Arua council, WENRECO row over rent fees
Jan 08, 2012
A tax row between Arua Municipal Council and the West Nile Rural Rectrification Company (WENRECO) took a dramatic twist on Tuesday after local authorities closed the power supplier’s offices.
By Richard Drasimaku and Andrew Amvesi
A tax row between Arua Municipal Council and the West Nile Rural Rectrification Company (WENRECO) took a dramatic twist on Tuesday after local authorities closed the power supplier’s offices.
Armed with a heavy chain, the law enforcement officers locked WENRECO’s offices located on Arua-Rhino Camp road opposed Juba Park at 4:00pm over sh30m in unpaid operation permit fees, refuse collection charges, local service tax and advertisement dues.
The money has accumulated since 2006, but the office closure was apparently a revenge move after WENRECO disconnected Arua Hill Division Headquarters over the weekend due to unpaid bills estimates at sh100,000 for power supply for December.
The move was termed by the municipal officials as unprofessional and irrational.
“The WENRECO officials put the disconnection notice into our suggestion box. By the time we saw it, they had already disconnected us,” Cornelius Jobile, the Arua Hill Division assistant town clerk, pointed out.
He disclosed that the closure of the office was to bring WENRECO to negotiate and to warn them against unprofessional conduct in transacting official business.
“We have been giving them demand notices for the last five years, but thy remained non-compliant.
“We, therefore, decided to take a drastic step to close the premise in order to squeeze commitment out of them,” Jobile emphasised.
But Fabian Ahaisibwe, the WENRECO regional manager, down played the dispute. He said their office will continue to function as usual.
On Wednesday, the company opened a backdoor exit route for public use for its operations.
WENRECO is the official power supplier to the West Nile region in a new rural electrification initiative.