CHOGM hotel owner is dead
Embattled Kampala businessman Joseph Behakanira, the proprietor of J&M Airport Road Hotel which is at the centre of a CHOGM controversy, has died.
By Steven Candia
Embattled Kampala businessman Joseph Behakanira, the proprietor of J&M Airport Road Hotel which is at the centre of a CHOGM controversy, has died.
The retired soldier-turned-businessman died early yesterday morning as he was being rushed to hospital after his condition deteriorated.
Behakanira, who had a history of hypertension and diabetes, was taken to Case Clinic from his home in Kansanga, a Kampala suburb, sources said yesterday. He was pronounced dead upon reaching the clinic. “By the time they got here, he had passed away,†a medical official at Case Clinic said.
Behakanira was not a client of Case Clinic but had reportedly been referred there for ‘certain procedures’ by his personal physician, Dr. Silver Bahendeka, a diabetes specialist in Kansanga.
However, sources said Behakanira died after a sudden attack. Earlier, on Saturday afternoon, he had been seen at his Avemar Shopping Mall in the city centre “looking robustâ€.
Behakanira appeared before the public accounts committee of Parliament last week to explain the circumstances under which he was given $1.3m (about sh2.6b) three days before CHOGM for the construction of 200 rooms at his hotel.
He was supposed to give the Government shares in the hotel but failed to do so.
He explained to the committee that the agreement he signed in October 2007 was for $1.5m.
He argued that he could not issue the share certificate until the Government paid the balance of $200,000. “We agreed on $1.5m but the Government gave me only $1.3m. I told them that if you want shares, the agreement should be changed to $1.3m. As a businessman, I could not sign when the money was less by $200,000,†he told the MPs.
Parliament then gave him one week to avail the share certificate for $1.3m, which he agreed to.
Behakanira, who had largely kept out of the limelight, hit the news headlines when part of his hotel structure, 15km from Kampala on Entebbe Road, collapsed on September 2004, killing 11 workers and injuring 26.
The Government moved swiftly to investigate the possible causes and chart out a way forward. A report on the incident was submitted and construction of the hotel resumed.
In 2008, Behakanira ran into a financial storm when Barclays Bank hired people to recover a sh4.7b debt from him. The receivers took control of his properties, including BETUCO, a company dealing in general merchandise, the popular Avemar Shopping Centre and several developed prime plots.
The bank hired Victor Mathias Ssekatawa and Kereto Marima as joint receivers and managers of the properties, setting the ground for a huge legal battle which continued up to the day he died.
Embattled Kampala businessman Joseph Behakanira, the proprietor of J&M Airport Road Hotel which is at the centre of a CHOGM controversy, has died.
The retired soldier-turned-businessman died early yesterday morning as he was being rushed to hospital after his condition deteriorated.
Behakanira, who had a history of hypertension and diabetes, was taken to Case Clinic from his home in Kansanga, a Kampala suburb, sources said yesterday. He was pronounced dead upon reaching the clinic. “By the time they got here, he had passed away,†a medical official at Case Clinic said.
Behakanira was not a client of Case Clinic but had reportedly been referred there for ‘certain procedures’ by his personal physician, Dr. Silver Bahendeka, a diabetes specialist in Kansanga.
However, sources said Behakanira died after a sudden attack. Earlier, on Saturday afternoon, he had been seen at his Avemar Shopping Mall in the city centre “looking robustâ€.
Behakanira appeared before the public accounts committee of Parliament last week to explain the circumstances under which he was given $1.3m (about sh2.6b) three days before CHOGM for the construction of 200 rooms at his hotel.
He was supposed to give the Government shares in the hotel but failed to do so.
He explained to the committee that the agreement he signed in October 2007 was for $1.5m.
He argued that he could not issue the share certificate until the Government paid the balance of $200,000. “We agreed on $1.5m but the Government gave me only $1.3m. I told them that if you want shares, the agreement should be changed to $1.3m. As a businessman, I could not sign when the money was less by $200,000,†he told the MPs.
Parliament then gave him one week to avail the share certificate for $1.3m, which he agreed to.
Behakanira, who had largely kept out of the limelight, hit the news headlines when part of his hotel structure, 15km from Kampala on Entebbe Road, collapsed on September 2004, killing 11 workers and injuring 26.
The Government moved swiftly to investigate the possible causes and chart out a way forward. A report on the incident was submitted and construction of the hotel resumed.
In 2008, Behakanira ran into a financial storm when Barclays Bank hired people to recover a sh4.7b debt from him. The receivers took control of his properties, including BETUCO, a company dealing in general merchandise, the popular Avemar Shopping Centre and several developed prime plots.
The bank hired Victor Mathias Ssekatawa and Kereto Marima as joint receivers and managers of the properties, setting the ground for a huge legal battle which continued up to the day he died.