I was unlawfully removed from my job at the World Bank
Nov 14, 2004
The contents of the editorial of the New Vision of November 2 about me are false, malicious and defamatory. The conduct of the paper in this respect is a reflection of its long held prejudice against me and a follow-up of its libelous publications since 2001. Because of that I sued the New Vision an
The contents of the editorial of the New Vision of November 2 about me are false, malicious and defamatory. The conduct of the paper in this respect is a reflection of its long held prejudice against me and a follow-up of its libelous publications since 2001. Because of that I sued the New Vision and others for defamation in 2002.
I have also this year sued the Government for unlawfully and unfairly removing me as an Alternative Executive Director of the World Bank. The question, therefore, as to who is at fault or not is now a matter for the High Court alone, to decide.
For The New Vision to come out and publicly declare that I am the party at fault is tantamount to usurping the powers of the High Court and the act itself is criminal. I wish to correct the errors contained in the editorial.
First, the claim that, “The 250MW US$550m power project at Bujagali was about to be approved by the World Bank when the Wall Street Journal ran a story in June 2001 that a minister had paid $10,000 by a sub-contractor to AES.â€
The conclusion the paper wants its readers to draw from this is that the World Bank, for that reason, refused to approve the project. This is false.
The World Bank did in fact approve the project after those allegations. The Bank in any case made investigations and found them to be untrue.
The Bujagali Hydro Project has not taken off for other reasons. I intend to write a separate article on those reasons at a later date elucidating on the reasons, in my view, that have led to that sad, unfortunate and prejudicial delay.
Secondly, the New Vision says that the $10,000 was paid by a sub-contractor to AES. This too is false. The so-called $10,000 bribery allegation did not involve any of the AES sub-contractors.
The alleged party was an individual businessman who had business relationships with my son but no business relationship with AES.
It should also be remembered that the bribery allegations were simultaneously published by the Wall Street Journal and the New Vision in an attempt by certain malicious elements, mainly from Uganda, to block me from becoming an Executive Director of the World Bank. In a sense they were ultimately successful.
The motive behind those efforts were, therefore, not targeted at Bujagaali Hydro Power Project but at me as an individual. Fortunately, time has vindicated me.
The writer is former Alternative Executive Director, World Bank
I have also this year sued the Government for unlawfully and unfairly removing me as an Alternative Executive Director of the World Bank. The question, therefore, as to who is at fault or not is now a matter for the High Court alone, to decide.
For The New Vision to come out and publicly declare that I am the party at fault is tantamount to usurping the powers of the High Court and the act itself is criminal. I wish to correct the errors contained in the editorial.
First, the claim that, “The 250MW US$550m power project at Bujagali was about to be approved by the World Bank when the Wall Street Journal ran a story in June 2001 that a minister had paid $10,000 by a sub-contractor to AES.â€
The conclusion the paper wants its readers to draw from this is that the World Bank, for that reason, refused to approve the project. This is false.
The World Bank did in fact approve the project after those allegations. The Bank in any case made investigations and found them to be untrue.
The Bujagali Hydro Project has not taken off for other reasons. I intend to write a separate article on those reasons at a later date elucidating on the reasons, in my view, that have led to that sad, unfortunate and prejudicial delay.
Secondly, the New Vision says that the $10,000 was paid by a sub-contractor to AES. This too is false. The so-called $10,000 bribery allegation did not involve any of the AES sub-contractors.
The alleged party was an individual businessman who had business relationships with my son but no business relationship with AES.
It should also be remembered that the bribery allegations were simultaneously published by the Wall Street Journal and the New Vision in an attempt by certain malicious elements, mainly from Uganda, to block me from becoming an Executive Director of the World Bank. In a sense they were ultimately successful.
The motive behind those efforts were, therefore, not targeted at Bujagaali Hydro Power Project but at me as an individual. Fortunately, time has vindicated me.
The writer is former Alternative Executive Director, World Bank