UBT

Ubungo Bus Terminal embroiled in graft

The Ubungo Bus Terminal, UBT, opened by President Benjamin Mkapa on December 6th 1999 for internal and external bus services has been reduced into a bottomless financial pit. And the Ubungo legislator from Chadema opposition party, Mr John Mnyika has resolved to table a private motion on the controversial bus terminal. Mr Mnyika told Corruption Tracker System, CTS, that his private motion seeking to call on all Dar es Salaam councillors to make it mandatory for the Controller and Auditor General’s (CAG) audit report on the UBT to be made public. He said there was a need to make the audit report public so that the truth on what has been going on at the UBT is known to all and legal steps are taken against those who have been using income generated by the UBT in lining up their pockets. Secondly, that all contracts reached between the UBT and other companies be reviewed with the express purpose of revoking those that do not benefit both the UBT and the government at large. The UBT was first brought under the management of Smart Holding Company, owned and operated by the family of veteran politician, Mr Kingunge Ngombale Mwiru. An audit report carried out by the CAG showed that UBT was losing 3,118,629m/- a day under Smart Holding Company, that brings the loss to 1,138,299,585 trn/-. The CAG further discovered that really income per day was 4,618,629 as opposed to 3,118,629m/-. After discovering the foregoing financial discrepancies, Kinondoni Municipal Council on October 30th 2010, replaced Smart Holding Company by entering into an agreement with Konsad Management Company, KMC. And under the new agreement, KMC was supposed to give Kinondoni Municipal Council 5,650,000m/- every day. Unfortunately, there have been days KMC has failed to pay the Council the day’s proceeds, once again reflecting lack of seriousness on the part of the management company. And as already noted by Mr Mnyika, the KMC’s failure to honour its scheduled payment reflects weaknesses in the contract entered into between the Council and the management company. The KMC is also accused of unilaterally increasing admission fees at the UBT. According to rules and regulations governing admission fees at the UBT, KMC can only alter such fees after being cleared by the city council. When KMC was pressed on the change of admission fees during the Dar es Salaam city mayor’s visit at the UBT on February 4th this year (2011), they denied although receipts indicated otherwise. Some of the questionable contracts entered into between Kinondoni Municipal Council and other institutions include a 14-year contract with Riki Hotel. The contract which expires on July 20th 2023 was signed two years after the hotel had already started operating at the UBT premises! Secondly, the contract was signed by the City Council Director contrary to existing regulations that require instead the City Mayor. And lastly, the Kinondoni Municipal Council failed to produce documents on how Riki Hotel was picked, meaning there was a problem in the hotel’s procurement procedures. Another questionable contract relate to that entered into between Kinondoni Municipal Council and Abood Bus Service According to the contract, Abood Bus Service was supposed to pay 500,000/- in rent in respect of 2070 square kilometers owned by UBT on which they were expected to put up a structure. One of the omissions in the foregoing contract was the absence of written evidence over payment of 44,220,660/- in construction cost, and secondly, absence of written evidence on rental contract. And as if that was not bad enough, Kinondoni Municipal Council failed to produce written evidence showing how Abood Bus Service was picked, once again reflecting inherent problems in procurement process. For according to the Public Procurement Act, a public corporation cannot give business to any bidder without adhering to the PPA Act 2004. It was also discovered that the UBT management changed rental arrangement from 6,000/- per 784.08 square ft to 5,000/-. What was more, the UBT management, deliberately altered the 6,000/- per 784.08 square ft in rent to 5,000/-, hence undercharging Clear Channel Company which deals with bill board advertisements. The UBT management’s decision was in contravention of the 1997 Dar es Salaam City Council’s financial regulations relating to renting of the council’s properties. Through the UBT management’s decision, it had ended up losing 3,920,420/- in successive years it managed UBT. Another private company that did not appear to have had a proper contract with the UBT management was the Scandinavian Bus Company that had a separate bus stand within the UBT compound. And because of the absence of such a contract, 236,486,400/- in rent were lost between September 2005 and May 2009.