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By Richard M. Kavuma
WEEKLY OBSERVER
For its failure to release Shs 10 million to repair a house for
ex-rebel leader Maj. Gen. Ali Bamuze, government will now have to pay over
50 times more in hotel bills.
The Weekly Observer has learnt that
Bamuze, the chairman of the defunct Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF)
II, has lived in Fairway Hotel for over two years.
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Maj. Gen. Ali
Bamuze |
With five aides, the Toyota Prado-cruising Bamuze is costing the
Ugandan taxpayer a fortune. According to Defence sources, his hotel bill
had shot to U.S. $300,000 (Shs 555 million) by April 2005.
It is a sad commentary on the management of public money, especially in
a country with rising poverty levels, and with Bamuze still demanding Shs
600 million to pay off his ex-rebels.
Bamuze signed a peace agreement with President Museveni’s government in
December 2002, bringing his 2,000 fighters out of the West Nile bushes.
In return, government agreed to pay the rebels Shs 4.2 billion, admit
about 700 rebels into the UPDF and meet other demands.
A former soldier in the Idi Amin army, Bamuze had started UNRF II in
1996, breaking away from the West Nile Bank Front.
Sources close to
the former rebel leader said although the government has met most of his
demands, a few things remained outstanding, including Bamuze’s
residence.
After signing the agreement, Bamuze first lived in Yumbe, before
Defence checked him into Fairway – the hotel government often uses to
house ex-warlords and senior army officers from upcountry on short-term
call to Bombo army headquarters and Kampala.
“Government actually got him a house in Kitintale but the house needed
to be renovated,” said one Bamuze aide, “and they have kept postponing the
renovation.’
The aide added that Bamuze was actually uncomfortable living in a hotel
and had been pushing for a permanent residence.
“You see how he came
to stay there; he was invited for Tarehe Sita (6th of February Army Day)
celebrations [in 2003] and he was supposed to meet President Museveni
thereafter,” the aide said. “So he was taken to Fairway hotel.”
Efforts to get a comment from Bamuze were futile. An escort who
answered the phone in his cottage said he was in a meeting at the ministry
of Internal Affairs.
He later said on phone that as a serving UPDF
officer, he could not talk to the press.
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| Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza |
“You have to first speak to [army spokesman] Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza,
and then he will let you come to me,” the former rebel leader said.
Defence explains
Bantariza admitted that Bamuze was being housed in Fairway but could
not give the outstanding bill. After crosschecking with a Defence finance
official, the spokesman said government was paying only “around Shs 10
million” per month.
He thus questioned the cumulative figure of $300,000 by April 2005,
suggesting that it might have been only Shs 300 million. By press, time he
was yet to get the official figure.
A Finance ministry official said
Bamuze had a house in Kitintale, which had been run down while he fought
in the bush. It is this house government reportedly wanted to renovate for
him.
“This is someone with whom we have an agreement and who has
entitlements,” Bantariza said. “We cannot put him in Katanga [slum]; he
needs decent accommodation.”
Among other things, Bamuze’s house reportedly lacked running water
supply. The army’s Barracks and Stores section was to repair it at a cost
of Shs 10.5 million. However, the repairs were delayed because, Bantariza
says, the army has very little money for maintenance of all barracks in
Uganda.
He said, however, that the repairs had since started and Bamuze should
move into his house soon.
This case of Bamuze’s house is another
demonstration of how government needlessly loses money. While it failed to
find Shs 10.5 million, it will now have to pay a much higher figure.
Another case in the army is the hiring of vehicles for some of its
officers. According to Defence sources, businessmen are still hiring out
vehicles to the army at Shs 150,000 per vehicle per day.
In two years, the army will have spent nearly Shs 110 million on each
vehicle. Yet for much less, the army would have bought a vehicle that
could last five years.
Demands nearly over
Although Bamuze has not had a house, one aide said he was generally a
happy man because many of the demands of the peace agreement had been
met.
Several former rebels have joined the UPDF and Bamuze has received Shs
3.6 billion out of the promised 4.2 billion.
An aide said Arua town
has power for about 18 hours a day, the Pakwach-Arua road has been
tarmacked, while Karuma-Pakwach road is about to be completed.
The aide however complained that government promised to build an army
school for former UNRF II child-soldiers and children of combatants but
has so far failed to deliver.
Bamuze has also recently submitted a list
of aides and supporters he wants the government to give jobs. The list
reportedly includes Bamuze’s legal adviser, Caleb Alaka.
The aide said
the UPDF had not formalised the ranks of Bamuze’s former officers, despite
having undergone retraining. This has reportedly caused some disquiet
among the former rebels.
However, Lt. Col. Bantariza said 57 former Bamuze officers were doing a
basic officers course in Jinja.
He said they would be passed out any
time, just as Bamuze is expected to move into his house any time. For the
Ugandan taxpayer, this had better be soon.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Bamuze’s 500m bills would pay 3,700 teachers
The Shs 555 million taxpayers’ money government has so far spent
on former rebel leader Maj. Gen. Ali Bamuze’s hotel bills is enough
to pay the salaries of 3,700 UPE teachers. This money has
accumulated over 24 months.
A UPE teacher earns Shs 150,000,
including the recent Shs 10,000 salary raise.
Even going by the official figure of Shs 10 million per month,
which brings the total to Shs 240 million over the same period,
Bamuze has so far officially consumed the salary of 1,600
teachers.
The official Shs 10 million monthly bills is the salary of 66 UPE
teachers.
Interestingly the same money government has spent on
the hotel is enough to buy Bamuze more than three top class homes in
Kampala.
According to The New Vision advert published on May 4, a three
bed roomed bungalow in Kisugu-Muyenga goes at Shs 160 million.
Another house on Mawanda Road costs Shs 180 million; a storied house
in Kireka costs Shs 150 million; a bungalow in Nsambya is at Shs 85
million and a storied house in Mutungo at Shs 250 million. Shs 500m
would buy a top range mansionnette in the best of suburbs.
The money so far spent on Bamuze’s hotel bills is enough to buy
the rebel leader a decent house or two in Kampala and save the
taxpayers that huge monthly expense of Shs 23 million or,
officially, Shs 10 million a month.
The Shs 555 million Bamuze bill is also enough to pay 1,387
secondary school teachers at Shs 400,000 each.
It could also pay
792 medical doctors with master’s degree at Shs 700,000 a month.
The Bamuze bill is enough to buy 79,285 mosquito nets at Shs
7,000 each to save the lives of the 80,000-110,000 Ugandans killed
by malaria every year. Malaria accounts for up to 25% of all
outpatient visits and 14% of hospital inpatient
deaths.
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