Railway project: Minister tells MPs to back off

By Henry Sekanjako, Cyprian Musoke & Joyce Namutebi

KAMPALA - The minister in charge of economic monitoring, Henry Banyenzaki, has asked Parliament to back off the $8b (sh22 trillion) Standard gauge railway project (SGR), saying it is a regional project.

According to Banyenzaki, MPs cannot investigate the regional project.

“It is beyond Parliament. It is a project beyond our means in terms of its capacity and handling. We should chew what we can swallow,” said Banyenzaki.

He made the remarks on Wednesday while closing a three-day training on budget for LC3 chairpersons from different districts organised by Action for Development and Environment.

Early last month, the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga named a seven-man team, chaired by Nakifuma MP, Sekitoleko Kafeero to investigate the controversy surrounding the standard gauge railway project.

The committee is examining circumstances that led to termination of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Government and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for upgrading the railway line from Kampala to Malaba.

The Government later signed a MoU with a rival company called China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).

Byandala faces MPs
 

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Works minister Abraham Byandala faced the parliamentary committee. (Photo credit: Maria Wamala)

Appearing before the probe committee on Thursday, works minister Abraham Byandala denied taking bribes from the companies that signed agreements with government.

He added that the conclusive agreement to construct the railway has not been sealed.

Byandala, who faced a barrage of questions, that often made him lose composure said the MoUs that were signed with the firms will be reviewed and the project advertised in line with Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets regulations.

However, the MPs asked him why they duped regional presidents to come to Speke Resort Munyonyo to “launch” a project whose contract had not yet been sealed.

He responded, “We were giving Ugandans hope.”

Lead counsel Maxwell Akora asked why Byandala removed the supervisory role of the project from state minister for transport Stephen Chebrot, who signed the first MoU, yet such project falls under his ambit.

Chebrot signed the 2012 MoU with CCECC. The MPs produced President Yoweri Museveni’s letter cautioning Byandala about corrupt officials with each lobbying for a different company.

‘Electrical railway’
 

Byandala said he explained to the President that he did not take any bribes, but could not speak for other officials.

The works minister Byandala insisted he took the decision to put the project under State Minister for Works John Byabagambi after the workload became too much, yet several aspects were going amiss after changes in the project.

“As senior minister I can delegate any junior minister and I thought he had the ability to handle the project,” he said. Several letters were given to the MPs showing that Byandala wrote to the Ministry of Finance seeking permission to engage firms, starting with Chinese Civil Construction Company (CCCC) to start feasibility studies.

Byandala said CCCC was rejected because it fell short of the necessary requirements.

On the SGR cost, the minister said: “We have agreed on $6.69b for a track length of 1,129km. The railway is going to be electrical.”

He asserted that the country will never transform unless the railway is built.

Byandala said the MoU with CCECC was terminated because “it was not serving our purpose”, which is to build SGR.

 CCECC on Wednesday said it had lost interest in the deal and is not demanding any compensation.