Row on who should lead board to supervise $2.3bn power projects takes new twist
Investment and privatisation state minister Evelyn Anite has vowed not to bow to pressure and rescind her appointment of Eng Proscovia Njuki as the board chairperson of the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL).
The junior minister took the stand after her boss, finance minister Matia Kasaija, asked her to withdraw her letter giving the job to Njuki in favour of computer expert Frank Katusiime.
Sources close to the matter tell us that Kasaija told Anite the move would sanitise the ministry’s image, which took a battering after it emerged that the two ministers had each appointed a different individual to the same job. When contacted by The Observer on Friday evening, however, Anite said she intended to stick to her guns until Kasaija explained why his appointee was better fit for the job.
“I can’t [annul my decision],” she said. “[Kasaija] has to put it in writing telling me why Njuki has to be removed. Is it because she is a woman or because Katusiime is more qualified? Or is it because Njuki is from a different region?”
Anite threw another spanner in the works, questioning Katusiime’s suitability for the job. She said, “Even if I was to rescind my decision, I wouldn’t do it for Katusiime. He has integrity issues.”
Katusiime served as the board chairperson for Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) for three years from 2006, but his tenure was dogged by a number of controversies.
For instance, in 2009, a parliamentary committee on commissions, statutory authorities and state enterprises (Cosase), then led by Regan Okumu, accused Katusiime’s company, Rank consults, of failing to remit Shs 4.3 billion in Value Added Tax (Vat) to Uganda Revenue Authority. Instead, according to the committee, Katusiime’s company received a tax waiver.
The same committee also accused Katusiime of influence peddling when UETCL, which he was heading, bought his building on plot 10, Hannington road at Shs 7.7bn, a figure MPs said was over-valued.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Kasaija said he appointed Katusiime as the prospective head of UEGCL through a November 8 letter. Katusiime promptly responded to the finance minister the following day, accepting the appointment. In Katusiime’s response, however, the computer expert notes that he is replying to an October 9, 2016 appointment letter.
Asked whether he had already communicated the appointment by that date, Kasaija said, “That’s a minor detail which we shouldn’t delve into”.
Meanwhile, Anite told The Observer that she spoke to Kasaija on November 8, 2016 about the position and they agreed that she appoints someone from among the already existing UEGCL board members.
Anite says after doing due diligence on all the board members, she zeroed in on Njuki as the best person for the job and went ahead to appoint her on November 11, 2016.
“I had a lengthy discussion with Hon Kasaija on Tuesday November 8th and that is when I brought the issue to his attention,” Anite said. “And that was out of courtesy because the powers to appoint lie with me as a shareholder and line minister. It is privatisation unit responsible for the energy companies. It was Hon Aston Kajara, [former minister of investment], that used to appoint these board members.”
SOURCE OF CONFUSION
So, what bred the confusion if the two ministers had indeed reached an agreement on the matter after a lengthy discussion?
According to Kasaija, the confusion was down to lack of extensive consultations. He said he decided to make the appointment himself after Anite went on maternity leave sometime last month.
“You know Hon Anite just had a baby. She has been away for a month now [so we didn’t consult each other],” the Buyanja MP reasoned.
However, Anite vehemently rejected her boss’ explanation when it was brought to her attention in a separate interview. She said she was “shocked that my senior minister can say it was lack of consultation” and maintained that she had agreed with Kasaija on who to appoint.
“Yes, I gave birth, but it is not true that I have been bedridden and not working. I have been having meetings with investors. I was advised not to sit for long and I continued doing my work,” she said.
Anite said when she spoke to Kasaija prior to the appointments, “he told me ‘I don’t know the board’ and I told him this was a board of seven people.”
According to Anite, when she expressed the view that they should “appoint one of the board members to replace [outgoing board chairperson Stephen] Isabalija,” the minister agreed.
“In fact he used the word ‘institutional memory’ to describe the person we needed,” she said. “So, I picked Njuki on merit. She has been on the [UEGCL] board for almost seven years. I had two meetings with the other board members and I thought she was brilliant,” Anite said.
According to Anite, she was later shocked to learn through social media that her boss had appointed another person altogether, moreover one who had never been on the UEGCL board.
ENTER MUHAKANIZI
Anite said after learning of Kasaija’s appointment, she picked her phone and called the minister again to seek clarification on the matter. She said that before responding to her, Kasaija asked someone – while Anite was still on the line – that, “Keith, who is this man we appointed?”
“And Keith replied that ‘he is called Frank Katusiime and he was working with UETCL’,” said Anite.
When The Observer contacted the secretary to the treasury, Keith Muhakanizi, on whether he was the “Keith” in question, he conceded that he had indeed proposed Katusiime’s name to the minister.
“I am the chief advisor of the minister of finance,” he said to justify his move. Muhakanizi added that he too had done due diligence on potential candidates and found Katusiime to be the right man for the job.
RECEIVING THE LETTER
Meanwhile, while Katusiime’s appointment was written on November 8, UEGCL did not receive it until November 25 – raising question on why a letter would take that long to reach one of the parties copied in. Interestingly, Njuki’s appointment letter reached UEGCL before Katusiime’s.
The UEGCL communications officer, Simon Kasyate, confirmed to The Observer that they received a letter appointing Eng Njuki as board chair and Eng Gilbert John Kimanzi as new board member on November 14, 2016.
“We were full of commendation to the shareholder for swift action. When a day later, we received a letter from Katusiime accepting his appointment, we were baffled as we had not received a copy of his appointment,” Kasyate said.
“We were further baffled when on November 25, we received a copy of Katusiime’s appointment written on November 8. This by all measure is confusing to say the least. But we await guidance from the shareholder on which appointment to [go with]”.
BIG DEALS AT STAKE
Among other things, UEGCL is in charge of managing two headline power dam projects under construction. These are the 600MW Karuma dam, which will cost $1.7bn, and the 183MW Isimba dam that will cost $570m.
Last week, energy minister Irene Muloni officially handed over the mandate to oversee the projects to UEGCL, which will be supported by UETCL. According to one of the appointment letters, the board members earn a sitting allowance of Shs 350,000 (net of taxes) and a net monthly retainer of Shs 1.7m. The board’s tenure is three years, although it is renewable.
Kasaija described the row over the job as “a small issue” and said they were in the process of sorting out the issue. Anite told us they had agreed to sit today [Monday] to see how to move forward.
amwesigwa@observer.ug