Hospitality and property mogul Sudhir Ruperalia has revealed to Parliament that the Government of Uganda owns 25 percent shares in the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort.

In a November 10, 2021 letter to the Clerk of Parliament that Galaxy FM has seen, Sudhir, who is the Managing Director of Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort, indicated that the Government owns 15,061,309,120 ordinary shares out of the total 60,244,836,480 shares in the investment.

Sudhir explains that he owns 30,724,866,605 ordinary shares, his company Meera Investments Ltd has 8,434,277,107 shares, and co-director Jyotsna Ruperalia runs 6,024,483,648 shares.

The Government has shares in the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort that was unveiled ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), 2007, which was hosted at the state-of-the-art facility.

Government contributed Shs15 billion in the run-up to the CHOGM, 2007 meeting that was held at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort in the form of a joint venture whereas another Shs13 billion was spent for the construction of a marina and pathways.

Sudhir was responding to a letter issued by Jacqueline Muhimbise on behalf of the Clerk to Parliament inviting him as the Managing Director of Meera Investments Ltd to appear before the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry on Friday, November 12.

The reason for inviting the property mogul to Parliament was in regard to the committee reportedly getting information that Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) has failed to take over the role to oversee the Government shares in Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort.

“The Committee has noted with concern that UDC as an investment arm of Government, has not been availed of an opportunity to manage the Government shares it owns in Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort,” the letter reads in part.

Adding: “…as thus, you are invited for a meeting with the Committee, to explain the status of Government shares and the accessibility UDC has had to the shares, in order to efficiently manage them.”

Particularly, the MPs required prior documentation supporting the explanation that Sudhir intends to give while appearing in person. It is against this requirement that Sudhir, who owns key hotels in Kampala, wrote back listing the shares and also informing the Committee that he would not be able to appear on Friday.

“We are glad to oblige but we request you to kindly reschedule the meeting because our Managing Director who is the best suited to appear will return to Kampala in the evening of the same day,” his letter reads in part.

Explaining the way the shares are managed, Sudhir attached the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) report of August 27, 2020 and a copy of the registered annual returns for the year 2017 showing the registered shareholders.

He asked the Committee to also furnish him with information about any Government decision to transfer its shares from the management of the Ministry of Finance to UDC.

“GOU is free to decide by whom its shares are held. We have not received communication from the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development regarding GOU’s decision to transfer its shares to UDC as the chosen and preferred entity to hold GOU shares,” Sudhir wrote.

Galaxy FM has also learnt that the Government has not yet completed the process of transferring the running of its shares in Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort from the Ministry of Finance to UDC.

A June 21, 2021 letter from the Office of the Solicitor General informs the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Ramathan Ggobi, about the process to be followed to transfer the shares to UDC.

The letter states that the Minister of Finance being the holder of the shares on behalf of the Government, is supposed to sign a share transfer instrument before being filed with the Registrar of Companies.

Once that is done, the Minister is supposed to notify the company (Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort) in writing of his substitution with UDC as the shareholder or overseer of the Government’s stake in it. Thereafter, according to the guidance from the Solicitor General’s Office, the company is supposed to enter UDC’s name in its register of members hence completion of the transfer.

UDC’s Executive Director Patrick Birungi has also, in a September 22 letter to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, asked for the process of transfer of shares to be executed.

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