The State Minister for Privatization and Investment Evelyn Anite has confirmed that she traveled to Mauritius as earlier reported by this website.
Her confirmation is contained in a letter to the Inspector General of Government (IGG) Irene Mulyagonja.
In the letter, Anite argues that she traveled to Mauritius as part of the contingent of students on a three-month senior executive program- Africa run by Harvard Business School and the Harvard Business School and Gordon Institute of Business Science.
The letter dated August 19 seeks to respond to queries raised by a whistleblower citing influence peddling, abuse of office and fraud regarding the administration of Uganda Telecom Limited.
“I have seen various media reports that a whistleblower petitioned your office stating among other frivolous things that I inappropriately travelled to Mauritius last month. First, I am not banned from travelling to any Country in the world. I wonder why this would be of interest to anyone,” Anite writes in the letter.
She also defends her usage of government resources as she traveled to Mauritius.
“I traveled to Mauritius from August 4th to 11 2019 as part of a contingent of students on a 3 months Senior Executive program — Africa, run by the Harvard Business School and Gordon Institute of Business Science.
She adds: “The first segment of the program is structured in a way that some class days are spent at the Harvard Campus in Cambridge Massachusetts and other segment of class days were conducted in Mauritius. The second round of the program will be conducted in Cambridge at the Harvard Business School Campus in November later this year.”
Background
A letter by a whistleblower who petitioned the IGG to investigate Anite’s trip indicated the minister’s secret travel was aimed at irregularly sealing a deal for a UTL strategic investor.
The whistleblower noted that the minister left the country under the guise of going for her graduation in the US but later sneaked into Marutious via France to meet her preferred investor.
