Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija
Government has rejected the recommendation a ploy by Parliament that sought to have Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija apologise for the mess in the Entebbe Airport upgrade project, saying the terms and conditions in the loan agreement were scrutunised and approved by Parliament.
The remarks were made by Government Chief Whip, Thomas Tayebwa who warned Lawmakers against pushing blame to Minister Kasaija yet he was only implementing what was approved by Parliament.
Tayebwa cited a 2015 report by Parliament’s National Economy Report whose recommendations were approved, in which Parliament okayed Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) to open and maintain an escrow repayment and sales account, as well as sign an on-lending agreement in a form and substance agreeable by China.
He also accused Parliament of earlier approving China Communication, Construction Company (CCCC) as the contractor after ascertaining the technical capabilities of the procured contractor when it visited some of the projects in China and Ethiopia and concluded that CCCC had competence to deliver on the project.
“So what you are trying to do is to indict yourself as parliament, you approved all this you can’t go back and turn around and accuse people who implemented what you approved,” said Tayebwa.
The blame game was in response to observations by the Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) report on the construction works for the expansion of Entebbe International Airport by UCAA.
The Committee faulted Minister Kasaija for signing into contract the US$200 Million contract with clauses that required creation of an Escrow Account where a11 revenues of UCAA were to be deposited and Beijing had to approve all expenditure of UCAA.
The Committee said that when the Minister appeared before the Committee, he acknowledged that some terms of the loan agreement were unfavorable and attempts to renegotiate the terms of the loan agreement, were rejected by Beijing.
“The Minister of Finance should be cautioned and should apologise to the Nation for his role in this unfavorable loan agreement. Due diligence on loan financing terms should always be made prior to signing loan agreements by the Government to avoid fatal clauses which become a liability to the tax payer,” read in part the report.
However, Nandala Mafabi (Budadiri West) rejected the recommendation describing them as week and castigated Minister Kasaija for acting out of panic to acknowledge wrong doing instead of reminding Parliament of its role in the problematic loan.
“We shouldn’t change things for the sake, we should deal with the report in the right way and not try to find fault. There is no way you should ask the Minister to come here and apologise when you are the one who approved the terms and agreements. I don’t know why Kasaija comes to panic, he would have said, you approved,” said Mafabi.
Denis Lee (Maracha County) doubled down on Parliament’s role in the airport messy contract remarking, “Many have accused Parliament of being rubber stamp and clearing house, I think today it has been laid bare. I sit in the Committee of National Economy and if you see how things are done, I think soon we are going to get into a similar situation. So whoever is involved in originating loans must do thorough work.”
Muwama Milton (Kigulu County South) described the recommendation for Kasaija to apologise as weak, “Whereas I may agree, when we are processing loan requests, there are stages we go through including Parliament. There is a committee which always peruses, discusses and comes up with recommendations what happened, where did we go wrong, couldn’t we raise a red flag to treat this problem that is costing us a lot?”
Deputy Speaker called on Auditor General John Muwanga to conduct a value for money audit into the construction project, while Mafabi recommended to Parliament to stop rushing in approval of loans.
