Army food still stuck in Jinja

THE disputed dry food ration the Defence ministry imported from South Africa in 1999, is still lying at the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) goodshed in Jinja, reports Yunusu Abbey. Lt. Col. Fred Bogere, the UPDF's chief of logistics and engineering, said the army was not responsible for the ration because it has never accepted the consignment. "As far as we are concerned, the consignment is still in the hands of the transporters because it has never been handed over to us," he said. Bogere told The New Vision the army had already made its position clear on the issue and it would not change. "There is even a pending court case (arbitration). Even recently when MPs wanted to inspect the ration, we took them to the Jinja URC goodshed where the containers are still kept," he said. Mr. Arthur Marriot, a prominent British lawyer, who was last year nominated to arbitrate in the row between Government and the ration supplier, is yet to fix the date. The two parties have agreed on London, as the venue for the hearing. South Africa's Kramer Trade and Technology (KT&T), a private company, supplied the ration worth US$1,480,250. It was shipped from Durban by sea on June 9, 1999 and transported in 42 containers. But on arrival in the country, the army rejected it on grounds that it was unfit for human consumption. The batch comprised 955,000 sachets of biscuits, tinned beans (955,000 tins) and tinned chicken stew (955,000 tins). Mr. Raymond Kramer, the Johannesburg-based KT&T's chief executive, has since 1999 made several trips to Kampala to secure payment for the ration without any success. The New Vision sought the army's comment following reports that some of the food had been stolen and was being sold on the open market. It was not possible to get a comment from URC and Interfreight Panalpina, the clearing agents. Ends.