Gov’t reaches settlement with tenants of Uganda House Nairobi

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Foreign Affairs Ministry has finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the occupants of Uganda House in Nairobi to pave way for renovations. The renovation works have stalled for five years even after a contractor was identified and funds availed for the works.

The contracts for renovations and consulting engineers were awarded in October 2015. However, Uganda’s High Commission declined to sign the 17.2 billion Shillings renovation contract for fear of committing government because of a pending court case filed by the tenants opposed to their eviction to pave way for the works.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Patrick Mugoya told URN in an interview that some of the tenants are protected under the Kenyan law by virtue of being long time occupants and cannot be evicted.

URN has learnt that the tenants and the High Commission in Nairobi have now signed an MoU where the tenants will vacate the building and return after the renovations. The procurement of the contractor was eventually closed since the High Commission was engaged in litigation, which had taken very long.

Mugoya says now that the MoU is in place, the Ministry has requested the finance ministry to avail the funds in the next financial year such that procurement of a new contractor is done.

According to the Auditor General’s report for the financial year 2015/2016, even the Uganda Chancery in Paris, France has not had routine and periodic maintenance and major renovations. As a result, it was in a state of disrepair requiring substantial provision of funds to have it repaired.

According to the treasury memorandum on the report of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament for that financial year on Uganda’s Missions abroad, the Secretary to the treasury brought the matter to the attention of the Permanent Secretary Ministry of foreign affairs who is in charge of the allocation of the capital budget for Mission abroad.

Amb. Mugoya says that the ministry is moving in a phased manner to renovate properties abroad. He says the Paris Chancery will be worked on after the renovation of the Brussels embassy is done, which he says is at 90% completion. He reveals that a contractor has already been identified for the Paris Chancery.

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URN