Until November 2020, Dr Paul Kyalimpa was little-known on Uganda’s political scene. But his decision to step down for finance minister Matia Kasaija in the Buyanja County (Kibaale District) parliamentary election did not only thrust him in political controversy but also offered him the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) deputy director general position from which he is resigning amidst a scandal.
Kyalimpa submitted his formal notice of resignation to the UIA board of directors and director general on May 16, 2024. UIA board chairman Morrison Rwakakamba’s office and Director General Robert Mukiza’s office on May 20.
Part of Kyalimpa’s resignation letter reads, “Please accept this letter as a formal notice of my resignation from the post of Deputy Director General as per UIA Human Resource Manual 2021.”
On why he was resigning, Kyalimpa said he had taken the decision “to go and undertake professional training for more than one year,” and that the training would need “intense concentration and dedication.”
In his resignation letter, Kyalimpa also told his bosses that he would take his remaining part of his annual leave for the 2023-2024 financial year on May 27, 2024, after which he would return to the office “to finalize the handover process.”
He added: “I remain proud of my contribution to UIA and Uganda at large and look forward to continue supporting the investment agenda as a domestic investor and in my future tour of duty,” It is not clear at what stage Kyalimpa’s efforts to resign are.
What is clear, however, is that Kyalimpa and several staff at UIA, including director general Robert Mukiza, are on the spot over the award of honoraria, some sort of controversial ‘service award’ for works on the Namanve Industrial Park.
With the consortium contracted to supervise the works failing to clear project designs and assessments hence delaying the start of construction works at the Namanve Industrial Park, UIA took a decision to terminate its contract at the end of August 2022. The consortium included: Roughton International Ltd., Turner and Townsend International Ltd., Joadah Consult Ltd., and Basic Group Ltd.
In the place of the project management consortium, UIA officials stepped in to supervise project works for which the project contractor, Lagan Dott, disbursed about Shs545m to them for their services.
Leading efforts to compel UIA bosses to return the over Shs545m honoraria is Evelyn Anite, the junior minister in charge of investment and privatization. Kyalimpa has vowed to drag Minister Anite, who supervises UIA, to court for defamation.
KYALIMPA THREATENS MINISTER EVELYN ANITE
Alaka and Company Advocates, his lawyers, wrote to Anite on June 26, informing her of his intention to sue her for defamation in relation to statements she published on her account on microblogging site X, formerly Twitter.
In part, their intention to sue notice reads:
“On the 14th day of June, 2024 using your X handle @HonAniteEvelyn, published a false and defamatory statement in which you wrote that “this corruption must stop. Thank you UIA chairman @Rwakakamba & Board members for refusing to grant permission to @ugandainvest staff to pay themselves UGX 500m Honoraria out of loan meant for Namanve infrastructure. Ensure the money they took is refunded.
You attached a list of the said staff members including that of our client and went ahead and tagged @newvisionwire the official X handle of The New Vision @Mukiza_robert the Director General Uganda Investment Authority and @DailyMonitor the official X handle of Daily Monitor all circulating on World Wide Web (www)… Your publications were false, made with malice, Malafide and defamatory and were meant and understood by all the right thinking members of society to mean that our client is a person without morals, without professional ethics, abuses office, Untrustworthy and corrupt and therefore unfit to be the Deputy Director General of Uganda investment authority and he should be shunned.
“You Published the said words knowing they were false having calculated that the benefit to them would be in terms of political capital while lowering and injuring our client an ardent Christian, Dep Director General-UIA, Political Leader, and a family man. TAKE NOTICE that all the above defamatory statements were published without lawful justification and were/are defamatory in nature…”
MINISTER EVELYN ANITE TO PAUL KYALIMPA: BRING IT ON
On July 03, Anite wrote to Alaka and Company Advocates, responding to Kyalimpa’s notice of intention to sue. She told him and his lawyers that she was ready to face them in any temple of justice. In part, her response reads:
“The purpose of this letter is to categorically state that the illegal actions of your client is a preserve of the wrath of our national laws. Your client and others should therefore prepare to fully refund Ugandan taxpayers money that were deposited in their personal accounts.
Therefore, it is my unwavering position that I pledge to defend the taxpayers of Uganda against corruption, abuse of office and misuse of public funds, be it even in the courts of law in Uganda or anywhere in the world, to the last drop of my blood. So, bring it on!”
It now looks like Paul Kyalimpa, who rose to the UIA deputy director general job in a manner many considered controversial, could be exiting in the same way – amidst a scandal over honoraria that a minister considers an act of corruption.
You can see how much each UIA official received from the Sh545m service award saga, and how it has prompted UIA Director General Robert Mukiza to report Minister Anite to President Museveni Here and There.
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