UTL saga: Anite takes on Rukutana for protecting Twebaze
A photo montage of (L-R) State Minister for Investment Evelyn Anite, Administrator of Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) Bemanya Twebaze and Deputy Attorney General Mweisgwa Rukutana. FILE PHOTOS
What you need to know:
- Mr Rukutana explained that the removal of an administrator from office requires that a creditor would be the person listed as competent to apply to the court to remove an administrator from office.
- The Attorney General Mr William Byaruhanga was among the delegation that had travelled with President Museveni to China early this week.
The State Minister for Investment, Ms Evelyn Anite has said a cartel in government circles that wants to take over assets of the struggling Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL), is frustrating her efforts to sack Mr Bemanya Twebaze, the administrator of the telecom company.
She says that her June 26 letter to the Attorney General Mr William Byaruhanga to apply to court to remove Mr Twebaze as the Administrator of Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) was not seeking his opinion as a government lawyer but rather a directive to implement her instructions.
In her letter dated June 26, Ms Anite directed Mr Byaruhanga to get immediate replacement for Mr Bemanya, saying all the concerned parties have lost confidence in the administrator and therefore, can no longer work with him.
In response, however, the deputy Attorney General, Mr Mweisgwa Rukutana on June 28, 2019 wrote to Ms Anite saying the minister has no supervisory powers over the UTL administrator.
Mr Rukutana explained that the removal of an administrator from office requires that a creditor would be the person listed as competent to apply to the court to remove an administrator from office.
“Whereas some government entities may be listed creditors, they have separate legal status. Accordingly, a shareholder in this instance, the Minister of Finance Planning and Economic Development has no locus to apply to the court to remove the administrator from office,” Mr Rukutana said in a June 28 letter.
However, describing Mr Rukutana’s response as offside, Ms Anite says it “points to a common view that a cartel in sections of government is keen to have UTL liquidated and sell to themselves the strategic assets of the Company and people of Uganda.”
She wrote: “I received a completely offside reply (ADM 202/04) from the Deputy Attorney General in regard to my instruction. I will respond to litany of fundamentally flawed innuendos/opinions he listed separately. It is indeed surprising that your Deputy interpreted my communication as a request for opinion!”
Ms Anite said in a June 28 letter that the response of Mr Rukutana points to a confirmation of a view shared in meeting chaired by Minster of Finance Planning and Economic Development with her, the Permanent Secretary [Mr Keith Muhakanizi] and two other technical officers on Thursday 20th June 2019 at 9:00am where it was stated that Mr Bemanya Twebaze is a crooked lawyer and entrenched in Attorney General's office.”
She added: “The purpose of this letter is to implore you to have the petition to remove the Administrator of Uganda Telecom filed in Court without further delay.”
As the Ping-Pong between the two ministers was raging, Mr Byaruhanga was among the delegation that had travelled with President Museveni to China early this week.
