Besigye wants independent inquiry into junk helicopter deal

By Felix Osike PRESIDENTIAL aspirant Col (Rtd) Kiiza Besigye has demanded a "full, open and independent enquiry" into the purchase of two unoverhauled helicopters by the Ministry of Defence from Belarus. Besigye's task force, in reply to state minister for defence Steven Kavuma's statement on the choppers scandal said, "We have absolutely no confidence in any internal inquiry in the Ministry of Defence because the matter involves the minister himself who is the President and other very high ranking officers." Kavuma on Sunday reiterated President Yoweri Museveni's position that Besigye was to blame because he made a report confirming that the choppers were overhauled. But Besigye yesterday maintained his advice was ignored. Besigye was the Army's Chief of Logistics and Engineering when the choppers were procured. In a five-page statement, Besigye maintained that Museveni directed the state minister for defence and the Army Commander to purchase the two helicopters from Consolidated Sales Corporation (CSC). In a letter dated October 24, 1996 Ref PA/2.5, which Besigye has quoted before, the President reportedly wrote, "I am therefore directing you to immediately acquire the helicopters. Please handle this matter with utmost urgency." Besigye also repeated his earlier claims that there was no tendering system for military hardware in the Uganda People's Defence Forces. He said he was ready to avail to an independent enquiry very many examples where this procedure was not followed. Besigye also attacked Kavuma for being silent on the US$800,000 bribe allegedly paid to Maj.Gen Salim Saleh by CSC as commission. He quoted a December 24, 1998 letter Ref PO/2 from the President asking Saleh how much commission he had been promised. The letter reads in part, "I think he (Gen. Saleh) told me US$800,000. Since I did not want to delay the delivery of the helicopters that were so badly needed to fight Kony, I told Saleh to go ahead and receive the commission but surrender it to the Army for special operations in the north." Besigye said there was an attempt to cover up the deeds of some influential people who have continuously flouted the law and diverted taxpayers money. He also said his advice in the Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) report was ignored. He said he discovered and duly reported that the helicopters were not overhauled. He said he reported the presence of several middlemen and that CSC did not have direct access to the helicopters. He recommended that procurement through intermediaries be avoided. Besigye said he gave an account in his report about how the company representative, (not named) was arrested, separated from his (Besigye's) team and forbidden from travelling in Belarus because the security institutions there had blacklisted him as an "undesirable person." "These serious findings which should have led to early cancellation of the deal were completely ignored," Besigye said. He said his decision to clear the helicopters was based on the technical advice of his team which relied on the official logbooks of the helicopters presented to them showing that the helicopters were overhauled. "There is no way Besigye's team could have known that the shoddy company had gone around the overhaul condition by presenting fake log books. The fake log books were discovered after the helicopters had arrived at Entebbe with another set of log books," the statement said. Besigye said instead of canceling the contract and demanding the money back, the Ministry of Defence has been negotiating with CSC to receive the junk helicopters, overhaul them using tax payers money and then claim from the company. "We find this abuse of taxpayers money disgusting and unacceptable. We challenge the Government to come clean on this issue. The contract should be canceled and our money reclaimed," said Besigye. Besigye's task force said they believed there was a plot to tarnish Besigye's name because of his declared intention to stand for president. "Col Besigye will not be intimidated by such plots. He welcomes a transparent, open and fair process of enquiry," they said. On the deployment of UPDF in Congo the statement said neither the Army nor the political leadership was consulted. "We challenge the Government to explain how our troops can protect Ugandans while they are stationed in Mbandaka near Central Africa and ADF has moved from the mountains and is now killing and terrorising civilians in Kiboga and Bushenyi," it read. Ends.