SWEAT as UWA Officials Struggle to Explain How They Paid Company That Failed to Do Work

Ugandan tax payers lost Shs180m in a gorilla permit system contract that Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) awarded to an incompetent firm, the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) has confirmed.

The December 2023 Auditor General’s report revealed irregularities  in which UWA awarded MFI Document Solutions a contract to develop software for booking and revenue collection for gorilla permits.

MFI failed to develop the software, prompting UWA to terminate the contract. But the Wildlife Authority had already paid Shs150m to MFI Document Solutions .

On Monday, March 18, 2024, Cosase chairperson Medard Sseggona asked Jimmy Mugisa, UWA’s Director of Finance and Administration, to explain the process through which the contract was awarded — and why an incompetent firm won the deal.

“Tell me, ‘how did you conduct due diligence for a company specializing in hardware to undertake software-related tasks? It’s evident that MFI failed to deliver,” inquired Sseggona, also Busiro East MP.

The director of Finance and Administration at UWA revealed that the Authority had taken legal action to force MFI Document Solutions cough the Shs150m after mediation efforts between the two entities collapsed.

“We followed the standard procurement procedures. We invited bids for a booking and revenue collection system, evaluated proposals, and selected MFI as the best bidder. Unfortunately, they could not meet their obligations, leading to contract termination. We are currently in arbitration to recover the Shs150 million paid upfront,” responded Mugisa.

But Sseggona told UWA officials that even the court process was a burden on taxpayers since there are costs associated with the same. “There is no justification for a contract to proceed without due diligence. This oversight has cost us over Shs150 million, not to mention the ongoing legal expenses,” said Sseggona.

To respond to the matter even more frankly, Stephen Masaba, the Director of Tourism and Business Development, admitted that there were mistakes in the procurement of MFI Document Solutions.

“I confirm there was no due diligence as part of the scrutiny,” conceded Masaba.

The committee put UWA officials on the spot for refusing to give supposed competent bidders — MS U Trust, White Snowman Limited and Kenya Airport Limited. This opened a Pandora’s box into UWA’s operations as MPs probed more accountability measures.

For instance, MPs wondered why UWA’s contracts committee slept on its job when it came to the award of the deal.

So tense was the grilling that Chemonges Mongea Sabilla, the Deputy Director for Legal and Corporate Affairs at UWA, forgot that he was the officer in charge of due diligence, prompting Ssegona to present documents to remind him that he was the guy in charge.

Meanwhile, officials from UWEC Entebbe also sweated to explain their request for Shs10bn to help in breeding of lions yet there were no guarantees that the lionesses would get pregnant after it emerged that they (lions and lionesses) were on family planning. (Read Story Here).

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