Museveni disowns Basajjabalaba over forgeries
State House says President Museveni (Right) had no hand in approving Basajjabalaba’s claims.
Kampala. In a strongly worded statement, State House has disowned businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba and said it will investigate forgeries of its documents by “crooks” in the wake of Basajjabalaba’s claims that President Museveni okayed his Shs142 billion compensation.
On Thursday, Basajjabalaba told parliamentarians of the Public Accounts Committee –PAC - that after government cancelled his tenders to run a number of markets in Kampala city under the instructions of President Museveni, he sought compensation to which the President assented.
But in statement on Friday, State House described Basajjabalaba’s claim that the President approved his Shs142 billion compensation as “totally false” and would proceed to investigate if the businessman or any other parties forged State House documents to defraud government.
“The public should be informed that State House is looking into forgeries of its documents, perpetuated by some crooks,” the head of legal department at State House, Ms Joy Kabatsi, wrote. Ms Kabatsi, however, acknowledges that the President instructed Finance and Bank of Uganda to “expedite compensation due to Basajjabalaba” without mentioning the specifics of the financial value involved.
“At no time did the President mention a figure, either by word or in writing that would be a basis for such compensation. This is not his work. He does not have the competence to do it. This is the work of government valuers,” Ms Kabatsi said.
‘Properties more valuable’
Speaking to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee this week, Mr Basajjabalaba insisted that he and President Museveni “discussed these issues in detail” in December 2006 and that Museveni ordered that the matter be resolved within 60 days.
Mr Basajjabalaba told MPs that if they thought the compensation was exaggerated, he was willing to return the money to the city authority, saying they should reinstate his market sub-leases.
“Some people in government think I was given a lot of money. I would be happy if government returns the markets and the Constitution Square because the properties are worth more in value than the current money,” said the businessman. “The time gap is what is causing these differences and accumulation. In 11 years, we [have] lost a lot of businesses. We have to seek compensation and the President asked the Attorney General to handle the matter.”
In May, President Museveni described Basajjabalaba’s claim of Shs142b as “ridiculous and unacceptable” in a letter to the then Finance Minister Syda Bbumba. He also called for investigations of Finance Ministry officials he believed were involved in dubious loan agreements and settling “unacceptable” claims.
In a twist of events, however, Mr Basajjabalaba has secured an interim order stopping investigations into his claims and any subsequent cancellation of Shs142.6b awarded to him for the lost deals in City markets. An interim order of the Land Division of the High Court dated September 19 was issued against the Attorney General and government agencies from backtracking on the award of Shs142.6b to Basajjabalaba’s Haba Group for “the lands acquired compulsorily by the government”.
The interim order reads: “Any act or investigations by Auditor General, Uganda Revenue Authority and Ministry of Finance, aimed at changing the value of the award from what was granted by the Inter-Ministerial Evaluation Committee are acts of the Attorney General and are hereby prohibited.”
PAC calls for investigations
The interim court order now makes the work of PAC futile in a sense that under the Sub-judice Rule, Section 60, “reference shall not be made to any matter on which judicial decision is pending in such a way as may in the opinion of the Speaker, prejudice the interest of any party to the action.”
PAC chairman Kassiano Wadri had earlier instructed CID to investigate a consent judgment dated October 6, 2010, which an official of court disowned and said was a forgery. Mr Wadri also said another letter from Mr Christopher Gasharabaki of the Justice Ministry exempting Mr Basajjabalaba from paying taxes should be investigated.
Mr Basajjabalaba initially claimed $65 million (Shs182 billion) for loss of business stretching over 11 years. His contracts to manage Nakasero, Shauriyako and St. Balikuddembe (Owino) markets and the Constitution Square were cancelled by order of the President, who Ms Kabatsi says had always objected to Basajjabalaba’s acquisition of City council markets.
