By Spy Uganda
The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party together with Capt. Mike Mukula are in trouble for allegedly failing to pay Over Shs1.1Bn for hiring Mandela National Stadium, which is commonly known as Namboole. Â
Currently,
the Management of the Stadium is battling a financial crisis with four of its
tenants owing management Over Shs1.18Bn.
SpyUganda
has learnt that the major debtors are Fortune Energy Limited owned by former MP
Captain Mike Mukula, to which Mandela Sports Hotel was outsourced, has a debt
of Shs735m, National Resistance Movement-NRM Party-Shs150.8M, Federation of
Uganda Football Associations –FUFA- Shs205m and Pioneer Easy Bus Limited-91M.
The
debtors were listed in documents submitted to Parliament’s Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) –Central Government by the Stadium Managing Director Jamil
Sewanyana.
The
documents were demanded by PAC Chairperson Nathan Nandala for an inquiry to be
carried out following a revelation in the June 2018 Auditor General’s report
that the Stadium had accumulated domestic arrears of Shs875.3m.
Following
allegations from different MPs about plans to privatize the Stadium, Moses
Mwase, the Director Privatization Unit in the Finance Ministry, told PAC last
month that the Stadium had not declared dividends since it has capitalization
issues and has not been making profits.
He
then said that consultations to bring a private developer on board have kicked
off and that this would require funds to be availed by government for the
Privatization Unit to carry out an analysis. Mwase said that they are looking
at partnering with the Private Sector and not necessarily privatization since
there are no plans to sell the Stadium.
According
to Sewanyana’s documents before PAC, the stadium’s income for the period
between 2017 to June 2018 was Shs3.56Bn and out of this, Shs3.01Bn was from
internally generated revenue while Shs166m is a portion of government’s
donation that was directly spent to pay for Uganda Revenue Authority (URA)
taxes levied on Chinese donated sports equipment to the stadium, while Shs385m was the value of the Chinese donated
items.
Sewanyana
said that the company’s capacity to meet its long outstanding financial obligations
has continued to be constrained because of uncollected money from the debtors
including Fortune Energy Limited, NRM Party, FUFA and Pioneer Easy Bus Limited.
Fortune
Energy Limited signed a contract for rent and management of Mandela Sports Hotel
and the hotel management were taken over in June 2016 and rental invoicing
started with effect from January 2017, since the developer was given six months
grace period for mobilization and set up.
But
documents before PAC indicate that out of Shs141.6m for premium, only 50
million was paid constraining the stadium in terms of cash flow as the staff
who were laid off had to be paid immediately.
According
to the Stadium, the hotel management debt as at June 2018 stood at Shs735m part
of which Shs91.6 million is balance of premium, Shs637. (https://spoonerberries.com/) 2m for rent from January
2017 to June 2018 while the water and electricity bill stands at Shs6.6m.
Sewanyana
also reveal that
NRM
has never paid Namboole for hosting the delegates’ conference in September 2010
and owes the Stadium Shs123m. It was also revealed that in 2014 before the
party’s delegates’ conference, Shs60m was paid and the balance of Shs63m
FUFA
also owes the stadium Shs205m arising from various matches and other events
hosted at the stadium and according to the documents before PAC, the stadium
board resolved that FUFA be sued and that the court case was resolved by the
Commercial Division of the High Court on June 12th 2017 by way of Consent
Judgment. FUFA has since paid the first and second installments with the
stadium hoping the plan to be adhered to.
FUFA
also owes the Stadium Shs91m which Sewanyana said arises from a suit instituted
against the company.
