Anite accuses ISO boss of blocking shoe investor

The Minister of State for Finance in charge of Investment and Privatisation, Ms Evelyn Anite, has accused the Director General of Internal Security Organisation (ISO), Col Kaka Bagyenda, of blocking construction of Shs55b ($15m) shoe factory in Namanve Industrial Park.
The land on Block 113 Plot 1012 was in February allocated to a Chinese company, Landy Industries Limited, to construct a shoe factory, which officials from the company said would generate up to about 1,000 jobs.
The officials say soldiers attached to ISO have blocked them from accessing the site in the last six months.
On Friday, Ms Anite made an impromptu visit to the site but found ISO operatives.

“I thought everything was okay but only for the investor to call me and say he wants to do work but the men in uniform have stopped him from doing any work,” she said.
When Ms Anite asked one of the soldiers at the site, only identified as Magara, why he was there and on whose orders he was deployed, the soldier said he had been deployed on orders of Col Kaka.
“Magara claims the person that deployed them here is the ISO director general but I have been trying to call him and he is not responding. Neither has he responded to my messages,” Ms Anite said.

After hitting a snag, Ms Anite asked the soldiers to instead guard the investor whom she then told to deliver machinery to the site and commence works immediately.
“I have now told them that let them guard the investor and he does his work,” Ms Anite said.
The events at the scene were peppered with countless calls and exchange with Mr Magara.

Writes to Security minister
Prior to the visit, Ms Anite said she had twice written to the Security minister, Gen Elly Tumwine, on the matter asking him to withdraw the soldiers from the site to allow the investor commence works but her calls had not been heeded to.
“I wrote letters to the minister of Security to try to resolve the issue. I have written two letters and it has taken three months without getting a feedback,” Ms Anite said.
An August 20 letter, a copy of which Daily Monitor has seen, titled ‘Deployment of Armed Officers in Kampala Industrial and Business Park’, is addressed to the minister of Security.

“I have received a petition from Landy Industries Limited and letter from Chairman, Board of directors, and Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) in respect to illegal deployment of armed officers on block 113 plot 1012 in Kampala Industrial Business Park (KIBP) Namanve,” the letter reads in part.

“These armed officers are reportedly deployed by the Internally Security Organisation (ISO) and have stopped the rightful lessee of the plot from carrying out their physical development active,” the letter adds.
Mr David Lu, the company’s general manager, said the army deployment had paralysed his work.

“We had planned to have this work finished before the end of the year but it is not possible now,” Mr Lu said.
He appealed to government to accord him liberty to construct the factory.
“I want government to help and let us access the land and construct the factory as we had planned,” Mr Lu said.
Col Kaka could not be reached for a comment as his known cellular phone numbers were switched off every time we called.

Army response
Brig Richard Karemire, the army spokesperson, said he was not privy to the deployments or how the army got involved in the matter and could, therefore, not offer a response.
“Who owns the land? That is the first question. UPDF does not fall under the Ministry for Security. We need to establish the owner of that piece of land,” Brig Karemire said.

Mr Hamza Galiwango, the director of lands development at Uganda Investment Authority, said the deployment was scaring away investors.
“They were stopped about six months ago. The investment society became very scared when they heard about this and they came asking us but we assured them that this is a one-off. This matter has not gone to court and we are puzzled why,” Mr Galiwango said.

Genesis
The land on Block 113 plot 1012 in Kampala Industrial Business Park (KIBP) in Namanve was on October 10, 2014 leased to Uganda Granites and Marble (UGM) limited. However, in a January 22 letter, UIA wrote to the managing director of UGM Limited and withdrew the lease. “Be reminded that key among the terms and conditions of offer of the said land was that you undertake an investment project on the land, something your company has rejected and/or failed to do despite reminders from UIA….clause 5(iii) of the lease shall automatically be cancelled,” states the letter signed by Mr Basil Ajer, the UIA executive director. In February, the 10-acre land was then leased to Landy Industries.

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