The Bag Man for CNN

Museveni son-in-law bags Shs 640 million


by ALEX B. ATUHAIRE
The Monitor KAMPALA

THE government paid $350,000 (approx. 640 million Uganda Shillings) to Terp Group, a local public relations firm, in connection to the project to polish Uganda’s image via the Cable Network News (CNN).

The contract with Terp Group, owned by Mr Odrek Rwabwogo (in photo above, at left), a son-in-law of President Yoweri Museveni, was in contravention of the procurement rules issued by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA).

The PPDA regulates procurement by the government. Dr Sam Nahamya, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, on September 1 wrote to the PPDA asking the institution to waive the rule that would restrict the ministry to open bidding. He said the decision to procure Terp’s services was made by politicians. According to Regulation 106(4) of PPDA, the contract to Rwabwogo’s company should have been awarded after either open or restricted bidding because the value of the deal was above Shs 100 million.

In his September 1 letter, Nahamya also said the waiver should cover the $1 million (U.S.) to Turner Broadcasting Systems (Europe), which was to implement the CNN project together with Terp.

“The political leadership has selected the two firms to provide specialised and professional services to the ministry in branding Uganda on the CNN as a way of attracting tourists to the country,” Nahamya wrote.“These firms are of international character with no known competitors and provide specialised services,” he added. “The purpose of this communication therefore is to request you to waive the requirement of competitive tendering in preference to the direct sourcing method.”

However, the PPDA, which is headed by the former Auditor General, Mr. James Kahoza, refused to waive the regulations as the ministry had already overlooked the procurement rules. The ministry had already offered the contract to Terp Group by the time they wrote to PPDA.

Nahamya declined to discuss the matter when contacted on Tuesday, saying he was on leave. “Officially and technically, I cannot conduct business on behalf of the government. I am on leave, I can’t speak on behalf of the government,” he told Daily Monitor by telephone.

But the Tourism Ministry PS had said in his letter, “The government values the benefits this project will bring if there is partnership with the private sector through companies like TERP Group.” He added, “The Solicitor General has cleared the two firms and the contracts will soon be signed.”

However, the Solicitor Genera,l Mr Lucien Tibaruha, yesterday distanced himself from the procurement of Terp Group services. “Yes, it’s my job to clear, but I only cleared the terms of the contract,” he said. “The ministry carried out the procurement. I didn’t clear the procurement. So you have to go back to them (Ministry of Tourism) as regards that issue,” Tibaruha told Daily Monitor by telephone.Daily Monitor was told that the PPDA had earlier told the ministry that it had already contravened the law and the procurement body could therefore not clear the procurement.

PPDA Chairman Kahoza could not be reached for comment. The PPDA Executive Director, Mr Edgar Agaba, was also not available for comment.

The Uganda government in September sealed a $1 million (about Shs 1.8 billion) six-month deal to promote the country as a top tourist destination.According to the deal, Uganda will sponsor the Inside Africa show on CNN, which runs every Saturday, for six months. Spots promoting tourism under the tagline, “Uganda: A Gift of Nature” will run in the 30-minute show, which is repeated every Sunday.

The CNN Inside Africa show reports on the continent’s political, economic, social and cultural affairs. The CNN crew has been in Uganda to shoot key tourist attractions in national parks, cultural dances and promotional interviews for clips to use in the adverts.

In the face of highly fluctuating prices of the traditional exports - especially cash crops such as coffee, vanilla and cotton, the government is now looking to non-traditional exports like tourism to boost its foreign exchange earnings. But with the transition politics becoming uncertain, it is now no longer clear how the country would benefit from the CNN project - as the same station has been reporting the recent volatile developments in the country for which the government has deployed a heavy military presence in Kampala following the arrest and trial of opposition Forum for Democratic Change leader Kizza Besigye.

Negative publicity The government has in recent months received considerable negative publicity abroad following the decision by the President to seek another term in office. The CNN effort will mainly concentrate on the tourism sector, but the government has lately engaged other efforts to counter negative publicity and redeem its falling image, especially arising from the endemic rebellion in the north and the feared political turmoil following recent changes in the constitution and the President’s intentions to stay in power beyond 2006.

The government has hired a British public relations firm, Hill and Knowlton, at Shs1.6 billion to improve the country’s image in the international media. Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa brokered the deal.

The government has also engaged services of international lobbyists like the former British Minister, Ms Linda Chalker, and former US secretary for African Affairs during the Bill Clinton government, Ms Rosa Whitaker. The two are mainly for trade promotion.

Other image enhancing efforts include the creation of the Media Centre under the President’s Office to coordinate the flow of information from the government to the media and the general public. Mr Robert Kabushenga, the former New Vision Company Secretary, heads the centre. Rwabogo has not answered his phone for the last two days but officials in TERP confirmed that they were paid the money.

Urbane Analysis: How does a modern tyrant thwart democracy? Pay off the media, of course - using illegal contracts.

The media is on trial here. The People of Uganda against Cable News Network.

Comfortable cronies and relatives of the president receive fat contracts that they funnel along to Atlanta in exchange for splashy ads and vapid travelogues that ignore grinding poverty, malnutrition, disease and suffering all around Uganda. And the news media shows not the slightest curiousity about why the U.S. Agency for International Development and British High Commission channel enough funds into Uganda every year to show staggering results in health, infrastructure, education and nutrition programs - yet the slightest amont of progress is noted by the Ugandan government year after year.

Where does all the money go?

The People of Uganda against Bill O'Reilly - for giving CNN a pass. It ain't incest, but it is gross negligence on the part of The Factor and every other media source on the side of "the folks" - there has been enough blood and tear gas in the streets of Kampala these past weeks to make the charge:

If it had been anywhere but Africa it would have been the lead. But only ABC News passed along a few crumbs of the short-shrift given the story by their kissing cousins at the BBC. And that was it. Only a few watchdog groups like SpinWatch have even commented about it.

This is what I want to see:

CNN's Reliable Sources will be examining the ethics of how their own program, Inside Africa cozies up to dictators this Sunday at 10 a.m.

When you ask why Africa continues to fester, an examination of the western news media is in order. This is not "Oil-for-Food" with a crony-relative of the UN Secretary General. It is "Aid-Money-for-PR-Treatment with a crony-relative of a banana republic dictator openly operating a slush fund to the Cable News Network for "bought" coverage.