President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has turned a deaf ear on calls by Minister of Finance, Hon Matia Kasaija to shun a high level investment summit taking place at Serena Hotel in Kampala.
The Minister had earlier asked Museveni not to attend the Public Private Partnerships Infrastructure Africa meeting and also announced his Ministry wouldn’t fund the event.
according to a source in Finance, Kasaija’s decision prompted Operating Wealth Creation (OWC) Coordinator, Gen. Salim Saleh to solely facilitate this conference.
The two day meeting ends on Tuesday with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in attendance And will be hosting Kenya’s Raila Odinga, a powerful opposition figure, appointed last year as High Representative for Infrastructure Development at the African Union Commission.
This Business summit that has attracted a delegation of very experienced, knowledgeable men and women from across the world to Kampala was partly initiated by Beatrice Florah Alikai,a Certified Public Private Partnership (PPP) Specialist and Economist.
Beatrice previously Beatrice worked as Director Public Private Partnerships until last year August when she was acrimoniously removed from office by Mr Keith Muhakanizi.
Beatrice would pen a scathing letter reminding Muhakanizi “to inside his heart and do what pleases God not what pleases him.”
She later got a job abroad as Vice Chair, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Bureau of Working Party on PPPs.
But what has raised eyebrows in government circles is the position undertaken by the political head in Ministry of Finance Hon Matia Kasaija guided by Secretary to the Treasury Keith Muhakanizi to shun the meeting labeling it an orchestrated arm of fraudsters.’
Earlier, during the preparations, these powerful Finance officials attempted to disinterest the President saying they were not acknowledging its legitimacy.
In an attempt to express might, Hon Matia Kasaija placed adverts in the print media detaching government from the meeting and warned that those intending to associate themselves with his high profile summit would do at their peril.
“Reference is made to the various Media advertisements and `Public Notice’ regarding the organization of the inaugural Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Infrastructure Event in Kampala.
It has been reported that this event has been organized by the Government of Uganda in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) among other Organisations.
I wish to clarify as follows:
i) Government of Uganda is not part of the Organisers of this Conference. ii) Government of Uganda has also received information from the above United Nations Agencies and other Development Partners that this conference was not their official event.” The media ad run on Tuesday clarified.
However, this website has reliably learnt Gen. Saleh stepped up to fund the event because he realizes the purpose and the opportunity such brings to the country.
“That group always harbours selfish interests. Those people always want to be at the centre of every activity when they don’t they resort to mudslinging,” said a source at Finance.
Adding that a section from the Ministry that doesn’t subscribe to policies that cripple development fully attended the event at Serena.
Among those who attended the meeting from Finance are Ministers David Bahati and Evelyn Anite.
A separate source at Ministry of Finance told this website that Muhakazi and group are against the meeting because it has been organized by Beatrice whom he previously hounded out of PPPs office, but couldn’t digest the fact that she was seconded to attain the office she currently occupies at UN.