The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A team of officials from Posta Uganda have asked parliament to intervene and resolve wrangles regarding their properties occupied by Uganda Telecom Limited -UTL.
Led by their Managing Director, James Arinaitwe, the officials made the appeal while appearing before the Information, Communication and Technology –ICT Committee on parliament on Tuesday to present the performance of Posta Uganda.
At the meeting, the legislators learnt that two entities are feuding over property, which is affecting the operations of Posta Uganda. According to Arinaitwe, the properties under contention are the former Post Office buildings across the country that belonged to the then Uganda Post Office and Telecommunications Corporation- UPTC before the 1997 divesture that saw the premises allocated to UTL.
In 1997, the Government disbanded UPTC into four other entities including Uganda Telecom Limited, Posta Uganda, Post Bank and Uganda Communications Commission –UCC. Arinaitwe says that the Communications Act, 1997 was clear on the property distribution, stating that the premises should go to an entity based on its nature of business.
He explained that Post Offices should have gone to Posta Uganda and UTL only takes over telephone houses. He, however, says that UTL erroneously took over Post Offices under Statutory Instruments issued by the Minister of ICT who was empowered by the Act to distribute the UPTC properties.
Paul Amoru, the ICT Committee chairperson tasked Arinaitwe to provide a list of all the properties and evidence of efforts made by Posta Uganda to recover them.
Arinaitwe appealed to the Committee to render support Posta Uganda to resolve the property wrangle immediately, saying that a recent study for a Private Public Partnership they have developed cannot be implemented. He says that their target is not to dispose of the buildings but rather develop and make them productive.
Asked by MPs whether the matter has been brought to the attention of the Solicitor General or the ICT Ministry, Arinaitwe said the Solicitor General advised that the two parties follow the Act of Parliament.
Luwero Woman MP, Lilian Nakate noted that this was not the first time that the matter is coming to the attention of Parliament. She says that a select committee had previously handled the matter and a report presented to Parliament.
Amoru said that his committee would arrange to visit the properties in question during their tour of Posta Uganda activities next week. Meanwhile, documents presented before the Committee indicate that Posta Uganda generated Shillings 15.2billion in Non-Tax Revenue (NTR) in the financial year 2019/2020 and made a profit of Shillings 197 million.
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