Former UNRA chief pins Byandala on Katosi scam

Abraham Byandala.

What you need to know:

The charges. The minister along with others are charged with abuse of office and misuse of public funds

KAMPALA.

The former director of planning at the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) has pinned his former boss and now the Minister without Portfolio Mr Abraham James Byandala in the Katosi Road scandal.

Mr David Luyimbazi told the Anti-Corruption Court during the trial on Friday that Mr Byandala initiated meetings at UNRA offices to proceed with the Mukono-Katosi road contract even after the Inspectorate of Government had directed that all activities on the project be stopped and also contrary to the Management Committee’s earlier decision cancelling the deal with Eutaw.

The IGG suspended the Mukono-Katosi road contract with Eutaw Construction Company following irregularities in the award of the tender and the dubious advance payment of Shs24 billion to the company by UNRA. The IGG suspended the project indefinitely. “After the IGG froze the transactions on the Mukono-Katosi road project in regard to how the contract was signed and advance payment to Eutaw, there was a serious concern by the minister.

The minister (Byandala) initiated emergency meetings at UNRA offices on regular basis to address the issue,” Mr Luyimbazi testified before Justice Lawrence Gidudu. Testifying as the first prosecution witness, Mr Luyimbazi told court that UNRA executive officials signed the Mukono-Katosi road contract with Eutaw against the July 2013 decision of the road agency’s top management committee to re-tender the project.

The contract was signed by former UNRA director for finance and administration Joe Ssemugooma and the then-acting executive director, Mr Berunado Ssebbugga Kimeze, who are all on trial.
The IGG states that Mr Byandala abused his office by ordering the continuation of the works on the Mukono-Katosi road by another company Chongqing International Construction Corporation after the Eutaw contract had been cancelled.

Mr Byandala and Mr Kimeze are on trial in the Anti-Corruption Court on charges of causing government a financial loss of more than Shs24 billion in the Mukono-Katosi road construction project.

Other accused persons are Mr Ssemugooma, Mr Wilberforce Senjako (former regional accountant), and Mr Apolo Senkeeto alias Mark Kalyesubula (country representative for Eutaw Construction Company) and Mr Isaac Mugote (former staff of Housing Finance Bank).

Asked about the steps taken by UNRA management to salvage the Katosi project, Mr Luyimbazi told court that due to the political implications of stopping the road project, UNRA’s top management committee asked Mr Kimeze to write back to IGG to lift the order to allow works on the project continue.

friday hearing

During the hearing on Friday, court was also told that efforts for plea-bargaining between Mr Byandala and the prosecution had collapsed after both parties lawyers disagreed on the issues.
Plea-bargaining is where an accused person agrees with the prosecution to plead guilty to the alleged offence in return for a lenient sentence.

Prosecutor Sarah Birungi also submitted an amended charge sheet which required the accused to plead afresh to the charges. However, Mr Senkeeto refused to plead to the charges on account that he was intending to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to try him.

He also told court that he had dropped his lawyer and would represent himself.

The IGG further states that Mr Byandala abused his office as Minister for Works on November 14, 2013 when he wrote directing UNRA to immediately sign the contract with Eutaw for Mukono-Katosi road project yet he knew or had reason to believe that the company lacked capacity to execute the work.

Mr Byandala is also accused of disobeying lawful orders by directing the continuation of works on Mukono-Katosi road after the IGG had advised against signing the dubious sub-contract with CICO to complete the works which Eutaw had failed.

In the same case, the IGG states that Mr Kimeze abused his office when he signed a contract with Eutaw without establishing whether there was a valid performance guarantee and went ahead to issue a guarantee which led to payment of over Shs24 billion to the company to the detriment of UNRA’s interests.

In a separate charge, Eng Kimeze and Mr Semugooma are charged with causing financial loss by approving payment of the Shs24 billion to Eutaw despite prior warning against doing so.