The battle over the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) has taken a dramatic turn after the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) demanded that government freeze an alleged US$14 million (about Shs52 billion) payment linked to its chairman, Odrek Rwabwogo.
Kasambya County MP David Kabanda, who also serves as executive secretary to PLU chairman Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said the organisation wants the Ministry of Finance and other government agencies to stop dealing with PACEID until questions surrounding its establishment, financing, staffing and accountability are resolved.
Kabanda was conveying Kainerugaba’s position after the Chief of Defence Forces publicly questioned PACEID’s legal foundation and described the committee as an entity that was not legally created.
At the centre of the latest confrontation is the alleged US$14 million claim, which Kabanda said is connected to the supply of helicopters, spare parts and other materials to the South Sudanese government.
According to Kabanda, the transaction involves Tomosi Farm Company Limited, which he associated with Rwabwogo. He questioned why Uganda’s Treasury would be required to settle a bill arising from supplies allegedly made to another government.
“If you supplied the government of South Sudan and you are not in the original agreement, why don’t you go to South Sudan and ask them to pay you?”
Kabanda also questioned how a company whose registered activities he described as being connected to milk could become involved in a transaction involving helicopters and other supplies.
The PLU official said information reaching the organisation indicated that the Ministry of Finance was preparing to make the payment, prompting the demand for an immediate halt.
The allegation has not, however, been independently established from the material available, including the precise contractual arrangements behind the US$14 million claim and the legal basis on which Uganda would be responsible for paying it.
PACEID legal battle deepens
Beyond the money, PLU is challenging the very structure under which PACEID operates.
Kabanda argued that although President Yoweri Museveni has constitutional authority to establish, abolish or merge government departments and initiatives, such institutions must operate within a defined administrative framework covering staffing, funding, governance and accountability.
He questioned who appointed Rwabwogo as PACEID chairman, who serves as the committee’s accounting officer, who recruited its employees, who pays for its offices and where its financial accountability is submitted.
Kabanda further argued that Rwabwogo’s appointment as a Senior Presidential Adviser on Special Duties did not automatically establish an independent government organisation with authority to recruit staff and administer public funds outside established government structures.
PLU has also questioned PACEID’s involvement in appointing or deploying trade envoys, arguing that Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic missions already have responsibility for the country’s external relations.
The dispute has now moved beyond political accusations and into questions over whether public funds can lawfully be committed to an institution whose legal and administrative status is being contested.
Rwabwogo fights back
Rwabwogo has rejected the accusations and defended PACEID’s existence and work.
He has said the committee was established on March 16, 2022, with a mandate to open export markets for Ugandan products, before being placed under the Office of the President in May of that year. He has also maintained that President Museveni, who created the initiative, has not ordered its dissolution.
The chairman has defended PACEID’s record, pointing to its work in export promotion, food safety, infrastructure and financing for exporters.
The latest clash therefore places the government in the middle of a widening dispute involving two influential figures connected to President Museveni’s family and political establishment.
For now, the alleged Shs52 billion payment remains the biggest flashpoint.
If the claim is confirmed, the transaction could trigger intense scrutiny over the contractual arrangements, the identity of the beneficiary and why Uganda’s Treasury would be responsible for a payment reportedly arising from supplies to South Sudan.
And with PLU demanding that the money be frozen while the wider PACEID dispute is resolved, the fight over Rwabwogo’s committee appears far from over.