LAWMAKERS OUTRAGE! Days after fire razed Sudhir’s Munyonyo Resort, MPs question shs86bn gov’t funding into hotel bogged down by governance and accountability concerns

Just days after a fire incident, lawmakers on Parliament’s Budget Committee have refused to consider the 2.386Trn supplementary budget, until the Ministry of Finance explains the basis upon which Government spent Shs86.4Bn in the construction of a conference hall at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort owned by businessman Sudhir Ruparelia.

This was after Henry Musasizi, Minister of State for General Duties tabled documents seeking Parliamentary approvals for the Shs1.316Trn supplementary expenditure that Government spent without prior parliamentary approval. Part of it was a request of Shs86.4Bn to fund the construction of a convention centre in preparation for hosting of the Non-Alignment Movement Conference at Munyonyo resort.

However, the MPs rejected consideration of the whole supplementary schedule, accusing the Ministry of Finance of being disrespectful, arguing that when the same matter was raised during the consideration of the 2022/2023 national budget, the funds to Munyonyo was rejected by Parliament, but Government used the backdoor to gift Sudhir the money.

Leading the protest was Fox Odoi (West Budama North East) who argued: “The people at the Ministry of Finance consider themselves to be super human. They have reached the realm who are like small gods. And I am afraid they are transitioning into God, the same way they disregard appropriation made by Parliament.”

Agnes Apea (Amolatar DWR) also asked: “What are we really doing here? We tell you don’t do this, you go ahead and do it and then you pass behind and come back to us and you come back to us to come back and sign with the same thing we said no, this isn’t our priority, our priority is service delivery. What has Munyonyo got to do with my people in Amolatar? This is unacceptable.”

Her remarks were supported by Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East) who cited article 156 and article 2 of the constitution which states that the Ministry of Finance can only spend in excess if what we have appropriated is insufficient, of if they are to spend on any purpose that parliament didn’t address itself to, but the funds to Munyonyo were rejected by Parliament in May 2022.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Uganda is scheduled to host the NAM summit from 4th to 7th December 2023, however, there is no conference facility that can accommodate the over 3000 expected delegates expected from 120 member states and the 17observer countries.

This prompted the Government to enter into a joint venture agreement with Meera Investments Limited as the most feasible option for constructing and operating the Convention centre for hosting the Non-Aligned Movement, G77 and China Summits.

The Ministry of Finance revealed that the construction works will cost US$50M about Shs187.931Bn, but of this, the Government is expected to inject US$30.9M equivalent to Shs113.895Bn and the rest is expected to be met by Sudhir.

Minister Musasizi said: “We take note of Parliament’s concerns on the need to carry out valuation to determine Government equity contribution in Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort. Accordingly, we have tasked UDC which is the Government’s investment arm to take stock of all Government’s ventures and provide a report to both cabinet and parliament.”

It should be recalled that a section of opposition MPs authored a minority report on the 2022/2023 national budget warning Parliament against approving Shs86.4Bn to Sudhir until Uganda Development Corporation nominates a board representative and Government furnishes Parliament with the most recent Annual Report and Financial Statements of the resort.

Documents before Parliament indicates that Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort Limited comprises of 60,244,836,480 shares of which Government of Uganda owns 15,061,209,120 and the rest are owned by Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia, his wife Joytsna Ruparelia and their property investment company, Meera Investments Limited.

However, the facility has over the years been riddled with critical governance and accountability concerns regarding the funds that Government has injected into the facility, like the failure by Ministry of Finance to convert Shsl4Bn that was spent in 2006 to construct internal driveways, parking yard and rehabilitation of a marina at the resort, into shares.

The Opposition MPs warned that it would not be prudent to allocate funds towards a perennial loss-making company and any additional allocation of funds would be of a risk of losses and enriching other related parties of the company indicated in the reports such as Speke Hotel, Kabira Country Club, Speke Resort Munyonyo, Crane Management Services, Premier Academy, Goldstar Insurance Company, Kampala International School Uganda and Rosebud Limited.

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