UNRA in another Shs500b pay scam

Residents and a police officer look at the wreckage of a taxi that rolled on the Hoima-Wanseko road recently because of the poor state of the road. Photo by Francies Mugerwa

Kampala- The former Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) management paid Shs577b to suspected ghost claimants and in other dubious transactions during the process of land acquisitions for various roads projects over a period of seven years.

The revelation is contained in a 1,300 page Unra final report by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire commission of inquiry.

The commission, according to the report, discovered financial losses amounting to Shs49b that was paid dubiously to Project Affected Persons (PAPs) and also documented another Shs562b as “funds at risk”; money that was paid out but reasons for payment were not satisfying.

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as forest reserves under the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act of 2003 and wetlands managed by the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema).

For example, Shs12.4b was approved as payment to PAPs on the Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road project in South Western Uganda, but Shs14b is certified as to have been paid out. The extra Shs2b is not accounted for.

On the same project, the government incurred an extra Shs30b as payment for 9km of road length. The contractor, Turkish firm-KOLIN INSAT, was contracted to build 92km at Shs314b but examination of the actual kilometres on the strip map used for compensation noted that the road was actually 83km instead of 92km stated in the contract.

On the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway, Shs8b was paid to PAPs settled on Nema wetlands; Shs11b was paid to claimants who issued erroneous land titles out of Shs36b which had been approved for the purpose.
On the same project, “Unra officials and the office of the Chief Government Valuer, colluded to inflate the compensation value of a factory that never was in respect of the land title secured in a wetland by Excellent Services Limited.

The manner and circumstances under which a factory with no visible structures but with a land title in a wetland created after the gazettement of the road and inserted on to the strip was valued at Shs18b is a classic case of white collar crime,” the report reads.

As a result of the delayed compensation of PAPs leading to delay in acquiring land for the project, the project contractor, China Communications Construction Company Limited, claimed $150m (Shs52b) as costs for idle time.

The law
According to the Constitution, land belongs to the people. Article 26(2) says: “No person shall be compulsorily deprived of property or any interest in right over property of any description except where the following conditions are satisfied
a) The taking of possession or acquisition is necessary for public use or is in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health.

b) The compulsory taking of possession or acquisition of property is made under a law which makes makes provision for prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation prior to the taking of possession or acquisition of the property … right of access to court by any person who has an interest in or right over the property.”

Under the Land Acquisition Act, Unra is required to first acquire land, if owned privately or where occupied by bona fide owners, before any road project implemented.

The commission of inquiry documented extensive mismanagement of land acquisition and compensation processes, coupled with poor supervision of land acquisition and compensation consultants and gross negligence of duty by Unra officials.

The report also established fraud, collusion and connivance between land compensation consultants, local residents, area local councillors, former Unra staff and district land boards.

The commission named several officials, among them Mr David Luyimbazi, former director of planning (2008 to 2015), whose responsibility included supervising the Land Acquisition Unit but who defended himself thus: “…by the nature of the way the station is structured, you delegate business to line people. We had staff in that unit looking after over 40 projects, and it was humanely not possible for them to chase every detail.”

Others are Ms Pamela Ayebare Kemigisha, former Unra land acquisition specialist, Mr David Kyadondo, a sociologist and Chief Government Valuer Gilbert Kermundu.

The commission also recommended the blacklisting of several firms.

Ms Ayebare, during the hearings,

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The report has recommended criminal sanctions against at least 90 people as well as recovery of assets.

on all projects. Mr Kermundu, in his testimony to the commission, said “they did not have the time nor the manpower to do a thorough verification and as such they relied on the professional capacity and integrity of the consultant hired by Unra to do the land acquisition.”

“The individual holders of this office - Mr Luyimbazi, and Ms Ayebare - were negligent and made little or no effort to save the situation,” the report reads. “The Chief Government Valuer and Unra officials admitted there was gross mismanagement in the acquisition of land and compensation of PAPs. However, all the aforementioned officers attempted to pass the blame to the other or to the consultant but it is clear each had a role and should be held responsible for their actions.”

The current Unra management said the findings of the commission are supposed to be actioned by the Inspector General of Government and take criminal sanctions on the culprits.