Possible cases of corruption have been exposed at the Ministry of Works where two high ranking officials at the department of road safety are involved in a bitter fight.
Media has learned that Winstone Katushabe, the long-serving Commissioner Transport Regulation and Safety, recently told Ronald Amanyire, the Principal Road Safety Officer to resign, sparking off a heated internal war.
Katushabe accused Amanyire of failing to prepare and submit Performance Reports and minutes for the National Road Safety Council; non-Submission of “back-to-office” reports after foreign travels at Government expense; the messes in procurement; failure to follow chain of command by usurping the former’s powers as Head of Department and authorising a payment to a service provider and arrogance and malice while communicating to his superior.
In a letter dated June 16, 2023, Katusabe told off Amanyire: “ The litany of weakness, grave incompetence, arrogance, illegalities and criminal activities plus the string of improprieties afflicting you are such that you are totally unsuitable for a senior position in the Department. You simply can no longer be entrusted with any responsibility.Your character cannot be trusted at all.”
He added: “On my part, I must raise my hands and give up on you since you have sunk beyond redemption. Please help us and do the obvious -EXIT!!!”
Amanyire Fires back
In response, Amanyire has decided to expose what he describes as acts of corruption perpetrated by Katushabe.
Amanyire said Katushabe used his position as Head of Department and “orchestrated awarding of a contract to Face Technologies and in the process caused a financial loss / embezzlement of at least Shs 4bn.”
“The financial loss arose because the value of the awarded contract Record of Bid Opening on 12th August 2019 shows that the bidder-Face Technologies (contracted using direct procurement method) submitted a bid of Shs 24.9bn
The procurement was titled: Archiving of Uganda Driving Permit Project Records Phase 2, Archiving of Motor Vehicle Registration Records at URA, Remodelling of the Uganda Railway Main Station and Uganda Revenue Authority Warehouse for Motor Vehicle Records Kampala – Procurement Reference No: MOWT/NCONS/2019-2020/O0006.
Amanyire claimed that “the contract price was exactly the same as the estimated price in Form 5, implying that this was a deliberate contractual arrangement to embezzle public funds.”
Amanyire said, “This conclusion is supported by the fact that there were no arithmetic corrections of errors in the Evaluation Report, or the minutes of the Evaluation Committee Meeting.”
“In addition to the above, the use of Direct Procurement Method might have been in violation of Section 85 of the PPDA Act and holding negotiations in violation of Section 74 of the same Act. In my opinion the services, supplies and works needed was not a valid reason for Direct Procurement because of the different expertise needed,” he emphasised.
“Open Domestic Bidding would have attracted Joint Ventures or Consortiums brought together due to their different areas of speciality and ensured value for money. Further suspicion is caused by the fact these funds were allocated to the Ministry at the tail end of the budgeting cycle for FY 2019/20 and the “project” for which they were intended had not even gone through the proper steps for approval of projects at the time. The Sector Working Group (SWG) had not approved the project (Motor Vehicle Registration Project).”
Officials at the Works Ministry say this is the biggest expose of corruption scandals that have haunted the government institution for decades.
Motor vehicle registration
In his letter dated June 1, 2023 to Waiswa Bageya, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Amanyire accused Katushabe of being involved in the fraudulent award of a contract for consultancy services for functional design and supervision for the motor vehicle registration system.
“Again, prior to my secondment to Uganda Railways Corporation, I tried to shed light on the illegalities being committed by Mr. Katushabe to you, Department of Transport and the Hon. Minister through procurement processes. I was, therefore, surprised when I browsed the PPDA website and came across another exorbitantly priced contract awarded to TISCON Consultancy JV and signed on 7th April 2022 (according to the PPDA’s Government Procurements Portal).”
Amanyire added: “This contract is worth Shs 22.6bn. Knowing the “Modus Operandi” of Mr. Katushabe I took it upon myself to look into TISCON Consultancy and the process which led to this contract.”
Amnayire said he discovered that TISCON Consultancy is a JV (Joint Venture) between Integrated Transport Solutions Ltd (1.T.S) (according to records from URSB) and a South African Company identified as Ciber Consulting (Pty) Ltd.
Integrated Transport Solutions Ltd was first registered in Uganda on 13 April 2018 by Mr. Baguma Alex Muhaiwe (according to URSB records), whom Amanyire says is a brother to Andrew Muhangi (Senior Licensing Officer within the Ministry of Works).
“Awarding this contract to TISCON JV with I.TS as part of the JV is a clear conflict of interest and breach of PPDA Act and Regulations. One of the current directors of I.T.Sis Mr. Rugaba Collin (who is known to me as a Personal Lawyer of Mr. Katushabe because he once coached me as a witness for Mr. Katushabe in a case at Nakawa Magistrates Court). Mr. Rugaba took an oath on 7th June 2021 as one of the Directors of 1.T.S. His involvement is also a clear conflict of interest. Since returning from secondment, I have learnt that Mr. Muhangi Andrew is the Project Coordinator or Contract Manager of a Contract involving his brother’s company,” Amanyire alleged.
In several correspondences, Katushabe has accused Amanyire of orchestrating a mudslinging campaign against him, saying, steps have been taken to address the situation.
However, Amanyire said he would resist efforts to be pushed out of office by taking the matter to courts of law.
PS Bageya speaks out
Commenting on the development, Works Ministry Permanent Secretary, Waiswa Bageya accused Amanyire of misconduct and indiscipline.
“He (Amanyire) went to Uganda Railway Corporation and became antagonistic there. When his term ended, URC said we won’t renew his contract. Amanyire came back and wanted to work under road safety.”
Bageya added: “Amanyire told me to interdict Katushabe and make him Acting Commissioner. I told him I sent his documents to the Public Service Commission to be promoted to Assistant Commissioner but they refused. How could he serve as Acting Commissioner? I think he has a problem in his head because the things he says are not coordinated.”
Bageya said Amanyire’s “allegations are hopeless and out of sheer frustration.”
The developments come at a time the country is grappling with road carnage and expose the challenges Uganda faces in improving road transport.