Junk choppers get junk investigation

Parliament compounded the chopper saga by committing embarrassing blunders The recent trip to Bulgaria and Belarus by a Parliamentary probe committee into allegations of fraud in the purchase of junk tanks and helicopters for the UPDF, has sent ripples and murmurs across the country. Patrick Luganda and Gawaya Tegulle review the saga The junk tanks and choppers deal seemed foolproof. In February 1997 government signed a contract with Consolidated Sales Corporation (CSC) for the provision of four MI-24 attack helicopters at a total cost of US $12,266,500. CSC was an off-shore company registered in the British Virgin Islands and locally represented (some said really owned), by rally ace Emma Kato. Government paid an advance of $6.5m, expecting to receive the first two choppers, the balance pending delivery of the other two. When delivered a few months later, Col. Joshua Masaba, the Airforce Commander, certified the two choppers as airworthy. But the comedy started May 1998 when pilots at Entebbe Airforce base refused to fly the newly purchased choppers claiming the second hand choppers had no log books so there was no way of establishing flight hours and details of their history. The choppers were also ridiculed as "junk" because they had not been overhauled. This means complete servicing, repair and replacement of vital spares. Spares brought, it was found, were for MI-17 not MI-24. A team led by Lt. Col. Noble Mayombo (then Major and Deputy Director Military Intelligence), established the choppers had not been overhauled. The manufacturers of the helicopters revealed when the deal between seller and buyer went sour that the choppers were bought for a paltry sum of $5.6m. Government then promptly declined to take the other two choppers. But none of the above has attracted more attention than the investigation by Parliament into allegations of corruption in the deal. The committee also expressed passionate interest in the alleged junk T.55 tanks from Bulgaria. So far, 62 out of 90 have been delivered at a cost of $30,000 each. The Honourables crowned their investigation with a hastily arranged trip for 13 MPs and two clerks towards the peak of the Christmas season, to Bulgaria and Belarus. Lt. Col. Chris Mudhoola led the delegation. The whole story from the coming onto the scene of CSC, to the aborted trip by MPs to Bulgaria and Belarus has been a catalogue of mistakes. lMistake number one was that CSC was introduced to the Uganda government by Maj. Gen Salim Saleh whose word was taken as gospel truth. No sufficient investigation appears to have been done into CSC. lMistake number two was therefore a consequence of ignorance of the true nature of CSC: government chose to buy through a company that itself purchased the choppers through two middlemen. These were Almavale, a company blacklisted by the Uganda government after failed contracts years earlier and a private company, Triton S.A.L, a sales agent of the manufacturer, Belspetsvnesh Technica, a Belarus government company. Arms business, international experts say, is no easy or casual cash and carry deal. It is shrouded in thick clouds of secrecy and riddled with controversy, dishonesty and fraud. Money comes first and morality later- if it ever comes. It is therefore of utmost essence that thorough investigations are conducted into whatever dealer somebody is about to contract. In particular, trade with the former Soviet Union states is ruled by highly organised arms dealers who do business on both sides of the law with ease. They manifest little or no obligation to honesty or fair play and will stop at nothing to get the deal done. They usually give kick backs to get deals and can be hard to trace or pin down. Tracing them needs careful investigation involving an extraordinary level of counter espionage. Bart Katureebe, the Attorney General, recently revealed that CSC folded up after the business turned nasty. lMistake number three, parliament, in an effort to right the wrongs of government, compounded the saga by committing embarrassing blunders in the name of investigation. The composition of the probe team undermined its ability to carry out informed research and submit an impartial and accurate report. "I believed this thing a whitewash right from the word go," says Norbert Mao MP Gulu Municipality. "They nominated people who are boot-lickers of the system. The independent-minded MPs like Owiny Dollo were struck off the list. Questions have been raised about why the committee has not called up Dr. Kiiza Besigye (then military advisor to the minister of defence) to testify. Moreover, there were no technocrats on the team; just a bunch of folks determined to dig deep into matters they knew little or nothing about. Some of the tanks and choppers are here and the MPs did not even bother to look at them. And 13 people, surely seems a crowd. lMistake four, the timing of the trip was extremely abnormal given that most of Europe was breaking off for the long Christmas festival. How do you carry out investigations during a Christmas holiday? But the MPs just could not wait to go. They skillfully circumvented Speaker Francis Ayume, who had reservations about the trip, or so he says. The Belarus bound MPs were denied visas and simply enjoyed the London winter, before returning home empty-handed, save for the shopping. Only five, led by Wandera Ogalo finally managed to enter Bulgaria, but talked to defence ministry officials for just three hours. You do not carry out a complete investigation in three hours. They did not make prior arrangements for visas. No sane government will allow into their country at short notice, a team of investigators whose revelations could have staggering public relations implications. "This committee will not have the last word in this saga. We cannot close the chapter yet, this committee will just put a footnote," swears Mao. First junk tanks, then junk choppers and now from all indications, a junk investigation by parliament. And when all is said and done, history may well judge that the worst of them all, by far, is a junk investigation. Ends