Cosase orders UCC to present Posta Uganda debt details

By Stephen Kalema

The Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) has ordered Uganda Communications Commission to provide a list of all the money it demands from Posta Uganda. Cosase also wants a breakdown on how the said debt was accumulated as well as the as as other monies owed by 19 other companies.

This directive came about after UCC on Thursday, threatened to attach the property of Posta Uganda boss Andrew Arinaitwe as well as the company’s property should they fail to clear license fees worth Shs800m. The money has reportedly accumulated over the years.

While appearing before the Cosase on Thursday, UCC’s head of legal, Abdusalam Waiswa said  the debt had accumulated before the financial year 2013. in 2017, Posta Uganda then signed a commitment to clear the money by paying monthly installments of Shs50m by January 2018 . Posta has however, only managed to pay only Shs55m since then.

The MOU signed between the two parties states that in case Posta Uganda fails to fulfill the commitment, UCC would take on legal actions including attaching the personal property of the Managing Director Posta Uganda as well as that of the company in order to recover the debts.

This prompted Cosase members to wonder what type of MOU was signed that even give rights for UCC to access the property of the boss of the company yet it is a government entity.

This forced the commitment vice chairperson Anita Among to direct UCC provide all details of the MOU and details of the debt. UCC has reportedly failed to recover Shs29bn from over 20 companies including Uganda Telecom (UTL) and Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC).

According to Fred Otunu, the UCC Director of Corporate Affairs, UTL is the biggest debtor with over Shs11bn billed up to 2014.

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