No money was stolen in PR firm deal

No money was stolen in PR firm deal

By Hon Sam Kuteesa

The Daily Monitor of April 15, had an article entitled “Kutesa In Fresh Scandal Over Shs1.2b PR Deal.” The article contained regrettable and unsubstantiated allegations by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) Hon. Nandala Mafabi against me as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in respect to hiring a public relations firm in UK.

In 2005 Uganda became a target of a very hostile and negative campaign in the media, academia, parliament, civil society and governments of some countries abroad. The campaign was mainly orchestrated by political players in Uganda and their representatives abroad and sympathisers of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) in the Diaspora. The campaign was intended to; stop Uganda from hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in 2007, declaring northern Uganda a disaster area and stop foreign assistance to Uganda.

In response to the negative campaign the government of Uganda decided to engage a public relations firm to assist in communicating a number of messages to key stakeholders abroad on a number of areas including the transition to multi-party democracy, peace making initiatives in northern Uganda and the achievements made by government in the various facets of life. My ministry, under whose mandate of protecting Uganda’s image abroad is, was tasked to handle the matter.

The procurement of the firm was of an emergency nature for if it had gone through the normal process of competitive bidding, there was a real danger of the perpetrators of the hostile campaign achieving their goal.

Hunton and Williams which has worked for the government before, was identified and contracted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from March 2005 to February 2006. The firm was tasked to: assist the government engage a public relations firm and to advise government in conjunction with the public relations firm to develop a programme of key events with various stakeholders.
Hill and Knowlton was selected as the public relations firm and it worked with the government of Uganda in building relationships and communicating positive messages to stakeholders in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
The firm dealt with issues that included but not limited to; developing stakeholder awareness of the Constitutional Reform programme in Uganda; greater engagement with civil society in a transparent and progressive manner; greater awareness of the major achievements made in various fields such as HIV/Aids and; raising the profile of the country to enhance the tourism industry.

The government paid Hunton and Williams $749,633 in respect to the services rendered. The firm has acknowledged receipt of all funds paid. Hunton and Williams undertook the work assigned to it.
The evidence is; A reaffirmation and successful hosting of Chogm last year; reinstatement and increase in bilateral and multilateral aid flows; the rejection by the international community of declaring northern Uganda a disaster area and better appreciation of the Constitutional amendment process.
The decision to engage the firm therefore was done in best public interest. The benefits will continue to be felt for many years to come. The allegations are regrettable as they malign the minister of foreign affairs and yet no public funds were ever ‘stolen’ as alleged.

The writer is the Minister of Foreign Affairs -Republic of Uganda