A bitter row pitting Lands state minister Sam Mayanja and Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka is threatening to derail the construction of a 132 kilovolt (KV) transmission line from Namanve to Luzira, The Observer had learnt.
At the centre of the controversy is the impending compensation of Shs 28bn by Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) to a handful of individuals for taking over their land to pave way for the transmission line. It is understood Shs 8 billion has already been disbursed to the claimants of the land.
Whereas Kiryowa chaired negotiations between government, UETCL and claimants that gave green light to the payment, Mayanja suspects the claimants are scammers and has moved to block the compensation. Incidentally, K&K advocates, a law firm where Kiryowa is a partner, is the external legal representative of UETCL.
Last week, Mayanja held a press conference in which he said, suspected fraudsters allocated themselves 8 title deeds, most of which are wetlands, in the route where the transmission line is going to pass.
“These title deeds were given some dummy names such as Flavia Muntuyera and Asuman Irunga, but if you dig deep, you will find that the real culprits are hiding. Other companies involved in this scam are Delmas Apartments Ltd, Prestigious Apartments Ltd, Aisha Mulungi and Irene Kwera. Flavia Muntuyera and Asuman Irunga are listed twice,” Mayanja said.
He has since asked the Inspector General of Government (IGG) to investigate the matter. However, sources within the Attorney General’s say this has not gone down well with Kiryowa and there is growing tension over the matter.
“There was no reason for Mayanja to address the press over the matter when he could have directly consulted the Attorney General first,” said the source who preferred anonymity.
“A state minister cannot overrule the attorney general and this portrays government as disjointed.”
However, a commissioner in the Lands ministry who asked not to be named said Mayanja is on the right track to expose a cabal of scammers and got instructions from ‘above.’
“The president directly asked him to block this bogus payment after security tipped him off that it was a sham deal,” said the source.
“This was government land that speculators took advantage of to register proxies as owners in order to claim compensation. We suspect these scammers colluded with top officials in UETCL, Attorney General’s office as well as the Lands ministry.”
A recent dossier by some UETCL directors cited connivance of UETCL staff with project affected persons (PAPs) to force government to pay for infrastructure and land that is nonexistent or exaggerated.
“It is also alleged that UETCL staff mobilize some PAPs to reject compensation packages that if they did so, government would pay more and they share. This has contributed to delay in projects implementation because such cases take long to resolve,” reads part of the petition to Finance minister Matia Kasaija.
