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We are done with the first half of the year and as I reviewed my goals, I realised as the shilling loses strength, I need a new game plan. As I looked around for revenue generating solutions, I realised I’m in the wrong business and I need to get creative real fast!
I’m currently scheming how to join Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA).
They have the most creative minds and not just in carving out new bypasses and easing movement on roads. They have chartered out new territories when it comes to scheming and scams – we now have ghost roads and ghost property! It appears that there is a buffet of opportunities for anyone with a creative mind and nerves of steel.
Those of you who have flown into our fair land via Entebbe Airport have had the misfortune of experiencing the static traffic jam along the Entebbe-Kampala express highway. What you may be unaware of is that the government is actually working on expanding that road and also building a bypass to ease the congestion.
This venture created ghost properties along the 54Km of highway. Part of the land along the highway had been gazetted as a forest reserve. This did not deter some crafty individuals from acquiring land titles once the project was commissioned.
One zealous individual actually acquired 19 land titles in one day. The government then agreed to compensate the PAPs (Projected Affected Persons) at Sh340,000 per acre, but by some stroke of luck some got to enjoy greater windfalls at Sh6m per acre in the same area, and during the same period. The government appears to have bought back its own land and I wish them good luck in trying to recover those funds.
Further upcountry in the oil district of the Albertine rift, we have the Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road which is 83km long. Each kilometre cost the government Sh106.7m to construct, making it the most costly road in the region. Further, it has now emerged that some engineers and planners added an extra 9 kilometres and billed the government for 92km of road instead.
This creative group of hustlers made off with a tidy Sh960m which is enough money to buy a yacht and relocate to one of the Lake Victoria islands. The bidding process also seems to have been a hotbed of scandal. The bidder who was to handle the property valuation and compensation of PAPs got the lowest score, 40 per cent at the bid evaluation, but somehow emerged the winner.
Further, after getting the Sh23.5m fee, their winning streak continued as UNRA also seems to have paid the 6 per cent withholding tax, Sh1.4m, on their behalf. I don’t blame the UNRA fellows as their bosses in Parliament recently got Sh3.4m each as fuel arrears. It would appear that they were supposed to have been receiving fuel at Sh85 per litre during their tenure in office.
Fuel is now at Sh100 per litre and they have been awarded this difference in arrears with direct cash to their bank accounts. Perhaps I should take comfort in the fact that Sh1b for 300MPs is a lot cheaper than a private fuel provider winning the bid to supply overpriced fuel to ghost cars and ghost MPs.
