allAfrica.com: Uganda: I Have Never Ever Met Jamwa Alone

THERE are four major allegations of wrongdoing in the NSSF Temangalo land investment that I wish to clarify.

That I forced the Board and Management of NSSF to buy land against the interests of the NSSF

1. I want to say that I agreed with the Chairman of the Board and the Managing Director on a five Year Corporate Plan. In that plan we agreed that the NSSF would invest in three main areas:

long-term bonds,

Equities (that is shares of companies)

and real estate that is land and buildings).

2.The individual projects in all these categories were to be initiated and have always been initiated by the NSSF and brought to the minister seeking his opinion on the individual projects.

When projects are submitted I try to see if they fall in these agreed categories. If they have no obvious fault I generally write to the chairman to say that I have no objection. This consultation over investments is required by Section 30 of the NSSF Act, 1986.

3.The claim that the minister forced the NSSF is totally untrue because it was NSSF which brought the project with many others, including five other lands, for the minister to give a "no objection." I have never made an appointment to meet the Managing Director anywhere outside my office and I have never met him alone. I have always met him in my office with the Chairman of the Board and an adviser or officer from my office.

The one time that I saw him at Munyonyo during the Warid opening concert was purely accidental. It was not a planned meeting. I was accompanied by my wife during a break in the concert and I happened to see him sitting alone at a table outside the Commonwealth complex.

I greeted him and talked to him briefly while my spouse was away. Afterwards she returned and we went back to the show. It is outrageous to suggest that I arranged the meeting at Munyonyo to discuss any official business with him at the concert. I had no idea he was going to be there.

That the purchase was made in order to benefit the National Bank of Commerce where the Minister is a shareholder.

4. I do not have a significant number of shares in the National Bank of Commerce. Management of NBC have informed me that my shares have had a book value of sh13.28m since 1997. I have not received any benefit from any sales or purchases of shares that have taken place there since that time.

Nor do I have money to buy significant purchases of shares. I of course support the NBC being one of the 280 founder members of that bank. But it is not true that I have ever done any unethical act in order to help the bank.

5. As far as I know the bank is sound and has not been in any special need for capital. Its financial statements are published in the media at least once a year as required by law. So any interested person can check and see its true financial condition.

Not only is the bank well capitalised but it even declared a dividend recently, a distribution of profit to shareholders recently. Bank of Uganda would certainly not allow them to pay dividends if they did not have enough capital. They would have forced them to retain the earnings in order to increase the capital. This means that the buying and selling of shares among shareholders in the bank should not be mixed up with the financial health of the bank.

The buying and selling of shares among shareholders can be done leaving the total capital of the bank unchanged. The buying and selling of shares by some of the shareholders has not affected my shareholding. It has left me exactly as I was.

That the price at which the land was bought was too high

6. Considerable discussion has taken place on this matter. All I can say is that I have never participated in any discussion of the price of Temangalo land or any other land submitted by the fund. Many lands were proposed for purchase. I approved all of them.

I have never commented on land prices or sizes. That is the work of management and the Board. This ministry does not have the capacity to go into operational matters of the Fund. This would probably breed even more corruption.

That the Minister of Finance appointed his business partners to the Board of NSSF and used them to carry out corrupt deals

7. This is in regard to an organization called Uganda Agency for Development (UGAFODE) where Mr Gamuwa, Ms Joyce Acigwa and myself have served as directors since that charity was founded in the 1990s.

This is a microfinance organisation which was formed by Bishop Dr. Edward Muhima (who is now Bishop of North Kigezi) to help the poor. He invited a number of Christians, including ourselves, to serve as directors and promoters. It is not for profit. It depends largely on grants for capital. We ourselves have never paid for any shares.

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