Museveni directs Otafiire on UTL saga
A photo montage of President Museveni (Left) and the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Gen Kahinda Otafiire (Right). FILE PHOTOS
Kampala. President Museveni has directed that matters concerning the running of Uganda Telecom (UTL) be referred to Cabinet first before any action is taken.
In a July 3 letter addressed to the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Gen Kahinda Otafiire, the President stated that the Cabinet decision of finding a strategic investor for UTL must be followed.
“As I have guided on several occasions, given the strategic importance of UTL to the economy, government has been in the process of identifying a suitable investor/s to partner with to revamp UTL as opposed to divesting it. The above position was also taken by Cabinet,” the letter reads in part.
The President also instructed Gen Otafiire that no contrary action be taken on the telecom company without the consultation of Cabinet.
“Therefore, no actions contrary to Cabinet’s position should be taken. Further, Cabinet must always be consulted on any investment or related decisions concerning UTL before they are taken,” Mr Museveni said.
There has been a conflict between the State Minister for Finance in charge of Investment and Privatisation, Ms Evelyn Anite, and the Office of the Attorney General over the fate of UTL administrator Twebaze Bemanya.
Ms Anite accuses Mr Bemanya of, among others, refusing to account to government on the revenues and progress of the UTL, and has been calling for his removal.
When contacted, Gen Otafiire was unable to respond to our repeated calls but sent a text message stating: “I don’t run government in the press, so ask the one who told you.”
Attorney General William Byaruhanga too stated in a text message that he could not be able to speak on phone by press time.
Ms Anite said she was happy that the President had ignored the Attorney General’s opinion of allowing only court to handle UTL issues.
“[Mr] Bemanya said...as government, we surrendered all our powers to him when he became administrator and the Attorney General said we do not have locus and that if we want to know anything about the company we should go to court. Now, I am very happy with the President’s letter and I thank him that as a shareholder, he has now asked them to take the matters to Cabinet,” she said.
