By George Murumba

12^th Dec 2011:

Sample: High security mansions in Kampala

One of Uganda’s wealthiest and most flamboyant tycoons who is said to have “very good connections” to the ruling National Resistance Movement [NRM] government has not paid a single Shilling to his electricity supplier Umeme in nearly ten years, Uganda Correspondent can exclusively reveal.

According to our source, a top Umeme official who spoke to this reporter on strict condition of anonymity, the city tycoon who has now been nicknamed “Carlos” in some Umeme circles [for being as difficult to catch as the famous cold war terrorist “Carlos the Jackal”] managed to avoid paying his electricity bills by using both his wealth and political influence within the NRM government.

To start with, the Umeme official said, “Carlos” built himself a luxurious high security mansion in one of Kampala’s posh suburbs that came complete with 24hr armed security guards who work for a security firm owned by another powerful NRM figure who is close to the first family.  To minimise any interference, “Carlos” also made sure his mansion had its own private electricity pole in the compound.

Umeme officials have therefore been unable to access the billionaire’s mansion for close to decade.  Being unable to access the mansion has inevitably meant that they could neither deliver “Carlos’s” electricity bills nor disconnect his electricity supply for non payment as they routinely do for other ordinary “unconnected” Ugandans.

The high flying billionaire, who clearly seems to be allergic to electricity bills, is rumoured to have made his billions through a long running business association with one of Uganda’s biggest telecommunications companies.  He is also said to have “substantial business interests” in one of the foreign electricity generating companies operating in Uganda today.

His “substantial business interests” in a power generating company may also explain why Umeme, as a mere national distributor, has not marshalled the courage to drag the all powerful “Carlos” kicking and screaming to the courts of law to recover their lost revenue.

So far as tycoon’s true identity is concerned, some ‘outside the box’ thinking may be required.  For example, the name “Carlos” is to Spanish speakers what the name “Charles” is to English speakers.  Other than that, there isn’t really much else to go by that can lead to a positive identification.

Your guess is as good as anyone’s.  So over to you!  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.