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Zambia to recover K2bn rentals from Uganda

Zambia to recover K2bn rentals from Uganda
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Sunday, January 04, 2009 6:53:19 PM

PARLIAMENTARY Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Charles Milupi yesterday urged the government to urgently recover close to K2 billion which the Ugandan government owes Zambia in unpaid rentals since 2004.

And foreign affairs permanent secretary Ambassador Tens Kapoma yesterday said it was not true that Zambia has threatened to take Uganda to court over the unpaid rentals but confirmed that Uganda has not honoured its obligation since 2006 when it last paid part of the arrears to Zambia.

Commenting on revelations by the Uganda Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the Zambian government had threatened to take the Ugandan government to court over non-payment of rentals which had been accumulating since it housed the Ugandan mission in Italy between 1995 and March 2004, Milupa said it was good that the Ugandan PAC got interested and put pressure on its government to settle the rentals.

He advised the Zambian government to ensure that it gets back the money from Uganda.

“We commend the Ugandan parliamentary public accounts committee (PAC) for putting pressure on its government to pay the money to Zambia,” said Milupi.

In 2007 Milupi and other PAC members took Kapoma to task over failure to explain properly on the transactions with Uganda.

But Ambassador Kapoma said Uganda owed Zambia about 273,000 Euros [about K 1.8 billion].

“It’s not true that Zambia has threatened to take Uganda to court…it’s not true. There is no row as reported in the media,” Ambassador Kapoma said. “Uganda owes us 273,000 Euros. It’s an obligation they have to honour. They have assured us that they will pay but they haven’t since 2006 when they paid 100,000 Euros [about K671 million.]”

Ambassador Kapoma said Zambia had been regularly reminding Uganda to pay back the money.

“We have been reminding them through our Ambassador in Rome, Italy. But really, there is no row and no threats to take them to court. The Ugandan government knows its obligation and we are sure they will honour their obligation,” said Ambassador Kapoma.

During a PAC sitting in April 2007, Milupi warned Ambassador Kapoma and his team that appeared before his committee that they would not be let off the hook for failing to explain on the payment of US $200,000 [about K969 million] by the Ugandan government towards the rental arrears for the Zambian chancery which Uganda had rented for its diplomatic mission.

To date, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not explained who received the US $200,000 on behalf of Zambia from the Ugandan government because of uncertainty on whether the money was paid through the Zambian mission in Brussels or Dar-es-Salaam.

According to Thursday’s edition of the Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper, that country’s PAC chairperson Nandala Mafabi revealed that Uganda owed Zambia close to 1 billion Uganda shillings (about K2.5 billion).

Daily Monitor stated that the Ugandan PAC parliamentarians got wind of the row between Zambia and Uganda from the latest Auditor General’s report for year ended June 2007, in which the Zambian government threatened to drag the Uganda government to courts of law in Rome for continued failure to pay the rent arrears and attempts to cheat Zambia.

Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, PAC, TENS KAPOMA, UGANDA

posted by MrK @ 6:53 PM