http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com/uganda-taxpayers-to-pay-for-kutesas-one-year-stay-in-new-york/3/
Uganda taxpayers to pay for Kutesa's one-year stay in New York
Laughing all the way to the bank? Uganda's Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa who Uganda taxpayers will pay his ministerial and parliamentary wages for the year he will spend as President of the UN General Assembly.
By Henry D Gombya
Ugandan taxpayers are set to be clobbered with a hefty bill for the 12 months that Sam Kutesa, the current Ugandan Minister for Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament for Mawogola County in Sembabule District, will spend as President of the United Nations General Assembly.
The bill will include Kutesa's first class air fares to New York where he will be based starting September this year. The flights include those he will be making around the world while in his new job. To make matters worse, Ugandans are expected to continue paying him his wages as the country's Foreign Minister, a post he has held for the last nine years after an arrangement was made for him by President Yoweri Museveni to transfer his ministerial duties to his deputy until he returns in September 2015.
Kutesa succeeded the late James Wapakhabulo who died in mysterious circumstances and has not looked back since. Said to be one of the richest people in Uganda (his riches are measured in dollars), one Western diplomat told The London Evening Post he is capable of helping Uganda pay its debts using his personal finances. He will also retain his parliamentary seat even if that means he will rarely be in a position to represent his constituents while serving the UN. In 2011, Kutesa was accused in a parliamentary investigation of receiving bribes as kickbacks from the Irish oil firm Tullow Oil. Despite calls from MPs for him to resign along with the others accused, a lawyer, Severino Twinobusingye, managed to successfully sue the Attorney General and halt the proceedings and to block the calls for Kutesa's resignation. Following further suspicion around the incident as a result of Tullow Oil's court case with Heritage Oil over its tax on Uganda assets, an ad-hoc parliamentary committee was convened to further investigate the allegations of corruption.
In an exclusive interview with The London Evening Post, Prof Eric Kashambuzi, a development issues expert at the United Nations, said the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly is a one-year term and is rotational among the five regions of the United Nations (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Pacific, Eastern European, western and other states). It is basically a ceremonial position to chair meetings of the General Assembly assisted by 21 vice presidents. It is a UN tradition that its president wages and other expenses that include entertaining VIPs, travel to various parts of the world etc., are paid by his home country.
Every fifth year, the African Union nominates a candidate, usually a minister of foreign affairs or an ambassador, especially those that have served their countries at the UN headquarters in New York. Africa's turn to serve as president of the United Nations General Assembly will run from mid-September 2014 to mid-September 2015. Africa had two candidates: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cameroon and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda. The Cameroon Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Moukoko withdrew, leaving Sam Kutesa as the only candidate.
It was after Kutesa was nominated as the sole candidate that questions about the content of his character came to the fore: censure from parliament and suspension from the cabinet, disappearance of over US$20 million from the funds for the 2007 Kampala Commonwealth Heads of State and Government (CHOGM) Summit, conflict of interest since Kutesa has a contract with the United Nations in connection with handling equipment related to peace keeping operations in the Great Lakes Region including Sudan, illicit capital flaws and being his country's spokesperson defending the unpopular anti-gay act in the international community.
Milton Allimadi, Founder and CEO of the New York-based Black Star Newss election. By the time Kutesa was finally elected on June 11, 2014, some 15,000 people had signed the petition. The two Senators of New York State and a senior member of the USA House of Representatives from New York City objected in writing to the election of Kutesa. Afraid that he might be blocked, Kutesa campaigned and obtained endorsement from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a political organization of all developing countries currently chaired by Iran. While the NAM supported Kutesa, Western powers in the General Assembly objected.
However, when there is one candidate, there are no elections by secret ballot. And since Kutesa was the sole candidate he was elected by acclamation. But the Assembly is divided in the middle. This division will definitely handicap his confidence in presiding over the GA sessions, especially those connected with sexual and reproductive rights, good governance including corruption, sectarianism and cronyism that he has been accused of practicing. His election may also bring into question the credibility of the United Nations itself. Human and gay rights lobbyists have indicated determination to demonstrate against his election. The only way he can be stopped from assuming his post is by USA government denying him a visa to enter the United States but this is unlikely.
In the hour-long interview, Prof Kashambuzi told The London Evening Post why he withdrew his support from Museveni having been one of his early supporters when he assumed power in 1986. He also spoke about the problems facing the Africa Great Lakes Region and most of all, the current efforts by various Ugandan opposition groups to unseat the Ugandan leader. He had been in London to attend The London Evening Post-sponsored two-day Uganda Peace Conference. We will be posting more about this and Kashambuzi's interview this week.
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