The Monitor (Kampala)
Yasiin Mugerwa
4 November 2009
Two years after the Chogm summit in Kampala, the government has demanded that the suppliers of 144 BMW vehicles must refund part of the money paid to them because the vehicles reportedly fell short of the agreed specifications.
It has emerged that 41 cars, supplied by M/S Motorcare/ Intercar, a firm with links to city tycoon Bob Kabonero reportedly had worn-out tyres and lacked spare ones.
To recoup part of the Shs9.4 billion, the PS at the Works ministry, Mr Charles Muganzi, has sought legal opinion of the Solicitor General.
Mr Muganzi argues that they accepted the vehicles because time had run out and yet there was nothing for transporting VIPs.
"....the snags/variations were noted and recorded but that notwithstanding my ministry considered it prudent at the time to take the vehicles as delivered.... as will be appreciated on the November 17, 2007 when the vehicles were delivered it was too late to reject the vehicles or enter into wrangles as that would have jeopardised the whole Chogm," Mr Muganzi wrote on January 10, 2009.
Twenty of the cars reportedly had diesel instead of petrol engines while 42 of the cars were manual gear transmission instead of automatic transmission and that about 62 cars lacked BMW model plates (X3).
But in a letter to the Works ministry dated November 7, 2007, BMW Group regional manager for Africa Mr Jochen Rauhaus said the BMWs were manufactured in 2007.
The letter which was addressed to Eng. Okurut added: "We regret that during your stay in Germany you were unable to see your vehicles in production. This was not possible due to the timing of visit; the visit occurred after production [last vehicles were manufactured on the 12th September 2007]."
The car manufacturer said that "you will agree that quick delivery was of more importance than vehicle check."
Mr Muganzi, however, insists that "these departures from the contractual specifications and essentials of good practice have to be reviewed and due allowances or remedies agreed with the supplier."
Returns unclear
It's not clear how much the government expects to claw back from the supplier out of the Shs9.4 billion paid but the figure will be arrived at if the arbitration exercise succeeds.
Mr Nandala Mafabi, the Pac chairman, said yesterday that Mr Muganzi will also have to explain why there were irregularities in the procurement. "We want Ministry of Works to explain why the procurement of executive vehicles did not follow the procedures and why some were not of agreed specifications," Mr Mafabi said.
Officials in the Ministry of Works are expected to appear before in Pac later today to explain why the contracts for the Chogm roads, amounting to Shs21 billion, were not awarded through competitive bidding.
However, the suppliers last night told Daily Monitor that the Auditor General report was based on false allegations because some government officials had a preferred bidder whom they wanted to award the contract.
Moses Banturaki, the sales manager of Motorcare, said: "We supplied what we felt was the best deal; we discussed with the officials."
The suppliers alleged that the Auditor General refused to meet them during audit "because they had other motives on who should win the tender."
Motorcare/Intercar argues that they bidded 4.5million Euros against 9.5 Euros from another firm.
Foreign Affairs grilled
Yesterday, the committee grilled Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Ambassador James Mugume on delays to submit Chogm procurement plans, an anomaly that affected the timely completion of Chogm activities.
But Ambassador Mugume, who looked calm, attributed the delay to late releases of funds. "...we had no control over funds and funds were released late otherwise this was not our problem," he said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
