Northern MPs pile pressure on government over RVR deal delay

The signing of a final concession agreement between Rift Valley Railways and the Ugandan government is tentatively set for Tuesday after a high-energy week in which legislators from northern Uganda and President Yoweri Museveni were drawn into the catfight that was threatening the deal.

The EastAfrican has learnt that, after intervention from the highest levels, invitations to a meeting scheduled for this week were sent out late Friday.

The meeting was called days after the contending parties had referred the matter to the president for a final decision.

Angry that the deadlock was hurting prospects for a quick recovery of their region from the debilitating effects of a 20-year insurgency, members of the Northern Caucus in the Ugandan parliament had last Tuesday written to Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi seeking an explanation for what they saw as deliberate stonewalling on the RVR concession by key Ministry of Transport officials, who happen to come from the south of the country.

“It is our view that the Tororo-Pakwach line is important not just for northern Uganda but for African economic integration as a whole. We do not understand what is delaying the concession agreement and that is what we want to find out in our meeting with the prime ministers,” Dokolo County legislator and Caucus chairman Okot Ogong Felix told this newspaper.

Vested interests

The MPs’ intervention came as it emerged that although a final agreement conceding the entire Ugandan railway network to RVR for a 25-year period had only been awaiting signature last week, interested parties that have hovered over the deal from inception began proposing that the 344-kilometre Kampala-Kasese line and the 503-km Tororo-Pakwach line be excised from the concession.

Although it is difficult to envisage a scenario under which an orphaned Kampala-Kasese line would attract a competing offer, Transport Ministry officials are reported to have stuck to their guns, scuttling the signing that was scheduled for last week.

This appeared to lend credence to reports that the lines are being used as a bargaining chip by vested interests who want a part of the action, now that lenders have committed $120 million in funds that are only awaiting drawdown by RVR.

Although the official reason for holding up signatures is that Uganda wanted demonstration of financial capacity to commit an estimated $1.5 billion to overhauling the network, given principal shareholder Citadel’s credentials and the willingness of lenders, speculation is now pointing towards political sharks who want participation without paying for it.

An RVR source dismissed the prospect. “If anybody wants shares in RVR, they will be welcome because we need money and, as you know, shareholder funds are the cheapest source of financing. That anybody should join the shareholding by any other means is out of the question — as a listed company, Citadel cannot engage in such practices.”

With fingers pointing towards impropriety, the RVR saga is beginning to look disturbingly familiar.

At the turn of the millennium, the privatisation of former flag-carrier Uganda Airlines failed as competing interests pulled in different directions.

Eventually, the carrier was liquidated, leaving the Ugandan air transport market to the mercy of foreign airlines.

Transport Minister John Nassasira was unavailable for comment but, echoing the frustration shared by Kenyan shareholders in the concession, the Northern Caucus says they want the government to explain the reasons for delaying the concession.

“The president seems to be in favour of a quick conclusion of the concession but something is not right somewhere; that is what we want to find out from the prime minister and the line ministers,” said Mr Ogong.

The northern region feels that given the current focus on regional and African integration, the northern line holds great promise for the area because it is the logical route for future connections to the DR Congo, Juba, Khartoum and eventually Cairo.

At best, the delays are being interpreted as insensitivity to the plight of the region by a bureaucracy whose priorities are elsewhere.

“All northern MPs are one on this and we will need compelling reasons to be convinced otherwise,” Mr Ogong said.

Although the Kampala- Mombasa sector will remain the backbone of the operation in terms of generating revenue and meeting commitments to increase cargo haulage on the network to 15 million tonnes a year, RVR has adopted a futuristic view that focuses on the mid to long-term value that the branch lines will bring to the business.

According to current estimates, it would take the better part of two years to put the branch lines back in operation. 

Out of business for more than 20 years, the lines are again in contention on the back of Uganda’s oil discoveries and prospects for revival of the mining and agricultural sector in north and western Uganda.