Parliament faults UCAA, Kasaija on Entebbe Airport expansion deal
An aerial view of Entebbe International Airport. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- The COSASE members also found that no due diligence was done while sourcing the Seyani Brothers as the best-evaluated bidders in the deal.
The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) and the Ministry of Finance have been blamed by the Parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) for having misguided government into agreeing to the USD200 about Shs700 billion deal to expand the Entebbe International Airport.
The pressing position is contained in the final report arrived at by the COSASE chaired by the Nakawa West MP Mr Joel Ssenyonyi that for close seven months has been inquiring into the processes through which the deal was arrived at in 2014 when the deal was secured.
In the report presented to Parliament on Thursday, the lawmakers on the committee demanded that the Minister of Finance Mr Matia Kasaija apologise for agreeing to unsustainable terms in the deal that the government will have to shoulder.
“The Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development should be cautioned and should apologise to the nation for his role in this unfavorable loan agreement,” the report reads in part, before recommending that thorough due diligence be done by the government before such contracts are arrived at in future.
“The Ioan terms referenced above were unsustainable and a huge constraint to the country. Due diligence on loan financing terms should always be made prior to signing loan agreements by the government to avoid fatal clauses which become a liability to the taxpayer/country,” the report further states.
The COSASE members also found that no due diligence was done while sourcing the Seyani Brothers as the best-evaluated bidders in the deal.
“The Committee observed that the Evaluation Committee did not carry out due diligence in declaring Seyani Brothers as the best-evaluated bidder. They did not submit a qualified surveyor for the project as required in the standard bidding document. Further, there was no evidence that a qualified surveyor was used in the project implementation as well as the required staff and equipment. This deviation was material in the procurement process,” the report stated.
To this end, the committee recommended that the UCAA officials conduct thorough due diligence to avoid a repeat of circumstances as those noted in the Entebbe International Airport deal.
“UCAA should ensure that for future projects, stakeholders are consulted, and comprehensive needs assessment undertaken at planning and tendering stage to avoid variations,” the report reads in part.
The report follows prolonged sessions undertaken by the COSASE to inquire into the processes and decisions that informed the government's decision to settle for the expansion deal funded through a loan secured from Export and Import (EXIM) Bank from China.
During the interface, the committee interfaced with a string of stakeholders including the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), Ministry of Finance, contractors; Seyani Brothers, and the China Communications and Construction Company (CCCC) among others.
The probe into the Entebbe airport expansion deal came after the Bukooli Central MP Mr Solomon Silwanyi raised the matter on the floor late last year. This saw the Deputy Speaker Ms Anita Among refer the matter to the Joel Ssenyonyi-led committee.
In so doing, the committee was meant to establish whether due diligence had been conducted prior to awarding the contract to the contractor among others. In its findings, the committee found that officials in the Ministry of Finance and officials at UCAA had misguided the government.
The contractor on the right course
On the other hand, the same committee also found the main contractor undertaking the upgrade and expansion works at the Entebbe International Airport to have followed the requisite procedures in its execution on its charged mandate.
Mr Ssenyonyi indicated CCCC has done 100 per cent rehabilitation of Aircraft parking apron 4, the reinforcement and upgrading the runways 17/35 and 12/30 and their taxiways. He also added that expansion of Aircraft Parking Apron 1 stands at 84.7 per cent and the rehabilitation of Aircraft parking Apron 2 stands at 99.2 per cent.
“The Committee was informed that the overall Physical Progress was at 75.117 per cent as of September 2O27. Certified works were at 64.22 per cent,” the report reads in part.
Report adopted
Even when the majority of the lawmakers agreed with the committee's findings and recommendations, some MPs demanded that more be done. A section of the MPs in the plenary session yesterday chaired by the deputy Speaker Ms Anita Among attempted to distance Parliament from the processes that led to the signing of the said contract.
Regardless, the deputy speaker welcomed the recommendations of the report lauding Ssenyonyi for having exposed the faults within the Entebbe Airport expansion deal as overseen by the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA).
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“You have opened our eyes to what is going on at the UCAA. We are going to order a value for money audit to be done,” Ms Among said before adding that: “We are going to adopt this report with its recommendations.”
