
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
There is a need for discussions about the spending on the Sudhir Ruparelia’s Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort. The Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort and the Convention Centre, which have been updated for summits. However, the Munyonyo have been an issue since the 2007 CHOGM Conference, which was the first reason to begin with.
Since then… the Munyonyo have been a place of budgetary funds. The hotel has gotten billions of shillings. Meanwhile, the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) haven’t gotten dividends from. That is really telling after all these years and the UDC supposed being a big shareholder of the company itself.
Munyonyo and the agreements with the state should be looked thoroughly into… and not just petitions or the questioning by the COSASE in Parliament. Those seems not be enough. Neither the Auditor General Reports on the Munyonyo either. Nothing comes out of it and sooner or later the state will sooner spend more fortunes on it.
Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort should be questioned. We can wonder what sort function Ruparelia has and what sort of relationship he has with the State House. Because his business deals can cause a stir, but he can get off the hook. He has been involved in questionable transactions and takeovers before. Therefore, this just looks suspicious.
Where has the money gone and why aren’t the state getting anything in return? There should be some ends going to the state. The government has spent fortunes on this hotel. They have spent billions upon billions for so long. Not only before the recent summits there, but in other years too.
The UDC and the Government of Uganda can clearly prioritize Munyonyo. There is something magical about the place. It has some stars aligned and possibilities we don’t know about. The location and the hotel must have special place in the heart of the President. He must really have some sort of connection with the place. Because he is spending money like a drunk sailor on it and expect nobody to have a proper oversight over it.
Munyonyo … Munyonyo … Munyonyo are getting budget posts, but the UDC doesn’t get any dividends. That is telling and something isn’t adding up. The stat can just spend billions on billions for decades. Meanwhile the state see nothing in return. Only a place for conferences, summits and national functions instead of Kololo Independence Grounds. However, that doesn’t defend the state misuse of funds to build, update or keep the upkeep of this hotel.
Munyonyo… it is a dangerous business, I suppose. Someone went out the door, but we don’t know what happened after the individual went out the door. Peace.












