| The economic
havoc caused by the likes of Mr. Kiiza, Mr. Kaggwa and Mr. 'X'
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In the ministry of finance, there are some young thieving
Turks, whom we feel, Government should monitor, investigate, arrest,
charge and if found guilty, be thrown in Luzira Maximum Security Prison
for the rest of their lives. That is where they belong.
These are
really terrible people. They are the pillars of white collar thieving in
its totality. Because of their capacity to distort the economy throught
grand corruption, they cause astronomical losses, and therefore directly
contribute to financial constraints that bog down government�s noble goals
such as fighting rebel activities.
Take for example a gentleman
called Mr. Moses Kaggwa, in charge of tax policy. This wonderful
gentleman, Mr Moses Kaggwa, took it upon himself � just like his friend Mr
Laurence Kiiza did � to exempt Mukwano from paying tax on his imported
finished products, which he disguises as raw materials for soap, which is
contrary to the tax guidelines in Government�s Financial Bill.
The
big question is: How can two people � Mr Kiiza and Mr Kaggwa � between the
two of them, decided to change a government policy, clearly spelt out in
the Financial Bill, and do their own things which led to the loss of an
astronomical figure of Shs23 billion in tax revenue and get away with it,
let alone to continue walking with their shoulders high, in a civilized
country, without any shame? The harm caused by such pillars of economic
destruction is very engulfing. When a king-pin of corruption like Mukwano
is protected and even advised by such strategically placed Government
officials, his conduct of economic crimes becomes elastic � sort of
octopus. It becomes easy for Mr Kaggwa and Mr Kiiza, for example, to help
Mukwano get more favours from fellow key officials in the same ministry.
It is easy. In order to understand what we mean, let us look else where.
When NRM Government took over some 16 years ago, one of the men President
Yoweri Museveni helped take off, is this very Mukwano. President Museveni
called Mukwano and asked him what financial assistance he (Mukwano) wanted
in order to enable him (Mukwano) produce soap, then very mush in demand.
Mukwano asked for, and got a cool $800,000 for setting up a factory that
in the actual sense cost him only about $300,000. From the word go,
Mukwano abused the good spirit extended to him by President Museveni. As
it turned out, the so-called soap factory became a gold mine for Mukwano,
because it was used as a fishing hook, with which he used from time to
time to get free Government money. Mukwano�s real starting date for
minting money come about when President Museveni negotiated with the
American Government to give Uganda Government a loan of $20 million, with
which the Government used to buy raw materials for soap making business in
Uganda. Understandably the raw material (talow) was imported from USA, and
was managed here by the USAID. Mukwano alone got half of the secured raw
material (tallow) for his soap factory, while the other remaining four
soap making companies shared the other half. In simple terms, the loan
which was secured by Government and which was supposed to be paid back by
Government, largely benefited this very Mukwano, who has the audacity to
evade tax to the tune of Shs23 billion. According to the original
understanding, the beneficiaries of the supplied tallow from USA were
supposed to eventually pay the loan to Government for onward re-payment to
USA Government. Then an interesting development took place. Because, of
Government�s commitment to good economic and political policies, the USA
government eventually wrote off the loan and converted it into a grant to
support the Government budget in the same way other grants are used. Under
normal circumstances, ministry of finance should have asked Mukwano to
repay the loan, ($10 million) and put the money in the national budget.
But with friends like Mr Kiiza and Mr Kaggwa, in the ministry of finance,
it does not surprise us that, the ministry of finance has never even
raised the issue of re-paying the loan with Mukwano. What this means in
simple terms is that because of his good friends in the ministry of
finance, Mukwano alone has reaped a windfall of Shs23 billion in tax
evasion, plus Shs18 billion ($10 million grant) bring the total of the
gift to the tune of Shs40 billion. This is precisely how the gap between
the few thieving rich and the majority law-abiding citizens is created.
Thank you Mr Kiiza, Mr Kaggwa and Mr X for helping Mukwano make it.
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The Mulindwas
communication group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in
anarchy"
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