Kenya Link in $2m UPDF Uniforms Saga
THE EASTAFRICAN
THE UGANDA People's Defence Forces have disowned a consignment of army ceremonial dress and other paraphernalia and equipment worth $2 million (Ush3.8 billion) reportedly imported by a Burundian businessman based in Nairobi.
High ranking army officials who spoke exclusively to The EastAfrican last week say the businessman, George Rogers, whose Kenya-based Crown Rock Shield Company was registered as the importing company, brought in the goods without authorisation from the army's procurement department. They were impounded at the end of last year at Entebbe International Airport by security and customs officers.
Major Shaban Bantariza, the spokesman of the UPDF, said nobody at Bombo army headquarters seemed to know why Crown Rock Shield imported the goods without military authorisation.
"The goods are not ours and they are still in the hands of the importers. Mr Rogers should know whom he dealt with; he should explain whom he dealt with," he said.
Mr Rogers, whom The EastAfrican spoke to twice on telephone at his Nairobi office, said his dealings with the Ministry of Defence were confidential and he could not discuss them.
He added: "There is nothing to write about but if anybody has asked you to write about that (consignment) go ahead and write."
Crown Rock Shield is reportedly still trying to persuade the Chief of Logistics and Engineering to buy the uniforms.
A senior officer at Bombo said that in the unlikely event that the army took the consignment, it would not pay the $2 million at which the importers have priced it, as it was heavily inflated.
But another security source completely ruled out the possibility of the army taking the consignment, saying the goods may instead be confiscated because they are security items whose importation must be authorised.
"The owner cannot get them back. He can even be charged in court for importing forbidden items. How can we know whether they are not for rebels or those impersonating soldiers?" he said.
Importation of goods that have not been ordered by the Military Tender Board is one of the ways through which the army has been losing millions of dollars.
Several senior army officers implicated in causing heavy losses to the UPDF are currently facing a military Court-Martial ordered by President Yoweri Museveni in January.
The officers are accused of inflating the army payroll and pocketing billions of shillings in soldiers' pay and supplies and disobeying President Museveni's orders, among other charges.
The likelihood of the army accepting the consignment is further ruled out by the fact that UPDF soldiers now buy ceremonial dress at their own cost from approved tailors, including Eladam Enterprises, which sells each set at about Ush100,000 ($53). Officers from the rank of Second Lieutenant up have to buy the materials from approved stock.
The army provides combat uniforms to the fighters. The combat uniform is used while the army is on operations, while the ceremonial dress is for non-combat occasions. Ceremonial dress is without lanyard.
The UPDF has agreed on a standard uniform and says all consequent procurements should comply with that.
Defence Ministry officials said ideally they would have had the uniforms in the army shop, but it was closed in 1993 because of abuse of the facility.
They said that, while at the time of the closure the Ministry of Finance had promised to pay Ush3 billion ($1.58 million) in current terms per year to compensate for the closure, the Treasury has not honoured the promise.
Although the ministry two years ago made a study on how the system works in the UK, Kenya, Tanzania and other countries in preparation for the reopening of the shop, it remains closed. Last year the Auditor General said the account for the Army Shop, which had been dormant for three years, had a balance of Ush510 million ($215,789).
Brigadier Joshua Masaba, the Army Chief of Staff, told The EastAfrican that he was not aware of the consignment, saying he was new in the office. Formerly the commandant of the Air Force, he became Chief of Staff in December 2003.
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