| Kutesa’s daughter linked to 1.2b/= deal |
| By Alex B. Atuhaire |
| KAMPALA - The daughter of Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa worked for Hunton & Williams, the London law firm contracted recently to advise the government on foreign public relations. Mr Kutesa is in charge of the controversial Shs1.2 billion deal that is supposed to help improve the image of President Yoweri Museveni’s government in Europe. Hunton & Williams, later hired Hill and Knowlton, a high profile London-based public relations firm to burnish the image of the Kampala government abroad amid growing negative publicity in international circles. Kutesa confirmed that his daughter Elizabeth worked for the London law firm, although he said she had nothing to do with the public relations deal. “Elizabeth worked for Hunton & Williams until last year. She had left the company at the time we gave this consultancy to the firm,” the minister told The Monitor by telephone yesterday. K utesa said his daughter worked for Hunton & Williams for two and a half years. “Many Ugandans have worked with John Miles (a partner at the law firm). But this is not the point. We gave the consultancy to the law firm because we considered their work record,” Kutesa said from London. Ms Elizabeth Kutesa is currently running her father’s law firm, Kutesa & Co. Advocates, in Kampala. Officials at Hunton & Williams were tight-lipped over Kutesa’s daughter’s connection with the firm. E-mail requests to Mr Miles, Human Resources Director Susan Gunn and Human Resources Manager Dianne Fishel have remained unanswered since Monday. Mr Miles did not return The Monitor’s calls. Kutesa said last week that the government would spend $675,000 on the public relations deal, although other sources put the figure at close to $2 million. Key government officials, the latest being the Minister of State for Finance (Planning), Mr Isaac Musumba, and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Maj. Bright Rwamirama, have said they are not aware of the source of the funds to finance the project. But Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana, the Minister of State for Finance (General Duties), told The Monitor yesterday the money to procure the services was approved under vote 006 – Foreign Affairs, by Parliament in March under schedule 1 of the supplementary recurrent expenditure. Speaking from his office in Kampala, Rukutana said Cabinet had approved the deal. However, the move to handpick Hunton & Williams contravenes the guidelines issued by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA). The PPDA regulates procurement in government. According to Regulation 106(4) of PPDA, the contract of the London law firm should have been awarded after either open bidding or restricted bidding, and not sole sourcing because the procurement was above Shs 100 million. The government overlooked these regulations. Kutesa yesterday explained that since Hunton & Williams was not going to provide the final PR services, it was okay to give them the consultancy. When The Monitor pointed out that the firm was to be paid Shs 300 million for the services, which was above the Shs100 million threshold as stipulated by PPDA, the minister said he had the latitude to follow his judgment. “I am in charge of this project. Don’t you think I had the freedom to make a judgement?” an irritated Kutesa asked. He added in Runyankore “Mbwenu korabe nonkoma, onkome” – meaning, “If you want to arrest me, please go ahead.” Rukutana had earlier told The Monitor in a separate interview that the issue of flouting procurement procedures was a simple matter that could be addressed. |
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