UTL ordered not to fire staff or sale assets

The parliamentary probe into the alleged mismanagement of Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) has today grilled the company’s top managers.

The probe heard of the mounting debts UTL is facing and the absence of audits. UTL owes Uganda Communications Commision (UCC) sh27 billion, and MTN Uganda sh3.5billion.

The probe committee asked the Managing Director Mark Shoebridge to submit his Curriculum vitae, saying they “sense a serious management issue in the company.”

The UTL team were led to the committee by legal counsels Wandera Ogalo and Ben Wacha.

Following a debate last month on a report “The predicament at the sinking Uganda Telecom” tabled by Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi, speaker Rebecca Kadaga ruled that a select committee be set up to investigate specific matters of mismanagement of the telecom company.

Parliament was told that so far, petty cash to the tune of sh1.5billion is missing while the company spends up to sh4 billion monthly in salaries and allowances to top officials, with no equivalent income.

Nandala, while presenting the statement, noted that the company has been bleeding financially, with no audit done for four years.

This is what happened when UTL’s top brass got to parliament: