Govt fails to explain stalled railway deal
L-R: Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, junior Works minister John Byabagambi and Government Chief Whip Kasule Lumumba. Photos by GEOFFREY SSERUYANGE
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Let down. Speaker of Parliament says she is disappointed because she gave government one week to explain the controversies.
PARLIAMENT. Government yesterday failed to explain the controversies surrounding the award of a $1.5b (about Shs4 trillion) tender for the construction of the standard gauge railway line.
The deal involving two Chinese firms has sucked in several government agencies and President Museveni.
On September 25, Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga gave the government one week to explain why junior Works minister John Byabagambi cancelled an understanding with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to construct the eastern route of the railway line and handed the deal to another Chinese firm, China Harbour Engineering Corporation (CHEC).
The Speaker’s order followed a motion by MPs demanding that Parliament sets up a select committee to probe the conduct of several government agencies involved in the deal amid claims of abuse by different ministers.
However, Government Chief Whip Kasule Lumumba yesterday begged for more time, pleading that the government has not had enough time to prepare a response to queries over the mess that has stalled the regionally-conceived project and exposed the government to costly lawsuits.
“When this matter was raised, the Second Deputy Premier requested for time. He has requested for more time because we have not assembled more documents to make a comprehensive response to this House,” Ms Lumumba said.
When the House insisted on answers over the mess, Ms Lumumba told MPs that she does not have “responsibility to make sure the premier “appears before Parliament to explain what went wrong in the deal.
Ms Kadaga ruled that the government will have an additional one week to explain.
“I must express my disappointment because I gave [the government] Wednesday [to explain] for a reason. I want to give the government one week and I have powers under Rule 19 to call Parliament any time. If that week expires, we just move and no more opportunity for you,” Ms Kadaga told the Government Chief Whip.
In the motion calling for a select committee, MPs led by Theodore Ssekikubo ( Lwemiyaga) questioned why Mr Byabagambi ignored repeated warnings from the Attorney General, Solicitor General, the Justice minister warning against cancelling an undertaking with CCECC and inking a deal with CHEC.
Court order
MPs also referred to a court order putting on hold the minister’s actions which Mr Byabagambi ignored and cleared CHEC to start work.
It later also emerged that the firm selected by the government, despite being blacklisted by the World Bank in 2009 over fraud, was favoured by President Museveni.
