The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of Security Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi has denied any influence in the signing of the contract between the government and a Russian company to install digital monitoring systems in all motorcycles and vehicles.
Muhwezi on Thursday presented a personal statement on the floor of parliament citing public attacks, especially on social media for signing a contract with an allegedly bankrupt company.
The Minister told parliament that his role in signing the contract was based on a directive by President Yoweri Museveni. Muhwezi said that he received the directive on 13 June 2021, before his swearing-in as a Minister.
Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka recently said that his office approved the contract which was awarded to Joint Stock Company Global Security. The company is facing bankruptcy litigations in Russia, and more than a dozen other debt-related litigations.
Joint Stock Company Global Security was sued by LLC “Rus Prom-Technologies”, another Russian company that wants it declared bankrupt. The case was filed in the Arbitration Court of the City of Moscow on September 17th 2020 and accepted on October 20th 2020. Though the case was accepted for hearing, the hearing sessions have been postponed several times as Global Security fights to pay the debt it owes Rus-Prom-Technology.
In another case filed in March 2019, Rus-Prom-Technology had sued Global Security for failure to pay 16.6 million rubles and Rus-Prom-Technology won the case.
Global Security has also been sued by Limited Liability Partnership “Orken Alem” for a debt of 8.5 million rubles and Gu Main Department of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation for failure to pay 10,000 rubles and 455,000 rubles. All these cases were filed between 2019 and July 2021.
However, Kiryowa said that the government isn’t aware of any bankruptcy order issued against the company.
Muhwezi says that the procurement of the company started five years ago long before his appointment as Security Minister. He also said that before the award of the contract, the government sent a team to conduct due diligence in December 2018.
He further explains that the recent attempted assassination of Minister of Works and Transport, Gen. Edward Katumba created the urgency to have the contract signed so that the tracking system could be installed.
The Leader of Opposition Mathias Mpuuga had initially questioned why the Minister was presenting a statement on a controversial matter that the Deputy Speaker Anita Among had earlier stopped MPs from debating saying it was prejudice.
But Among guided that the Minister explains only matters outside court.
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