Mugoya: Wealthy constructor turns fugitive
IN 1994, a pupil of Bugabwe Primary School in Iganga was struck dead by a collapsing roof during a heavy downpour. Then, like manna from heaven, a Good Samaritan pledged to re-build the whole school. He broke down the dilapidated school buildings and put up new ones.
By George Bita
IN 1994, a pupil of Bugabwe Primary School in Iganga was struck dead by a collapsing roof during a heavy downpour. Then, like manna from heaven, a Good Samaritan pledged to re-build the whole school. He broke down the dilapidated school buildings and put up new ones.
Quite out of the ordinary, but that is none other than Eng. James Isabirye Mugoya, the renowned moneyed Musoga of the Mugoya International Firm.
Nasibu Nantale, the headmistress, says the wealthy engineer helped the Government in its Universal Primary Education programme.
Nantale explains that the previous premises were semi-permanent, with no administration block.
The modern block accommodates all the classrooms from P1 to P7. The administration house has a spacious staff room and headteacher’s office.
However, this seeming philanthropist is wanted both in Kenya and Uganda for various crimes.
In January this year, his firm, Mugoya Construction and Engineering Company, which had virtual monopoly over multi-billion government contracts in Kenya, was put under receivership.
In both Kenya and Uganda, the company seemed to have a interest in doing business with the National Security Fund (NSSF).
Born in 1950 to Samson Mugoya of Bulubandi village, a suburb in Iganga, Isabirye is as mysterious as the manner in which he established himself in Kenya.
The eldest in a family of four, he grew up in Iganga and was reserved right from his childhood, sources say.
A source, who preferred anonymity, says Mugoya is still reserved and rarely likes special recognition in public.
“He is so elusive to the camera that it may be easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than to get him photographed,†says the source.
And so, even the office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) that is prosecuting him over allegations of corruption, do not have his photos. The Kenyan police that issued arrest warrants against him last week also carried newspaper adverts without his photographs.
A source narrates that at family functions, the rich man shuns the high table and opts for odd jobs that make him inconspicuous.
“There was a time he turned up at a party and started serving drinks like a waiter. This left him with little time to talk to people; something he cherishes,†says the source.
Mugoya attended Bulyansime Primary School before joining Iganga Boys Primary School in 1960s. He had his secondary education at Kiira College, Butiiki in Jinja before proceeding to the prestigious King’s College, Budo for his advanced level studies.
“Unlike most old Budonians, he rarely boasts about studying at the school,†says the source.
Mugoya later joined Nairobi University for an engineering course where his purported friendship with a son of former Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi, culminated into a business partnership that later turned into almost a sole contractor for the most lucrative government deals.
The grapevine has it that Moi family members even used to sneak into Mugoya’s Iganga apartments for weekend leisure masquerading as Mugoya International workers.
A classic example of Mugoya’s most prominent contracts with Kenya NSSF is the Embakasi Housing Project whose contract the company secured despite having been one of the highest bidders in 1993. It gave the cost of the project as sh11b for the 5,000 units, but after doing only half of the job, the company said it needed more money and an extra sh2b was paid.
In Uganda, Mugoya’s woes started with the botched Nsimbe project, a joint venture between his company and NSSF. Mugoya is now being charged together with former gender and social development minister, Zoe Bakoko Bakoru, former NSSF board chairman, Onegi Obel and former NSSF managing director, Leonard Mpuuma.
While Obel and Mpuuma have been charged in court and are out on bail.
Bakoru has fled the country and is seeking asylum in the US while Mugoya made a swift move.
In 2006 when the IGG initiated proceedings against him and others, Mugoya, through his lawyers McDusman Kabega, filed a petition in the Constitutional Court to block all court actions and proceedings against him. In the Constitutional Court petition No. 33 of 2006, he sought interim orders to stay the proceedings at the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court and to be struck off the charge sheet. He also filed miscellaneous applications No.1 and No.2 in 2007, to stay execution of the arrest warrant issued against him by the court in February 2007.
His argument in the petition was simple and straight forward: That he is not a public official and, therefore, his acts do not fall with the ambit of prosecution by the IGG, but rather by the Director of Public Prosecution.
And indeed on March 1, when Justice Steven Kavuma issued a ruling on the petition, he granted Mugoya the interim orders and stayed all proceedings and all orders, rendering the arrest warrant impotent, at least until the disposal of the earlier petition.
The move by Mugoya is largely perceived by many in the legal circles as a strategy to buy time and delay the case. The ruling has now become an issue of contention with the IGG and Attorney General challenging the court petition.
While Mugoya might be viewed as a villain by others, he is seen as a good person in some circles.
His relations say he was a generous man. Since the demise of their parents, as the eldest child, Mugoya took over control of the family and none of his brothers or sister pays fees for their children.
“He told us to give him all our children and he looks after them. None of us stays with our children. Actually, our work is to give birth to babies and he takes care of them,†commented a family member.
According to the source, Mugoya has neither a wife nor children of his own and was staying with their children in Embakasi, on the outskirts of Nairobi city.
The family’s main worry now is for his safety as the media has a field day with his financial woes.
A family member working at Mugoya workshop near Iganga Hospital says there is more to the whole hunt for the engineer than meets the eye.
“If he worked for the Government, getting the contracts must have been handled through a tendering process. Was it a secret arrangement which brings the issues to this level?†he asks.
He then points at photographs of their late parents hanging on the wall of the small wooden office, saying Mugoya is the one doing everything for the family ever since their demise.
“It is now even difficult to access him as he is on the run. They (newspapers) are saying he is wanted and he is neither in Kenya nor Uganda. Where can we get him then?†he wonders.
He explains that their elder brother may be like a fugitive and any family member trying to get to him would be like the biblical Judas Iscariot.
“Suppose he is somewhere and sees me approaching, his first thought would be that I have detectives closely following me to nab him. Remember Judas, one of Jesus’ apostles was used to get hHim,†says the member.
But since wanted Mugoya is not available, could he have followed closely on the heels of a former minister, implicated in the same Nsimbe estates vis-Ã -vis NSSF saga, but reportedly fugitive in USA?
Even Dr. Oburu Oginga, the chairman of Kenya’s Parliament’s Finance Committee, was quoted in the press early this year as saying the fall of Mugoya Construction is something that should not be celebrated.
Reason: “It contributed enormously to the economy, leave alone creating employment for many Kenyans and paying tax revenue to the treasury.â€
Oginga, however, sounded one strong message:
“This is what bedevils companies which depend on political patronage and it is a signal to other firms that they should thrive on strict business ethics.â€
IN 1994, a pupil of Bugabwe Primary School in Iganga was struck dead by a collapsing roof during a heavy downpour. Then, like manna from heaven, a Good Samaritan pledged to re-build the whole school. He broke down the dilapidated school buildings and put up new ones.
Quite out of the ordinary, but that is none other than Eng. James Isabirye Mugoya, the renowned moneyed Musoga of the Mugoya International Firm.
Nasibu Nantale, the headmistress, says the wealthy engineer helped the Government in its Universal Primary Education programme.
Nantale explains that the previous premises were semi-permanent, with no administration block.
The modern block accommodates all the classrooms from P1 to P7. The administration house has a spacious staff room and headteacher’s office.
However, this seeming philanthropist is wanted both in Kenya and Uganda for various crimes.
In January this year, his firm, Mugoya Construction and Engineering Company, which had virtual monopoly over multi-billion government contracts in Kenya, was put under receivership.
In both Kenya and Uganda, the company seemed to have a interest in doing business with the National Security Fund (NSSF).
Born in 1950 to Samson Mugoya of Bulubandi village, a suburb in Iganga, Isabirye is as mysterious as the manner in which he established himself in Kenya.
The eldest in a family of four, he grew up in Iganga and was reserved right from his childhood, sources say.
A source, who preferred anonymity, says Mugoya is still reserved and rarely likes special recognition in public.
“He is so elusive to the camera that it may be easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than to get him photographed,†says the source.
And so, even the office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) that is prosecuting him over allegations of corruption, do not have his photos. The Kenyan police that issued arrest warrants against him last week also carried newspaper adverts without his photographs.
A source narrates that at family functions, the rich man shuns the high table and opts for odd jobs that make him inconspicuous.
“There was a time he turned up at a party and started serving drinks like a waiter. This left him with little time to talk to people; something he cherishes,†says the source.
Mugoya attended Bulyansime Primary School before joining Iganga Boys Primary School in 1960s. He had his secondary education at Kiira College, Butiiki in Jinja before proceeding to the prestigious King’s College, Budo for his advanced level studies.
“Unlike most old Budonians, he rarely boasts about studying at the school,†says the source.
Mugoya later joined Nairobi University for an engineering course where his purported friendship with a son of former Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi, culminated into a business partnership that later turned into almost a sole contractor for the most lucrative government deals.
The grapevine has it that Moi family members even used to sneak into Mugoya’s Iganga apartments for weekend leisure masquerading as Mugoya International workers.
A classic example of Mugoya’s most prominent contracts with Kenya NSSF is the Embakasi Housing Project whose contract the company secured despite having been one of the highest bidders in 1993. It gave the cost of the project as sh11b for the 5,000 units, but after doing only half of the job, the company said it needed more money and an extra sh2b was paid.
In Uganda, Mugoya’s woes started with the botched Nsimbe project, a joint venture between his company and NSSF. Mugoya is now being charged together with former gender and social development minister, Zoe Bakoko Bakoru, former NSSF board chairman, Onegi Obel and former NSSF managing director, Leonard Mpuuma.
While Obel and Mpuuma have been charged in court and are out on bail.
Bakoru has fled the country and is seeking asylum in the US while Mugoya made a swift move.
In 2006 when the IGG initiated proceedings against him and others, Mugoya, through his lawyers McDusman Kabega, filed a petition in the Constitutional Court to block all court actions and proceedings against him. In the Constitutional Court petition No. 33 of 2006, he sought interim orders to stay the proceedings at the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court and to be struck off the charge sheet. He also filed miscellaneous applications No.1 and No.2 in 2007, to stay execution of the arrest warrant issued against him by the court in February 2007.
His argument in the petition was simple and straight forward: That he is not a public official and, therefore, his acts do not fall with the ambit of prosecution by the IGG, but rather by the Director of Public Prosecution.
And indeed on March 1, when Justice Steven Kavuma issued a ruling on the petition, he granted Mugoya the interim orders and stayed all proceedings and all orders, rendering the arrest warrant impotent, at least until the disposal of the earlier petition.
The move by Mugoya is largely perceived by many in the legal circles as a strategy to buy time and delay the case. The ruling has now become an issue of contention with the IGG and Attorney General challenging the court petition.
While Mugoya might be viewed as a villain by others, he is seen as a good person in some circles.
His relations say he was a generous man. Since the demise of their parents, as the eldest child, Mugoya took over control of the family and none of his brothers or sister pays fees for their children.
“He told us to give him all our children and he looks after them. None of us stays with our children. Actually, our work is to give birth to babies and he takes care of them,†commented a family member.
According to the source, Mugoya has neither a wife nor children of his own and was staying with their children in Embakasi, on the outskirts of Nairobi city.
The family’s main worry now is for his safety as the media has a field day with his financial woes.
A family member working at Mugoya workshop near Iganga Hospital says there is more to the whole hunt for the engineer than meets the eye.
“If he worked for the Government, getting the contracts must have been handled through a tendering process. Was it a secret arrangement which brings the issues to this level?†he asks.
He then points at photographs of their late parents hanging on the wall of the small wooden office, saying Mugoya is the one doing everything for the family ever since their demise.
“It is now even difficult to access him as he is on the run. They (newspapers) are saying he is wanted and he is neither in Kenya nor Uganda. Where can we get him then?†he wonders.
He explains that their elder brother may be like a fugitive and any family member trying to get to him would be like the biblical Judas Iscariot.
“Suppose he is somewhere and sees me approaching, his first thought would be that I have detectives closely following me to nab him. Remember Judas, one of Jesus’ apostles was used to get hHim,†says the member.
But since wanted Mugoya is not available, could he have followed closely on the heels of a former minister, implicated in the same Nsimbe estates vis-Ã -vis NSSF saga, but reportedly fugitive in USA?
Even Dr. Oburu Oginga, the chairman of Kenya’s Parliament’s Finance Committee, was quoted in the press early this year as saying the fall of Mugoya Construction is something that should not be celebrated.
Reason: “It contributed enormously to the economy, leave alone creating employment for many Kenyans and paying tax revenue to the treasury.â€
Oginga, however, sounded one strong message:
“This is what bedevils companies which depend on political patronage and it is a signal to other firms that they should thrive on strict business ethics.â€