By Mary Karugaba
and Henry Mukasa

FOREIGN affairs minister Sam Kutesa was yesterday questioned by MPs about his role in the procurement of BMW cars used to transport the heads of government during the 2007 Commonwealth summit.

The minister was also asked to explain the award of a contract to Saatchi and Saatchi to get sponsorship from companies.

Kutesa, the first minister to face the public accounts committee probing CHOGM expenditures, insisted that in all cases he acted within the law and on directives from the Cabinet sub-committee.

There was sporadic drama during the debate. Kutesa set the mood when he demanded that his political nemesis, Theodore Ssekikubo, either disqualifies himself from the committee or be disqualified.

He argued that Ssekikubo (NRM) has on several occasions, including at a rally addressed by President Yoweri Museveni in Sembabule, branded him a thief.

“That to me suggests that he has already reached a conclusion. I come here in good faith and expect a fair hearing,” Kutesa vouched.

The minister warned that if the committee allowed itself to be an extension of Sembabule politics, its credibility would be eroded. “I would like to appeal to your sense of justice,” Kutesa implored.

However, committee chairperson Nandala Mafabi (FDC) claimed he was unaware of any comments by Ssekikubo construed to mean that Kutesa was already guilty. “You will get the fairest hearing,” Nandala said. He directed Ssekikubo not to utter a word but to become a “listening post”.

But Ssekikubo objected to the ruling. He said his comments reflected the Auditor General’s audit reports on expenditure for the Commonwealth Summit. “I am more than happy to have him before us,” Ssekikubo said.

“Take heart, honourable minister. The committee will not be overtaken by Sembabule politics.”

When the probe commenced, Kutesa explained that the decision to lease the BMW model cars was reached at a meeting chaired by President Yoweri Museveni in February 2006.

Kutesa explained that although the President said all cars should be hired, because it would be expensive to maintain such a huge fleet, his view that 30 of them should be purchased was upheld. He vehemently denied allegations that he was a shareholder in Europcar, which later changed its name into Intercar, at the time the company was given the contract.

He elaborated that his family company, Seci, held 20% of the shares but he sold them to Robert Kabonero on August 29, 2005. “I have seen innuendos in the press that I sold my interests in the company to benefit from CHOGM, two years later. I must have been a magician to know that the company would be awarded a CHOGM contract.”

However, the MPs discovered that although Kutesa sold his shares, his law firm, Capital Law Partner, continued transacting business with the firm.

The MPs also discovered that Kutesa wrote to Intercar, asking whether they were interested in supplying cars on lease. He also wrote to the works minister suggesting that the deal should be procured through restrictive bidding.

“As a minister, this was inappropriate because it was not your role to solicit for prospective bidders. You hijacked the role of the permanent secretary,” Oduman Okello noted.

“You said your role was to give policy guideline but you gave policy and implemented it.”

Nandala said an international bidding process was stopped when 23 firms had returned bids.

Three companies were then approached under a restrictive bidding process, which was won by Spear Motors, but the committee went for direct purchase from Europcar/Intercar.
The Government bought 30 out of the 144 BMW cars used for the summit at sh9.3b.

Kutesa was also blamed for inappropriately awarding the sponsorship deal to Saatchi and Saatchi and failing to follow up on collections and expenditure made by the firm.

He admitted writing a notification letter to the company for the award of the deal.

“After that, I don’t know whether they remitted the money or not. That was the responsibility of the PS and the CHOGM Secretariat.”