President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s directive to the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development to have ROWAD CAPITAL COMMERCIAL (RCC), a Dubai-based engineering firm, jointly invest in the new National Telecommunication Company (UTCL) with a 60% ownership was defied by Junior Minister Hon Evelyn Anite.
Instead, she sourced her own company, Axian Group, headquartered in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Axian Group, partly dealing in telecommunications, is owned by Hassanein Hiridjee, a French-Malagasy entrepreneur and CEO of the panafrican group Axian.
Documents obtained by this website indicate that on March 29, 2021, President Museveni wrote to two ministers, Hon Matia Kasaija and Evelyn Anite, directing them on the “formation and investment in the new national telecommunications company.”
The new company was to replace the debt-ridden Uganda Telecom Limited, which would later be disbanded.
Efforts to find an investor to recapitalize the once revered government parastatal had fallen flat following ugly fights between Minister Anite and former Registrar General of URSB Twebaze Bemanya, who was the administrator of the firm in 2019.
The two fought fiercely to see their preferred investor take over the business but in vain. Whereas Bemanya favored Manhattan Telecom, Anite had stealthily sourced Mauritius Telecom to take over UTL.
The junior minister struggled to clean her image following a whistleblower who alleged that she had been offered a $7 million bribe to seal the deal.
However, the Inspectorate of Government later cleared her of the allegations and the Mauritius government through its secretary to Cabinet G. Banymandhub clarified that no meetings had been held between representatives of MT and any member of the Ugandan government, including Evelyn Anite.
Five years later, the UTL ghost returns to haunt the Minister.
According to Museveni’s letter, after relaying how the new UTL should run, he directed the two ministers Kasaija and Anite to make a formal offer to RCC (Rowad Capital Commercial).
“The Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development should make a formal offer to ROWAD CAPITAL COMMERCIAL (RCC) to jointly invest in the New National Telecommunications Company with 60% of the ownership going to RCC and 40% shareholding for Government. In addition to Government’s equity contribution that should be ascertained, RCC is expected to commit to avail a minimum of US$ 25 Million within 90 days as working capital from the offer date and a minimum of US$ 200 Million for network revamp in the New National Telecommunications Company during the first 3 (three) years,” Museveni instructed.
Surprisingly, on May 4, 2022, Minister Anite, ignoring the President’s instructions, wrote to Axian Group CEO Hiridjee inviting him to conduct due diligence on UTL facilities since he was granted access after expressing interest in partnering with the government.
The letter reads in part: “Expression of interest in the redevelopment of Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Ltd (UTCL). Reference is made to your letter dated 5th April 2022 wherein you expressed interest in partnering with the government in the investment and redevelopment of UTCL.”
Anite further informed Axian Group CEO that she had informed the board of directors of UTL about the planned visit to carry out due diligence and had granted access to UTL facilities.
She further wrote to UTL board of directors on April 7 over the same.
Probe
As President Museveni anxiously awaited good news on the redevelopment of UTL by RCC, he was further dismayed by the presence of the new investor Axian Group.
According to sources in State House, the President received a financial intelligence report written by the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) suggesting that RCC was unable to manage the multibillion-dollar investment because it was bankrupt.
Most investors have been frustrated with this tactic if they are not choices of the authorities in government.
Against that backdrop, President Yoweri Museveni deployed Gen. Proscovia Nalweyiso to investigate the report by FIA, and on July 14, 2022, she issued a memo saying the President had granted an audience to Moses Kantu, the Chairman of RCC, to update him on the impediments and unfounded technicalities deterring the potential investor.
“His Excellency directed that [we] find out and brief him as to why this project has delayed and report back in two weeks.”
Efforts to reach Hon Anite for comment were futile by press time as her known number was unavailable.
She is likely to have been attending the cabinet meeting which takes place every Monday at State House Entebbe.
Uganda Telecom (UTL) last year in August transformed into UTel, a new branch of the Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited (UTCL) Ugandan Government.
During the launch Minister Anite revealed that government was searching for a potential investor to sink in shs 300 billion to revamp it.