigeria stands at 44th, completing the Africa’s top five countries.

At the top, Germany has leapfrogged Brazil to the top of the rankings. Portugal are right behind the top two, while Argentina and Belgium follow them completing the best 5 countries worldwide.

Copa America champions Chile as well as Colombia continued their downfall and now only sit in ninth place and tenth place respectively.

The next Coca-cola FIFA rankings will be released on 16th October 2017.

 

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Uganda cargo highest at Mombasa Port-KPA

By
George Mangula
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Ship about to dock at Mombasa Port

New data from Kenya Ports Authority shows that Uganda’s cargo through the Indian Ocean Port of Mombasa hit 4,218 TEUs, in the first week of the nullifying of the Kenyan presidential election, beating other landlocked countries in the region.

TEU stands for Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit which can be used to measure a ship’s cargo carrying capacity.

Uganda, according to the report was followed by South Sudan (698 TEUs), Rwanda (372) TEUs), DRC (302 TEUs), Somalia (42 TEUs), and Burundi (13 TEUs).

The Mombasa Port, the busiest on the east Africa coast, registered an 11.9 per cent growth in the cargo it handled in the first six months of this year, according to new Kenya Ports Authority data.

The port management attributed the growth to recent expansion activities, including the construction of a second container terminal last year.

It provides an additional cargo-handling capacity of 550,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually.

The report says the port handled 15 million tonnes of cargo between January and June compared with 13.4 million tonnes in the same period last year.

Despite election uncertainties that have previously seen landlocked countries take a more cautious approach while importing through the Mombasa port, KPA said none of the countries reduced their operations in the run-up to the August 8 polls.

That aside, Kenya and Tanzania have long competed to have the most important port in East Africa and their rivalry continues as they build much bigger ports targeting landlocked countries in the interior.

The Port of Mombasa and Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port are the traditional competitors. Kenya is now planning a larger new port at Lamu, while Tanzania is building Bagamoyo.

Both ports will be larger than any other port in sub-Saharan Africa if completed as planned. They will also be at the centre of much bigger developments, with industrial zones being laid out and intensive farming being proposed.

The Tanzania wants Bagamoyo to handle 20 million containers a year, which is 25 times larger than the port at Dar es Salaam. Kenya’s planned Lamu port is expected to be just as big.

 

 

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MTN finally wins Shs5b case against rival UTL

By
George Mangula
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RIP Justice Stella Arach Amoko.

The bad  business deals of Uganda Telecom (UTL) continue to haunt it, the latest being the September 12, 2017 Supreme Court’s upholding of the earlier ruling that UTL pays its rival MTN Uganda Shs5 billion as ruled by the Commercial Division of the High Court in 2011.

MTN Uganda sued UTL in the Commercial Court in 2009 under High Court Civil Suit No.297 of 2009 to recover over 3.4billion as local interconnect fees debt for the period March to December 2007.

However, UTL put in a defense saying that the traffic in contention was international traffic to Gemtel South Sudan through code +256-477xxx which the government of Uganda through Ministry of Works and Transport had authorized Gemtel to use.

That much as the code +256-477xxx was owned to by UTL locally the traffic it carried was international traffic to Gemtel and not local interconnect traffic.

But the High Court in 2011 ruled in favour of MTN awarding over Shs5 billion including interest, damages and costs. UTL’s loss stemmed from the fact that code +256-477xxx was the locally assigned numbering property of UTL for use as a local operator in the northern region districts and could not be used by Gemtel in South Sudan which had its own country code +249xxx. Therefore court ruled that the traffic carried on code +256-477xx was local interconnect traffic and not international traffic as claimed by UTL.

UTL was not done as it ran to the Court of Appeal which dismissed the Appeal on October 28, 2014 with costs and maintained the High Court decision. UTL further appealed to the Supreme Court in 2015.

Having listened to all sides over time, Justice Stella Arach Amoko saw no reason to overturn the decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. “I decline to overturn the finding by the two Courts. I find no merit in the appeal and dismiss it with costs to the Respondent (MTN Uganda Limited),” Justice Arach said.

The ruling means UTL cannot appeal any further as the Supreme Court is the highest appellate Court in Uganda.

According to the ruling, the struggling UTL now under receivership has to pay MTN Uganda over Shs5 billion in interest, damages and costs of the case in all the three courts where it has lost the case. Should UTL fail to pay MTN, the latter can execute the judgment against any of UTL’s assets to recover the amount in question.

Justice Arach’s ruling brings to an end the almost 10-year litigation battle between UTL and MTN Uganda.

 

 

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Is the history of Uganda’s debt burden repeating itself?

By
Guest Writer
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Uganda Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija displays the briefcase carrying National Budget.

By Julius Kapwepwe et al

The debt stock, service, rate of acquisition, and many other aspects threaten to raise the bitter experiences of debt burden that heavily undermined service delivery, growth and eradication of poverty.

The current conditions do not mirror what led to debt forgiveness under Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).

Accordingly, countries like Uganda have to be quite realistic in both acquisition and use of debt. When a government runs deficits for a long time, it builds up a stock of debt, which affects the economy’s output and wealth that are dependent of the available stock of capital. Since deficits reduce investments they generate a slower growth rate of capital stock. The economy’s capacity to produce goods and services is therefore, reduced even further.

Changing debt structure
The changing structure of the debt, whereby the domestic, short-term and non-concessional debt is dominating the portfolio, should be a concern. Already, the current structure shows that nearly 85 per cent of the debt service is on non-concessional domestic debt. Prudent debt management for sustainability demands that interest rates are far below the real economic growth rate.

Uganda has an average growth rate of less than 6 per cent over the last decade, from 2005, yet the weighted interest rate on its debt profile, given the increase in domestic debt, is skewed above 10 per cent.

Uganda’s past debt was more sustainable when the country was still committed to acquiring concessional debt, and evidence shows that the debt is still highly sensitive to non-concessional debt. In this regard, the government should not only be concerned about the debt to GDP ratio but also on the structure in terms of what portion of the debt portfolio is concessional or otherwise.

Disaggregation between external and domestic
The structure of the debt in terms of disaggregation between external and domestic as well as time to maturity raises concerns given the increasing volume of domestic short-to medium-term debt. For purposes of debt sustainability, it is often better to have a larger component of long-term debt that offers less stress on the economy in terms of repayment of both interest and the principle.

Uganda’s external debt stock amounted to US$ 87,389,458,000 between 1970 and 2014 with 26 per cent Grants
and the rest as Loans. Multilateral Donors have contributed 77 per cent of the total debt stock- with World Bank’s IBRD and IDA credit windows having constituted USD 49,936,615,000 (57 per cent). Over 50 per cent of that total External debt has been incurred by Uganda over the last 14 years (2001 to 2014).

Domestic debt costing
Not only is domestic debt costing the country much more, it is also growing very fast. In the last two financial years, when the government officially introduced domestic borrowing as a form of budget financing, borrowing through government/ treasury bonds has amounted to Shs3,161 billion (4 per cent of GDP).

A total of Shs1, 775 billion was borrowed in 2013/14 and Shs1,386 billion in 2014/15. An additional Shs1,384 billion is due to be borrowed in 2015/16, which will raise the portion of domestic debt from issuance of treasury bonds to Shs4,545 billion or 6.1 per cent of GDP in just three years. Going forward, as the proportion of domestic debt increases, debt sustainability will become a serious concern for the country.

Much as the Government recognizes the need to maintain a large component of debt under concessional terms, it seems to disregard its importance. Government has indicated that, over the medium-term, more non-concessional borrowing is going to increase and will dominate in the long-term due to the need to scale -up public investments.

The government needs to fully respond and implement the recommendation that it should define the acceptable level of non-concessional borrowing.

This article was compiled by analysts from Uganda Debt Network (UDN)

 

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Bukedde TV workers ‘disappear’ in America

By
Badru Kasadah
-

It’s over ten days since the Uganda North America Association (UNAA) convention came to an end, however, most of the people who went to attend the event are not yet back.

Among these are journalists who went to cover the event.

Well, we can confirm that most of Bukedde’s team that travelled to cover the event won’t be returning.

According to our reliable sources in the US, Robert Kalibala, Abdu Kamulegeya, Denis Josiah and a one Pamela, who has been presenting a kid’s programme reportedly, disappeared when the event came to an end.

Kalibala has been a producer of ‘Luyimba Lwo’ while Kamulegeya has been a presenter of ‘Wujjala’, a love program.

Denis Joshua has been a producer at the same station.

This is not the first time that people who travelled for the same event disappeared on getting in the US.

Over ten people who went for last year’s UNAA convention disappeared from their camps. Majority of these were from ‘The Ebonies’ and NTV.

In fact, it’s the reason why many people who had been invited were denied visas by the American Embassy. The UNAA convention is an annual event that brings together Ugandans in North America.

 

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Police officers assault journalists, confiscate their gadgets in Entebbe

By
Isaiah Mwebaze
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Robert Ssempala wants errant police officers punished.

The Uganda police poor human rights record continues to worsen instead of improving; the latest is yesterday’s assault of journalists on duty by officers of Kigungu Post Police who also confiscated gadgets of journalists.

The journalist were on duty at Kigungu landing site in Entebbe to cover the sensitization campaign of Democratic Party dubbed “Kogikwatako” against the Constitutional amendment of the Age Limit clause.

Ssebalamu Kigongo of Bukedde television was manhandled while Sande Ssebagala of NBS Television was assaulted, his shirt torn and his camera was confiscated. The journalists implicated Wambete Cuthbert, the Officer in Charge of Kigungu Police Post, Ambrose Mugenyi, the Community Liaison Officer and other police officers of being responsible for the assaults and confiscation of gadgets.

“I was stopped from recording the views of the people about the said campaign by the Officer in Charge of Kigungu Police Post Wambete Cuthbert insisting that I had to first seek permission from the police and a scuffle ensued as he and other officers tried to confiscate my camera.” Ssebalamu Kigongo said.

Sande Ssebagala on his part said that he was recording the scuffle between Ssebalamu Kigongo and the police officers when he was suddenly attacked by the OC Kigungu police post Wambete and he confiscated his Sony camera and tripod stand. “I was then manhandled, roughed up and had my shirt torn by Mugenyi Ambrose.” he said. This information was corroborated by Evie Muganga of Radio One and Diana Kibuuka of CBS Radio who gave accounts of how the two journalists were assaulted.

The journalists yesterday reported their ordeal to Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ)-Uganda, a national non-governmental organisation that promotes and defends rights of Uganda’s journalists.

Robert Ssempala, the Coordinator HRNJ-Uganda condemned the brutal act, urging the force’s bosses to correct the undisciplined officers.

“As an Organization, we strongly condemn the acts of these police officers and call on the Professional Standards Unit of the Uganda Police force to investigate and bring these errant officers to book,” said the HRNJ-Uganda National Coordinator, Robert Ssempala.

However speaking on behalf of the police, the OC Kigungu Police Post Cuthbert Wambete acknowledged that there had been a scuffle but he denied assaulting and confiscating the journalists’ gadgets but pledged to help the journalists recover their gadgets.

Over the years police has had running battles with journalists as the latter do their reporting work. Police brutality has led to some journalists disabled and loss of equipment.

The highlight of the police brutality against journalist was the beating of the former WBS (defunct) Journalist Andrew Lwanga in 2015 by the former District Police Commander of Old Kampala Police Station Joram Mwesigye. Lwanga and other journalists were at the time covering a scuffle between police and the Unemployed Youth activists last year on Namirembe Road in Kampala.

Despite the establishment of the Professional Standards Unit to discipline errant officers, the Uganda Police Force officers continue to harass and beat citizens, an act that violets the constitution from which the officers derive their responsibilities.

 

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CSOs urge Museveni to “stop intimidating citizens and media” over new land law

By
George Mangula
-

As President Yoweri Museveni traverses the country educating citizens on the proposed Land Amendment Bill, 2017, eight national civil society organizations including Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG) and five others have urged President Yoweri Museveni to stop what they say is “intimidating citizens and the media, saying it is undemocratic.”

The CSOs, including World Voices Uganda (WVU), South Western Institute for Policy and Advocacy (SOWIPA), Guild Presidents’ Forum on Oil Governance (GPFOG), Kanungu Youth Initiative for Environment (KYIE) and the Oil Refinery Residents Association (ORRA) were meeting in Buliisa district where they discussed what they called President Yoweri Museveni’s threats and directives to radio station owners and managers to deny airtime to those opposed to government’s efforts to amend Article 26.

Through the Land Amendment Bill, 1 2017, the government wants to amend the Constitution to avoid the legal requirement for prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation to land owners prior to possession or acquisition in all cases of compulsory land acquisition.

During the radio talk show on Voice of Kigezi on September 4, 2017, the president is alleged to have asked radio station owners to stop giving airtime to those opposed to the amendment. Following the alleged directive, former presidential candidate, Dr. Kiiza Besigye was barred by Mr. Darius Nandinda, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Kabale district from appearing on Voice of Kigezi for a talk show that Dr. Besigye had already paid.

“The President has issued the same threats to all radio talk shows across the country. During their civil society meeting on September 11, 2017, with grave concern, the participants discussed the social, economic and political implications of the President’s undemocratic and unconstitutional actions,” the CSOs say.

The Participants noted that while Ugandans should appreciate the president’s efforts to traverse the country to educate them on land, they should remind him that as the “Fountain of Honour”, he can do better by leaving small talk shows to his ministers, RDCs and other government officials so that he can concentrate on the bigger challenges facing the country.

Furthermore, participants at the meeting noted with disappointment at the huge sums of money the President spends to appear on local radios. They alleged that Museveni has a budget of an estimated Shs700 million for this exercise they say can be done by other junior government officials at a very small cost.

The participants noted that the president is wasting tax payers’ money on unnecessary radio talk shows yet is the same person who put in place a Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters headed by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire to investigate and make recommendations to enable government address land challenges in the country.

“This commission is spending billions of tax payers’ money yet even before the commission completes and makes recommendations for government’s action, the president is already working with his ministers to amend the Constitution,” they said, arguing that government should not gain more powers over private property. They accused Museveni for alleged failure to build strong institutions of governance.

The CSO leaders at the meeting noted that the President is talking about land tribunals to solve land compensation cases when he knows that his own government destroyed the same institutions that were established under the Land Act 1998 as amended. They further pointed out that as a Head of State with more than 100 advisers and 80 Ministers, the president should know very well that you don’t need to amend the Constitution to create a tribunal.

Section 20 of the Land Acquisition Act 1965 already gives government and parliament powers to make a law on the assessment and payment of compensation that can include establishment of land tribunals from the district level to the village level, the leaders noted adding that there is no need to amend the Constitution.

Participants at the meeting also noted that it a shame that in a democratic country like Uganda, government is threatening media houses and opposition to stop talking about land issues.

They noted that it was ironic that the President who has utilised over 25 radio and two TV stations to popularize his land campaign was stopping other Ugandans from using the same mediums! Why does the president want to debate alone, does he own this country? They questioned?

The participants pointed out that if President Museveni is genuine about solving land issues, he should allow diverse debate so that the citizens are able to make their own conclusions.

Furthermore, the groups at the meeting expressed disappointment at how President Museveni is spending a lot of time running all over local radio stations at a time when the country is facing the hardest challenges including people in Bududa being buried by mudslides, killing of over 20 women in Wakiso district.

The CSO leaders also noted that President Museveni is talking about environment conservation yet since 2014, his government has failed to put in place the new National Environmental Act, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations as well as Strategic Environmental Impact (SEA) Regulations. They noted that oil and other developments that highly degrade the environmental are being developed without these laws in place to ensure the environment and communities’ livelihoods are protected.

Lastly, they noted with grave concern at how President Museveni has time to move around local radios threatening the citizens yet for over 30 years, his government has failed to help at least 50 per cent of the citizens get land titles for their land. The participants at the meeting questioned How the president and his government expect this country to attain middle income status when over 80 per cent of the available land is still based on customary practices that emphasise subsistence farming over commercial farming.

 

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All lawyers corruptible, unethical-BOU counsels tell court

By
Francisco Adongo
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Sudhir and his son Rajiv at Commercial Court.

Lawyers representing David Mpanga of AF Mpanga Advocates and Timothy Masembe Kanyerezi from FK Mpanga and Company Advocates (MMAKS), representing Bank of Uganda (BOU) in the main suit against tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia and Meera Investments have  reportedly today told court that all lawyers are corruptible and unethical.

The two lawyers are battling it out with Sudhir over conflict of interest as the two are attorneys for Bank of Uganda that dragged Sudhir and Crane Bank to court. Sudhir wants the two to be his witness in the case.

Through his lawyers of Kampala Associated Advocates Sudhir told court that on several occasions, companies in which he was a shareholder gave instructions to MMAKs Advocates and sought legal assistance from them.”

One of Sudhir’s lawyers Bruce Musinguzi asked court to consider a confession where counsels from MMAKS advocates admitted to getting instructed to look into the shareholding of Crane Bank as well as holding various trainings for Crane Bank Directors.

Some of the lawyers for the respondents are quoted to have said told court that all lawyers are corruptible and unethical.

The two lawyers were arguing their case before Commercial Court Judge Justice David Wangutusi who has set November 14, 2017 as date to deliver a ruling on the application filed in court where Sudhir objects the two lawyers to represent Bank of Uganda in the main suit against him and his Meera investments.

Ellison Karuhanga of KAA

Ruparelia took Mpanga Masembe to Court last week. He accuses the two for professional breach of trust and conflict of interest when they accepted to represent Bank of Uganda in a case where BOU is the complaint against Ruparelia. He says that the two lawyers know all the confidential information of the bank and that letting them represent BOU will prejudice the case.

Rather than Central Bank and Crane Bank lawyers, Sudhir wants lawyers Mpanga and Masembe to appear in this case as witnesses because they know more about the operations of Crane Bank.

In reply to these submissions, Counsel Masembe from MMAKS argued that his firm never represented Sudhir as an individual but his companies.

He added that Sudhir’s claims that MMAKS acted on his behalf while purchasing plots in Kawempe has nothing to do with this case which entails extraction of huge sums of money from Crane Bank.

“We the lawyers are independent people; we are not mouthpieces of our clients,” he stressed.

Mpanga on the other hand, asked Justice Wangutusi to maintain them as Crane Bank lawyers saying that the evidence adduced by Sudhir is not sufficient enough to prove they have in any way breached the professional code of conduct, having not even come across any information regarding the current case in which Bank of Uganda accuses Sudhir of fraudulently obtaining US$400m from his former Crane Bank.

Lawyers consulting

However, as he set the date the November 14 ruling, Justice Wangutusi urged the two sides in the suit to have mediation meetings before his ruling.

“You settle the matter before November so that you can maintain the relationship you have been having” Justice Wangutusi advised the two parties.

 

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SGR to lower cost of transport, attract FDIs

By
George Mangula
-
Kenya has already commissioned its Mombasa-Nairobi SGR, cutting down transport fees.

The planned Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) system will be affordable, competitive and attract foreign investment into Uganda, an official from the Ministry of Works and Transport has said.

“The cost of transportation from Uganda should be globally competitive and able to attract FDIs. SGR Uganda will be Chinese Class One. We want our railway to be globally competitive,” said its coordinator Kasingye Kyamugambi.

Global competitiveness has been a major driving factor in the implementation of SGR, Kyamugambi said and that “We cannot industrialise our country without the Standard Gauge Railway.”

He said financing negotiations with the Chinese Exim Bank have been underway for the last 18 months to kick start the project. He said the bank has sent in a team to assess the project. “The Appraisal team is assessing the engineering, technical, economic and financial readiness of the project. We are on track,” he said.

“We hope within three weeks we shall be done with the process and later interface with Exim Bank. The project has a life cycle and we can’t dodge any process! We have to give it time. We are designing for 100 years so I don’t think we should panic,”

The consultants hired by Exim Bank will inspect the key construction points along the line including kilometer 00 (the starting point of the SGR), the Super Bridge in Jinja, Kampala East station in Namanve, swamp bridges, Tororo station and the Access Road Flyover.

He said it is really a great milestone that after their evaluation they give a report to the bank, adding that they have put efforts to conclude the financing discussions to pave way for construction. “We are putting all efforts to conclude the financing discussions and start construction,” he said. We already see the signs that construction is happening soon, he added.

He said the project will attract local content and that they already have held discussions with manufacturers like Roofings, Madhvani Steel and Tube. “We want to ensure Ugandans can supply up to 40 per cent materials into construction of SGR.”

The biggest SGR station will be in Namanve, Jinja and Tororo will have the next biggest station

The US$ 3.2 billion modern railway line from Nairobi will join Kampala through Malaba to Nimule in South Sudan. This will be in part of the Standard Gauge Railway construction project already underway to connect East African countries.

The railway project in Uganda received a major boost following the signing of Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) agreement. China has approved to finance the 476 kilometers line, which include catering for the detailed designs of the railway.

Standard Gauge Railway was launched when Presidents Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame, Salva Kiir and representatives from Kenya and Burundi met in Uganda in 2014.

 

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