"It is Museveniâs responsibility - not the nation, why should we sink that money in a personal project,â Mr Geoffrey Ekanya (Tororo) said on Friday.MP Aggrey Awori (Samia Bugwe north) said: âWhy should we pay billions of shillings for crimes committed by irresponsible officers?â
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I reckon, Museveni always get what he wants. True, it is that it is Museveni's responsibility to settle this bill from the Lawyers. After all it is Kaguta who deployed Ugandan Troops inside the DRC without the approval of the Uganda Parliament. Some of this troops ended up looting DRC natural resources. DRC sued.
That Museveni's Military dictatorship would now ask the Ugandan Parliament to approve funds to pay off the these lawyers, simply defies logic. Let Kaguta, Salim Saleh, Kazini ( mavi yaa Kuku) foot the bill. The burden to foot the bill should not and must not fall on poor Ugandan tax payers!
Matek
Foreign lawyers demand Shs 700m for DRC case
By Patrick Onyango
March 7, 2004
KAMPALA â Government has failed to pay legal fees to the foreign lawyers who defended it at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) when DR Congo sued Uganda for allegedly plundering its natural resources.The lawyers are owed Shs 721 million. President Laurent Kabilaâs (RIP) government filed the suit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
Uganda contracted foreign lawyers; Prof. Ian Brownlie from UK and Folley, Hoag and Eliot (Paul S. Reicher) from USA to defend it. The case was eventually settled out of court, with Uganda not incurring any expenses, save for legal presentation. The case swallowed over Shs 2bn, which government is now asking parliament to approve in the supplementary budget.
The minister of state for Finance (General Duties), Mwesigwa Rukutana, has submitted to parliament a supplementary budget of Shs 86.2 billion. Out of this government needs Shs 2 billion to settle arrears arising from the case.
The committee of finance chaired by Maj. Bright Rwamirama, will consider the proposal on Tuesday.The document, which Sunday Monitor saw, indicates that Shs 721million is unpaid legal fees that the government needs to settle immediately to avoid being taken to court to incur more costs.
According to ministry of Finance documents, as of October 2003, governmentâs obligations to the foreign lawyers stood at slightly over Shs 2billion.According to the document, prior to the ICJ sitting which took place in October 2003, lawyers demanded for settlement of their unpaid fees or else they would pull out of the case and sue the government for failing to adhere to the contract.The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs had no funds to pay at the time and government approached Bank of Uganda for funds to pay the lawyers.
Bank of Uganda gave government about Shs 1.260 billion for partial payment.âBank of Uganda was subsequently requested to pay the foreign lawyers, thus the need to reimburse Bank of Uganda,â the documents read.Some MPs that Sunday Monitor spoke to expressed varying opinions on the matter.âThe invasion of Congo was an illegal act, UPDF went to Congo without parliamentary approval.
It is Museveniâs responsibility - not the nation, why should we sink that money in a personal project,â Mr Geoffrey Ekanya (Tororo) said on Friday.MP Aggrey Awori (Samia Bugwe north) said: âWhy should we pay billions of shillings for crimes committed by irresponsible officers?â
 2004 The Monitor Publications
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- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
