Whistleblower Tips Museveni On Bribery In Namanve Industrial Park.

An investor has whistle-blowed, alleging that the officials from the Ministry of Finance
and Investments received a $500,000 (about sh2b), as bribe, for the land used for the
construction of Kampala Nile Resort Hotel in Namanve Industrial Park.

The investor, who has opted to remain anonymous, alleges that the officials together
with some Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) staffs, shared the money.

“The hotel investor paid a commission of sh2b to the officials. It is purported that one
of the UIA bosses sent his staffs to pick the money from the hotel, which is fraud,” the
whistleblower purports.

According to the whistleblower, part of the deal was to use the money to refurbish
the road that connects to the hotel, but the officials instead directed Lagan DOTT
Namanve Limited to stop all the other activities and tarmac the road from their own
budget.

However, the hotel owner and UIA staffs are at crossroads after another access road
to the hotel that had been promised to be constructed by the officials has not been
fully refurbished and it is still shambolic.

The second road from Jinja Road, to the hotel, according to the whistleblower, was
not part of the program. The road is still under contention between the officials and
the hotel owner.

The investor also claims that murram is being extracted from the park and sold to the
investors at exorbitant price by the UIA staffs.

Our website staff visited the park recently and established that there were deep
excavation pits with depth of more than three meters, showing that murram had been
extracted.
“UIA officials introduced the hotel investor to one of the persons who got murram from
UIA land and sold it to him. The money was later distributed among the UIA staffs,”
the whistleblower claims.
This is not the first time UIA staffs are implicated for allegedly stealing murram in
Namanve Industrial Park.

In 2018, one of the staffs was rendered jobless after the Police several times caught
him rend-handed illegally extracting sand and murram in Namanve Industrial Park.
Police and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence detained him for several days and
later released him on bond.

These chaotic events have also led to slow progress of road construction in the
Kampala Investment Business Park (KIBP).

President Yoweri Museveni has since warned over construction of offices, hotels,
malls, among others in the park, saying the land is meant for only industries.

The whistleblower also noted that investors at the park, estimated to be 1500
hectares, have many security issues.
“Many thieves steal fuel at the park, investors robbed, women raped and there are
no latrines,” the whistleblower observed.

According to the whistleblower, UIA was advised to give land next to Namanve
Police post to the Local Defense Personnel (LDU), which it did and the security of
the area improved tremendously.

However, in a turn of events, after two years, the land was sold by UIA staffs to
another investor for milk processing and the LDU’s were evicted.
The LDUs have since been shifted to a swampy area, where they have erected
temporary structures for shelter and fear will be evicted anytime soon.

The whistleblower, however, alleges that the individuals at the centre of the
fraudulent transaction are UIA bosses and the former Police boss in charge of
security at the park.

The Police officer was transferred but still comes to the park where he purportedly
collects money from the investors under false pretext. He is now co-ordinating his
activities with the new Officer-in-Charge of the park.

The whistleblower claims that one of the UIA staffs and the former police boss in
charge of the park, received a commission of shs.600million from the investor who wants
the land for milk processing.

Following the incident, the LDU’s petitioned the President, who did not act on the
matter following misleading information from one of the investment ministry’s top
bosses.

One of the UIA bosses was suspended from his position for three months in early
2023, over the incident.
During that period the fired official booked a temporary office at Jokas hotel where
he used to meet with some businessmen to devise an elaborate plan of grabbing
more than 1000 acres of land in the Industrial Park.

The individuals, according to the whistleblower, planned with the National Forestry
Authority (NFA) bosses, to cancel genuine titles granted to the investors by the
Government, under guise that their land is a forest reserve.

This strategy has a precedent as it was used by the UIA and investment ministry’s
officials to frustrate the $70m (sh273b) investment by Dubai Ports World as exposed
in the audit of Emmauel EwaKu Allio of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC).

In a letter addressed to Andrew Muyonga Mubiru, seen by this website, NFA still
maintains that the plots form part of the central forest reserve and wetland, which
investors claim was confusing as there was no credible evidence provided.

Using the letter, Mubiru petitioned the High Court in Mukono district, seeking
cancellation of certificate of titles for 13 investors in Namanve Industrial Park,
arguing that they were illegally issued by the Government through the Commissioner
Land Registration.

He also faulted NFA for not canceling the titles.
In rebuttal, the investors argue that Mubiru has no locus to sue them because he
does not own property within Namanve Industrial Park.
The case is before Justice David Matovu of Mukono High Court and due for hearing
on March 15, 2024.
The Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) in Kibuli has also proved that NFA
does not have any documents to prove the existence of a forest in Namanve Forest
Reserve and all titles are valid.
Investigations
The reporter is also aware of the extensive investigation by the Inspector General of
Government (IGG), Beti Kamya, and other security organs on UIA. In fact in respect
to the hotel and LDU cases, there are criminal record book numbers.
UIA speaks out
The UIA director lands development, Hamza Galiwango said the land in the
industrial park is offered free of charge to investors.

“It is not true that there is payment made. The only payment on park service and
ground rent charges,” he said.
On the issue of murram, Galiwango said some parts of Namanve are wet and need
to be backfilled.
Efforts to get a comment from the State Minister of Finance for Investment and
Privatization, Evelyn Anite were futile as she was not picking calls to her mobile
phone number.
 The whistleblower said that some of the ministry staff have repeatedly blagged that their boss keeps on telling them that she is part of the first family, Untouchable, and keeps repeating the phrase “Tulina Amagye”.