By Timothy Nsubuga

26^th March 2012:

State House: Is it holding a dirty secret?

A high ranking official in the Ministry of Defence [MOD] has sensationally revealed that millions upon millions of dollars that the international community has been paying the government of Uganda as compensation for using UPDF tanks and other military hardware in AMISOM operations in Somalia has been quietly ‘eaten’.

Speaking to Uganda Correspondent in Kampala on condition of strict anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, the MOD technocrat said from the moment UPDF troops set foot in Somalia five years ago, the government has been getting hundreds of thousands of dollars per month as ‘hire charges’ for UPDF equipment being used under the AMISOM umbrella in Somalia.

“It is definitely a very tightly kept secret.  But based on the information that I have obtained, I can tell you that I have absolutely no doubt in mind that millions of dollars have been paid to the government by AMISOM as compensation for using UPDF military equipments in Somalia.” the MOD technocrat said.

The Naked Facts

At the time Uganda was considering entering into Somalia, one of the main newspapers in Uganda quoted President Yoweri Museveni confirming that AMISOM lacked military hardware and that Uganda was prepared to use its own tanks and guns to fight Al Shabab.

It’s no secret that the government indeed dispatched the UPDF contingent of AMISOM to Somalia fully armed with tanks, guns, and other armoured vehicles bought by Ugandan taxpayers.  The heavily military equipment, probably in the hundreds, was shipped by rail to the port of Mombasa and then by sea to the Somali coast.

No mention was however ever made of the terms under which Ugandan military equipment would be used in Somalia.  The technocrat said the Ministry of Defence merely had “a logistical responsibility” to ensure that the soldiers and their equipment are delivered safely to Somalia within a given timeframe.  “As a Ministry, we had no more than a logistical responsibility.  Everything else was out of our hands”, the frustrated MOD official said.

State House Implicated

When he was pressed by this reporter to reveal the names of the people he believes are corruptly ‘eating’ the millions of dollars paid to Uganda by AMISOM, the technocrat was evasive, saying in his view, only State House can authoritatively shed light on the matter because it is inconceivable that the Office of the President doesn’t know about such a major deal.

“…I just told you that it’s a tightly kept secret.  It’s a highly sensitive matter that can land me in big trouble.  I have young children to feed you know.  I don’t even know if the UPDF Spokesman knows enough about this payment or has the courage to talk about it.  If I were you, I would door-step President Museveni himself and ask him where that money is going.  As Commander in Chief, he is bound to know.” he said.

Parliament’s PAC Attacked

The MOD official also attacked parliament’s Public Accounts Committee [PAC] for failing to put the Office of the President to task.  In his view, PAC only reacts to corruption scandals when the media breaks the story and yet it has sufficient resources to proactively conduct its own investigations on any suspicious deal.

“I think PAC needs to raise its game.  At the moment, it only takes up corruption cases after the media has exposed them.  They have enough manpower and money.  Why can’t they set up a team that proactively scrutinises every government deal?  If they had such a system in place, they would have put State House to task long time ago to explain where the millions of dollars AMISOM pays to the government are going.” said the MOD official.

Evidence of Agreements

It was not possible to get a comment from State House by press time.  However, a report published by the Daily Monitor last week clearly [See: Kadaga orders defence to explain deductions on Somali troops pay] shows that agreements exist under which AMISOM pays the government of Uganda for its role in the Somali operation.

“The agreement we have says the government will receive $128 from each soldier, $50,000 for each soldier who dies in service and a fraction of $50,000 for each injured soldier,” Defence Minister Dr Crispus Kiyonga said.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.