UTL
Auditor General, John Muwanga has admitted to being clueless about the shares Government has in Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL).
Muwanga’s admission is contained in his December 2021 Auditor General Report that was tabled before Parliament recently in which he highlighted that he isn’t in position to establish the exact stake Ugandans hold in UTL.
According to Muwanga, although Government owns shares in a number of Public Corporations and State Enterprises that mandates the Auditors to conduct an assessment on the entities’ profitability, return on assets, liquidity assessment, long-term debt, his office wasn’t in position to conduct a review on seven entities after they failed to submit their financials.
“Out of the 46 Public Corporations and State Enterprises, seven (7) entities were not assessed because they had not submitted audited accounts at the time of writing my report,” noted Muwanga.
Among the mentioned companies included Uganda Telecom Company whose shareholding are written as “Not Known”, while National Housing and Construction Company Limited shareholding is captured at 51%, while Uganda National Oil Company Limited is 100%.
In November 2016, public got a glimpse into the financial woes of UTL following a dossier that detailed the mismanagement at the Telecom characterised by asset stripping, insider trading and a skyrocketing debt eating into the Company’s coffers.
The dossier indicated that the time that UTL was choking in debts to a tune of Shs669.689Bn, with top bosses walking away with fat salaries at the risk of sinking the company.
Among the companies UTL was indebted to included; Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Shs22Bn in license fees, MTN and Airtel Shs22Bn in interconnectivity fees, URA Shs92Bn in tax arrears, Huawei Technologies Shs24.244Bn for the equipment supplied, Shs16Bn unremitted employee savings to NSSF since 2013.
The other companies that defied the Auditor General and refused to submit their financials for audit included; Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium, The Micro Finance Support Centre Ltd 100%, Uganda Seeds Limited 100% and Uganda Livestock Industry.
During the probe into UTL’s woes, it was revealed that the Telecom was owned by both the Libyan Government, under Libya Post, Telecommunication & IT Holding Company and Uganda Government.
UTL should be assessed basing on the nature of services rendered and the profit motive should not be overstated; government offices still use this landline communication which has been overtaken by the mobile world. There’s is stiff competition from MTN and Airtel as service providers in the same industry