The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
It took only two days for the DAPCB Executive Secretary, George William Bizibu to award the property to Amobet. Patel had already reported to the inquiry that Amongi owns Amobet.
The commission first summoned Amongi on May 7 but she did not appear. The commission summoned her again to appear on May 8, short of which she would be arrested.
Finally, when she appeared on May 8, the commission started her off with the allegations she attempted to grab Patel’s property through her company Amobet.
Appearing before the inquiry, Amongi admitted that she co-owns Amobet with her sister, Kate Odongo.
Documents before the inquiry revealed that her employee—Amobet’s Managing Director, Mubiru, had applied not for one but four properties—one in Industrial Area, another along Prince Charles Drive in Kololo, another on Acacia Avenue and another along Kyadondo. All these are prime properties that have been under the custodianship of DAPCB. As Lands Minister, Amongi is a member of the DAPCB.
As per the application, one of the properties was to be developed into a modern furniture showroom, another into a residential building, another into residential apartments, and another into a modern office block.
When counsel of the Commission, Ebert Byenkya, asked Amongi whether she knew about the applications, she claimed she did not. She told the inquiry that as directors of Amobet—herself and her sister—had granted Mubiru all the powers to conduct all operational business on her behalf. She claimed that Mubiru had applied on his own and only informed them when he encountered problems in the processes of processing the acquisition of the properties.
When the counsel pressed her on whether the company had not put together a business plan for the developments they were planning on these properties, she claimed that Mubiru had not informed them as he was still doing due diligence and had only managed to secure temporary allocation—for six months—for only one of the properties.
Interestingly, the inquiry also heard that for a property worth Shs5billion, Amongi’s company was only required to pay a monthly rate of Shs. 550,000.
The other question that puzzled many is how Mubiru happened to get information that these four properties under the custodianship of the board were available for allocation by the board. The logical conclusion would be that minister Amongi, who sits on the board, gave Mubiru the information. But she denies it. So what will President Museveni do about that?
