Ms Kaguhangire maintains she will not leave office because her indiction was void and illegal. FILE PHOTO
Kampala.
To
understand the current leadership struggle at Uganda Investment
Authority (UIA), you need to appreciate the inside wars that have
silently eaten into the investment agency for over a year.
On April 3 last year, Mr Emely Kugonza, the UIA chairman introduced Ms Jolly Kamugira Kaguhangire as the new executive director of the investment agency, replacing Mr Frank Sebbowa, whose contract had expired six months earlier.
Ms Kaguhangire, who had been tapped from Uganda Revenue Authority, had arrived at UIA at a time when the investment agency had remained a shadow of its former self lurking in the larger than life gumshoe left by the exit of Ms Maggie Kigozi.
In other words, she had been hired to revitalise the investment agency that had been cast in bad light by its failure to carve a serious investment hub out of the Namanve thickets and swamplands.
While unveiling her, Mr Kugonza said Ms Kaguhangire had been hired because of “her leadership experience” that would enable UIA to implement its 2016-21 strategic plan that, among others, sought to develop industrial and business parks, coordinate promotion of Uganda by harmonising the activities of Uganda Export Promotions Board and Uganda Tourism Board as well as creating a one-stop investment centre.
On April 3 last year, Mr Emely Kugonza, the UIA chairman introduced Ms Jolly Kamugira Kaguhangire as the new executive director of the investment agency, replacing Mr Frank Sebbowa, whose contract had expired six months earlier.
Ms Kaguhangire, who had been tapped from Uganda Revenue Authority, had arrived at UIA at a time when the investment agency had remained a shadow of its former self lurking in the larger than life gumshoe left by the exit of Ms Maggie Kigozi.
In other words, she had been hired to revitalise the investment agency that had been cast in bad light by its failure to carve a serious investment hub out of the Namanve thickets and swamplands.
While unveiling her, Mr Kugonza said Ms Kaguhangire had been hired because of “her leadership experience” that would enable UIA to implement its 2016-21 strategic plan that, among others, sought to develop industrial and business parks, coordinate promotion of Uganda by harmonising the activities of Uganda Export Promotions Board and Uganda Tourism Board as well as creating a one-stop investment centre.
Egg on face
For years, the Namanve Investment Park, which had been taken on about 25 years ago, has remained an egg on the face of UIA and in the same measure, the more than 22 investment parks spread across Uganda, present no hope for a country that continues to grapple with high levels of unemployment.
The current wrangles at UIA did not start yesterday. They have a history and have been silently raging on.
In July last year, a number of staff petitioned the UIA board over the conduct of Ms Kaguhangire but the matter, as Ms Kaguhangire told Daily Monitor early this week, was settled internally.
However, this could have been the start of a long-drawn-out leadership struggle that will leave a scared investment agency in its wake.
Some staff had anonymously petitioned the board, accusing Ms Kaguhangire of intimidation, abuse of office, possession of firearms on office premises by some of her associates and embarking on a vague restructuring process.
The same accusations would come back in the lead to her indictment, which she maintains is illegal and biased.
In a letter addressed to Mr Kugonza on Wednesday, Ms Kaguhangire notified the board that she would not leave office, noting that the board sitting that had interdicted her was “irregular, void and illegal”.
“I am still in office … carrying out my duties and the mandate of the Authority. Any decision made by any other officer on behalf of the Authority is null and void,” she wrote.
Ms Kaguhangire was reacting to an indictment that had been issued by the Kugonza-led board on Tuesday.
In the same breath she sent out an internal memo calling staff for a meeting in a show that she was still in charge.
“Please find attached a letter for your information and come for another staff meeting tomorrow at 9 am,” she wrote in an email addressed to staff of UIA. However, sources with UIA told Daily Monitor, the meeting did not take place because staff did not turn up. On Wednesday, Mr Kugonza had written an email to the acting executive director, Mr Ajer Basil and all staff directing them not to attend Ms Kaguhangire’s meeting because “she has no mandate to call such a meeting”.
“It has come to the board’s knowledge that the interdicted ED [executive director] … has called a meeting of all UIA staff tomorrow [yesterday]. This is to direct you not to attend the said illegal meeting,” he wrote in an email seen by Daily Monitor.
The push and pull comes after unnamed staff petitioned the Inspector General of Government last Friday to investigate Ms Kaguhangire over alleged corruption, abuse of office, exposing UIA to litigation and manipulating the board, among others.
Ms Kaguhangire, yesterday told Daily Monitor that staff had innocently been sucked into a battle they do not understand to the detriment of UIA.
“To save the situation, I cannot continue to look funny. I will just keep quiet and let staff continue with their work as we finish our issues separately. We do not need to involve them. They are innocent,” she said, adding, the “current situation is causing unnecessary havoc”.
At the centre of all this, according to sources familiar with the matter, is a proxy war powered by an invisible hand from State House and Ministry of Finance.
Admittedly, Ms Kaguhangire says, she has people close to State House but she will and has never relied on them to do her work.
Some staff have accused her of using security agencies such as Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) to intimidate them as well as arrest workers, particularly those that are in her bad books.
Also under contention is the current restructuring process that has already sent home five directors.
The restructuring seems to have created tension as some people claim they are unfairly being targeted.
The running around has also sucked in Ms Evelyn Anite, the state minister for Privatisation and Investment, under whose mandate UIA falls.
In a May 23 letter, Anite notified Mr Kugonza that she had received claims of corruption in the ongoing restructuring, tasking him to expedite the issue as soon as possible.
Several allegations, including bribery, exercising undue authority in recruiting staff and exhorting from investors, had also been leveled against the board, which Ms Anite asked Mr Kugonza to explain.
Yesterday, Mr Kugonza told Daily Monitor he had requested an independent investigation from the minister, adding the matter would soon be addressed.
In the same breath, he expressed surprise that Ms Kaguhangire would refuse to leave a public office as demanded by the law.
“If you are interdicted and you are required to hand over, you hand over. I would never expect anyone to handle themselves in such a manner. If you are aggrieved, you challenge the same according to the rules. You do not resist or forcefully occupy office,” he said.
Yesterday, Mr Kugonza wrote a letter to Finance minister, Matia Kasaija, notifying him of Ms Kaguhangire’s refusal to leave office.
In the letter, seen by Daily Monitor, he also refuted claims that the board had not been fully constituted as Ms Kaguhangire had claimed in her notice of refusal to hand over office.
The current bad blood between the chairman and the executive director is hard to understand as the two, had just in April, seemed to have a good working relationship as they embarked on the restructuring process.
The restructuring process has since been suspended pending completion of investigations by the IGG.
For years, the Namanve Investment Park, which had been taken on about 25 years ago, has remained an egg on the face of UIA and in the same measure, the more than 22 investment parks spread across Uganda, present no hope for a country that continues to grapple with high levels of unemployment.
The current wrangles at UIA did not start yesterday. They have a history and have been silently raging on.
In July last year, a number of staff petitioned the UIA board over the conduct of Ms Kaguhangire but the matter, as Ms Kaguhangire told Daily Monitor early this week, was settled internally.
However, this could have been the start of a long-drawn-out leadership struggle that will leave a scared investment agency in its wake.
Some staff had anonymously petitioned the board, accusing Ms Kaguhangire of intimidation, abuse of office, possession of firearms on office premises by some of her associates and embarking on a vague restructuring process.
The same accusations would come back in the lead to her indictment, which she maintains is illegal and biased.
In a letter addressed to Mr Kugonza on Wednesday, Ms Kaguhangire notified the board that she would not leave office, noting that the board sitting that had interdicted her was “irregular, void and illegal”.
“I am still in office … carrying out my duties and the mandate of the Authority. Any decision made by any other officer on behalf of the Authority is null and void,” she wrote.
Ms Kaguhangire was reacting to an indictment that had been issued by the Kugonza-led board on Tuesday.
In the same breath she sent out an internal memo calling staff for a meeting in a show that she was still in charge.
“Please find attached a letter for your information and come for another staff meeting tomorrow at 9 am,” she wrote in an email addressed to staff of UIA. However, sources with UIA told Daily Monitor, the meeting did not take place because staff did not turn up. On Wednesday, Mr Kugonza had written an email to the acting executive director, Mr Ajer Basil and all staff directing them not to attend Ms Kaguhangire’s meeting because “she has no mandate to call such a meeting”.
“It has come to the board’s knowledge that the interdicted ED [executive director] … has called a meeting of all UIA staff tomorrow [yesterday]. This is to direct you not to attend the said illegal meeting,” he wrote in an email seen by Daily Monitor.
The push and pull comes after unnamed staff petitioned the Inspector General of Government last Friday to investigate Ms Kaguhangire over alleged corruption, abuse of office, exposing UIA to litigation and manipulating the board, among others.
Ms Kaguhangire, yesterday told Daily Monitor that staff had innocently been sucked into a battle they do not understand to the detriment of UIA.
“To save the situation, I cannot continue to look funny. I will just keep quiet and let staff continue with their work as we finish our issues separately. We do not need to involve them. They are innocent,” she said, adding, the “current situation is causing unnecessary havoc”.
At the centre of all this, according to sources familiar with the matter, is a proxy war powered by an invisible hand from State House and Ministry of Finance.
Admittedly, Ms Kaguhangire says, she has people close to State House but she will and has never relied on them to do her work.
Some staff have accused her of using security agencies such as Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) to intimidate them as well as arrest workers, particularly those that are in her bad books.
Also under contention is the current restructuring process that has already sent home five directors.
The restructuring seems to have created tension as some people claim they are unfairly being targeted.
The running around has also sucked in Ms Evelyn Anite, the state minister for Privatisation and Investment, under whose mandate UIA falls.
In a May 23 letter, Anite notified Mr Kugonza that she had received claims of corruption in the ongoing restructuring, tasking him to expedite the issue as soon as possible.
Several allegations, including bribery, exercising undue authority in recruiting staff and exhorting from investors, had also been leveled against the board, which Ms Anite asked Mr Kugonza to explain.
Yesterday, Mr Kugonza told Daily Monitor he had requested an independent investigation from the minister, adding the matter would soon be addressed.
In the same breath, he expressed surprise that Ms Kaguhangire would refuse to leave a public office as demanded by the law.
“If you are interdicted and you are required to hand over, you hand over. I would never expect anyone to handle themselves in such a manner. If you are aggrieved, you challenge the same according to the rules. You do not resist or forcefully occupy office,” he said.
Yesterday, Mr Kugonza wrote a letter to Finance minister, Matia Kasaija, notifying him of Ms Kaguhangire’s refusal to leave office.
In the letter, seen by Daily Monitor, he also refuted claims that the board had not been fully constituted as Ms Kaguhangire had claimed in her notice of refusal to hand over office.
The current bad blood between the chairman and the executive director is hard to understand as the two, had just in April, seemed to have a good working relationship as they embarked on the restructuring process.
The restructuring process has since been suspended pending completion of investigations by the IGG.
Additional reporting by Dorothy Nakaweesi
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