Cyprian Musoke
1 November 2008
Kampala — IN a special sitting on Friday, Cabinet adopted the minority report which exonerates security minister Amama Mbabazi from any wrongdoing in NSSF's purchase of land belonging to him and businessman Amos Nzeyi in Temangalo, Wakiso District.
Parliament ordered its committee on commissions, statutory and state enterprises committee to investigate reports that security minister Mbabazi and finance minister Ezra Suruma used their positions to pressure NSSF to buy the land at a price higher than the market price and that the procurement flouted procedures.
The two-month probe into the sh11b purchase produced two reports. The main report blamed the ministers on all allegations and recommended that Suruma and Mbabazi be dismissed for allegedly contravening the Leadership Code Act.
In the minority report, six MPs on the 20-member committee dissented, saying the two ministers had committed no offence.
In the Friday meeting, the cabinet rejected the majority report as "full of lies and most of the observations and recommendations politically motivated".
It recommended that the NRM caucus sits on Monday to discuss the two reports and resolved that any member who boycotts the meeting would be disciplined.
A Cabinet sub-committee has been put in place to fine-tune the minority report to include the interest of the workers for discussion in the meeting on Monday.
The sub-committee comprises local government state minister Hope Mwesige, general duties minister Adolf Mwesige, lands minister Omara Atubo and Deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi.
Sources said that during the meeting, the President emphasised the benefits of the NSSF-Temangalo project, and the meeting directed internal affairs minister Ruhakana Rugunda to instruct Police to probe the Executive Director of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Aryamanya Mugisha, for lying to the committee that the land in Temangalo was a wetland.
"The Police is already measuring that land, and have already given a preliminary report to the President. Aryamanya is already being probed for lying to the committee," a source who attended the meeting said.
The reports were presented in great detail by Mwesige, on behalf of the Cabinet sub-committee on Temangalo.
"Whereas a few ministers tried to block the discussion of the reports, the rest of the ministers were ready for this discussion, so as to put to rest a saga that had paralysed government for nearly three months," a source inside the meeting revealed.
Those few who wanted to block the debate, the source added, claimed this was a personal matter and should not be brought to Cabinet.
"However, the matter had been discussed by Cabinet before and also by the NRM Parliamentary Caucus at the request of some NRM MPs who petitioned the chairperson of the caucus in August," the source added.
The source said the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi, was also attended by President Yoweri Museveni "who came loaded not only with his documents, but also facts".
"The discussion that ensued after the presentation of the two reports was very lively, with intermittent clapping and banging of tables. As Adolf took the entire Cabinet through the reports. It became very clear the two ministers were not guilty of influence-peddling," the source added.
"It also became clear that this transaction did not fall under the PPDA Act, after all, the majority report recommends that the Act should be amended," the source added.
Finance minister Dr. Ezra Suruma took Cabinet through the steps he took to approve the transaction and other transactions.
"Cabinet was satisfied with his explanation, although he was put to task to explain why he did not involve his accounting officer when carrying out those approvals. The project was evaluated and found to be very good and beneficial to the workers and the country at large," other sources said.
Ethics minister Nsaba Buturo was asked to read sections of the Leadership Code Act for everyone to understand beyond reasonable doubt the there was no violation of the Act.
"It then became very clear that the standing committee on commissions, statutory authorities and state enterprise had completely veered off its course for political reasons and had been used as a tool for NRM members to square out with their "foes"," the source added.
Sources said that in the meeting, in which members spoke freely, they brought out personal issues and complained that they had not been discussed at such meetings.
"The condemnation of Kahinda Otafiire and the Late Noble Mayombo by an International Court regarding Congo, the criminal cases faced by Rujumbura MP and Gen. Jim Muhwezi were all brought up. The situation of substandard roads and the public outcry against the Minister of Works also came up," sources said.
Museveni, sources said, emphasised the distinction between criminal offences and a sale of one's land to a willing buyer, "moreover at a price below the market price".
The majority and minority report had concluded that there was value for money and that the transfer of the remaining titles should be concluded as soon as possible.
"Cabinet wondered why, when there was value for money, the whole country should have been put at a standstill for three months. It was concluded that political reasons were the driving force during the probe, as some NRM members tried very hard to make Mbabazi as dirty as they themselves are," the source added.
During the meeting, the President explained how in 1974, Amama had introduced Otafiire to him.
"They started reminiscing FRONASA together. Each of the two men was given a chance to talk so that Cabinet could assist in sorting out the feud between the two. It was clear that the Namboole NRM elections for Secretary General in late 2005 were the main cause, with Otafiire having failed to accept defeat since then. He had, therefore, been undermining his Secretary General using his position as local government minister," sources said.
In the meeting, Otafiire defended himself that he was campaigning for the President's fourth term and not decampaigning Mbabazi, which caused a lot of laughter.
In reaction, Mbabazi described how he got to know Otafiire much before 1974, "as a small, noisy boy at a seminary", and later they started working together.
He described Otafiire as a man of "some attributes", which he appreciated, but that like anyone else, he was also not perfect.
"Before Mbabazi was done, Otafiire grabbed the microphone and interrupted as if to shut him up. The security minister let Otafiire finish and then remarked, 'This is the Otafiire that I know', which threw the meeting into laughter.
The President said MPs Henry Banyenzaki, Wilfred Niwagaba, David Bahati, Chris Baryomunsi and Jim Muhwezi's disciplinary problems would soon be handled.
The issue of NEMA's declaration of 25% of the Temangalo land as a wetland was discussed at length and the President informed Cabinet that he also knew the land and had flown over it in a plane looking for the wetland, "but did not find any".
He observed that Aryamanya lied to the committee and an investigation was underway to establish the facts. "If the Executive Director lied, he will be brought to book," the President is reported to have said.
On the question of the squatters or bonafide occupants, sources added, it was found that in the agreement between NSSF and Nzeyi/Arma Ltd, the issue had been taken into account.
"However, the matter had been blown out of proportion during the probe for political reasons. It was decided that any pending issue should be resolved," sources added.
A source said Museveni intimated that those some people are politically targeting Mbabazi. He wondered how such people hoped to create jobs and profits to the workers' savings by sabotaging investments.
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