The Minister of Finance Hon Matia Kasaija has Wednesday announced that government of Uganda has taken over full operations of Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) from a Libyan company Ucom.
In the statement released hours ago, Kasaija said the decision was reached after Ucom limited halted funding of this indigenous telecom.
Ucom also ordered resignation of all five of their Libyan representatives on the UTL Board of Directors.
To this effect, the minister said government had “decided to take over the affairs and management of UTL with immediate effect and will engage Ucom to ensure an orderly transition.”
He assured the public and UTL clientele that the company will remain operative with full government support.
Ucom is a subsidiary of LAP Greencom Network which is part of Libya Post Telecommunications, fully owned by the Libyan government.
The majority share holders have since 2014 been involved in discussions on how to revamp the sinking company, government was soon to approve a draft shareholder’s agreement providing for a turnaround strategy.
Ucom’s decision to bow out follows allegations which are being investigated by Parliament, that the company was being grossly mismanaged by its top managers. Ucom has been responsible for the management of the telecom.
Parliament was recently told in a report by Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi that top “Managers at UTL were paying themselves huge salaries and allowances on top of other benefits.
“The Top Four; MD, CFO, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Human Resource Officer earn a total salary of Shs 420 m/month. The lowest gets Shs 60 m/month and the highest Shs 150 m/month. This is 1/3 of the salary bill for the about 500 UTL workers. These salaries are indeed the highest for such staff in any company in Uganda,” read part of Mafabi’s report.
Since 2007, UTL’s performance has been characterized by heavy indebtedness, decline in market share and losses.