WHY ARE THEY BLOCKING PACEID BILLIONS: PLU Demands a Freeze on UGX52Bn Payment to Odrek Rwabwogo As Gen Muhoozi Escalates Scrutiny of PACEID’s Legal And Financial Affairs

The Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) has stepped up its confrontation with the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), demanding that the government halt an alleged US$14 million payment linked to its chairman, Odrek Rwabwogo. The demand has added a new and potentially explosive dimension to the increasingly public dispute over PACEID’s legal status, access to public funds, accountability and the authority under which it operates.

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 said he was conveying a position from Gen Kainerugaba, who recently described PACEID as an illegal entity and questioned the legal basis for its operations.

Kabanda Questions PACEID’s Legal Status

According to Kabanda, President Yoweri Museveni has constitutional authority to establish, abolish or merge government departments and agencies, but such institutions must operate within an appropriate legal and administrative framework. He questioned where PACEID fits into that framework, particularly in relation to staffing, financing, accounting and reporting.

“The country needs to know who appointed him as the chairman of PACEID,” Kabanda said. He also questioned who serves as the committee’s accounting officer, who recruited its employees, who pays for its offices and to which government institution PACEID submits its financial accountability. Kabanda argued that Rwabwogo’s appointment as a senior presidential adviser on special duties did not, by itself, create an independent government organisation with powers to recruit staff and administer public resources outside established government structures.

He cited other presidential initiatives, including the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, arguing that even such entities operate through defined government procedures governing appointments, recruitment and accountability.

Trade Envoys Row

Kabanda also challenged PACEID’s involvement in the appointment or deployment of trade envoys. He argued that Uganda already has a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic missions responsible for the country’s external relations. In his view, any specialised commercial or trade appointments should therefore be handled through established government structures rather than a presidential advisory committee whose legal status is now being contested. The argument has widened the dispute from questions about PACEID’s performance to a broader debate over the boundaries between presidential initiatives and formally established government institutions.

$14 Million Payment Under Spotlight

The most serious allegation, however, concerns the claimed US$14 million payment. Kabanda alleged that Rwabwogo is in line to receive the money from the Ugandan government over a transaction involving the supply of helicopters, spare parts and other materials to South Sudan.

He questioned why Uganda’s Treasury would be required to settle the alleged bill if the supplies were made to the South Sudanese 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 asked. He further linked the claim to Thomas Farm Company Limited, a Ugandan company he said is associated with Rwabwogo.

Kabanda questioned how a company whose registered activities he described as being related to milk could become involved in a transaction involving helicopters and supplies to the South Sudan government. He claimed that information reaching PLU indicated that the Ministry of Finance was preparing to make the payment and called for the transaction to be stopped.

The alleged amount, if confirmed, would be worth more than Shs50 billion and would therefore raise significant public-finance and accountability questions. However, the US$14 million claim, the contractual arrangements surrounding the alleged helicopter supply and the basis upon which Uganda would be responsible for settling the bill had not been independently established from the information available for this report.

South Sudan Grain Supply Dispute

The latest allegations have been linked by PLU to an older dispute involving Ugandan companies that supplied food to South Sudan during the country’s civil conflict. In 2018, Parliament recommended that the government pay about US$41 million in outstanding arrears to 10 Ugandan companies that had supplied maize and sorghum to South Sudan.

The companies, operating under the Uganda South Sudan Grain Traders and Suppliers Association Limited, reportedly supplied maize and sorghum to 10 South Sudan states under the Strategic Grain Reserves Suppliers arrangement. The supplies, valued at about US$56 million, were made between 2008 and 2010, with payment reportedly expected in five instalments. It is against this background that PLU has raised questions about the alleged helicopter-related claim.

Kabanda said records available to his organisation indicated that Thomas Farm Limited was not among the original 10 beneficiaries of the grain-supply arrangement, yet Rwabwogo’s company later claimed to have supplied helicopters and spare parts during the same period. PLU now wants the government to establish the contractual basis of that claim before any payment is made.

Rwabwogo Rejects Allegations

Rwabwogo has dismissed the accusations and mounted a strong defence of PACEID and its mandate. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, he said PACEID 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 on May 25 of the same year.

He argued that its mandate could only be terminated by the President, who created it, and said President Museveni had told him that no directive terminating PACEID had been issued. Rwabwogo maintained that the organisation has been carrying out legitimate government work aimed at increasing Uganda’s export earnings and strengthening the country’s industrial base.

PACEID Defends Its Achievements

Rwabwogo said PACEID has focused on improving food safety and export compliance, negotiating transport and infrastructure arrangements and facilitating affordable financing for companies with confirmed export orders. He claimed the committee had surpassed its initial target of generating US$6 billion in exports. According to Rwabwogo, Uganda’s exports have risen from about US$4.5 billion after the Covid-19 pandemic to approximately US$13 billion.

He said PACEID was now moving into a second phase that would focus on establishing aggregation, cooling and drying centres across 18 zones. The centres, he said, are intended to address supply constraints affecting Ugandan exporters and improve the country’s ability to meet international market requirements.

Rwabwogo warned that uncertainty surrounding government institutions and their mandates could undermine investor confidence. He said PACEID wanted to reassure both domestic and international partners that Uganda’s markets remained open and that its commitments to investors and exporters remained intact.

Rwabwogo’s Private Interests Dragged Into Fight

The confrontation has also spilled into allegations concerning Rwabwogo’s private business interests. Kabanda revived claims surrounding land at Nshaara in Kiruhura District, alleging that Rwabwogo initially introduced a Chinese company to President Museveni for a proposed beef-processing project. He alleged that after the project failed to materialise, Rwabwogo acquired interests in the land and that the titles were subsequently changed. Kabanda further alleged that the property is now being used for grazing.

Those allegations have not been established through a court judgment or official finding and would require verification from land records and the parties involved. Kabanda also criticised Rwabwogo over what he described as involvement in several sectors, including coffee, milk, media and other businesses, alongside his position as a presidential adviser.

Bagonza Detention Adds to Tension

The dispute has been further complicated by reports concerning Matthew Bagonza, the head of the PACEID secretariat and an associate of Rwabwogo. Reports indicated that security personnel picked up Bagonza from his home. However, details surrounding his reported detention, including the circumstances of his arrest and whether he had been formally charged, had not been fully established in public statements. The development has heightened concerns among Rwabwogo’s supporters over what they describe as an escalating campaign against PACEID and its officials.

Muhoozi-Rwabwogo Clash Deepens

Gen Kainerugaba’s intervention has transformed what might initially have been viewed as an administrative disagreement into a high-level political confrontation involving influential figures within the ruling establishment. Kainerugaba, who is also Chief of Defence Forces and Senior Presidential Adviser on Special Operations, has accused PACEID of corruption and threatened arrests of individuals he says are involved in wrongdoing.

He has also criticised media organisations for providing PACEID officials with platforms to respond to the allegations. Rwabwogo, who is married to President Museveni’s daughter, has publicly defended himself and PACEID, insisting that the organisation has a legitimate presidential mandate and has delivered results in Uganda’s export sector.

Bigger Questions Over Public Money

At the centre of the controversy is a wider question about how presidential initiatives should be established, financed and supervised. PACEID was created to promote Uganda’s exports, industrial development, investment and value addition. Its activities have included efforts to address barriers facing exporters, promote Ugandan products abroad and facilitate investment.

But PLU now wants government to suspend dealings with the organisation until its legal foundation and financial accountability are clarified. The alleged US$14 million payment has raised the stakes even further because it potentially involves public money on a scale that demands documentary evidence and a clear contractual trail. For now, the competing claims remain sharply divided.

PLU insists that the government must first establish the legal and financial basis of PACEID and any payments connected to Rwabwogo. Rwabwogo, meanwhile, maintains that PACEID is a legitimate presidential initiative that has delivered measurable results and says uncertainty over its status risks damaging Uganda’s export ambitions and investor confidence.

The unfolding dispute is therefore no longer simply a quarrel over the mandate of a presidential advisory committee. It has become a broader contest over presidential authority, public finance, institutional accountability and the role of powerful individuals operating within Uganda’s government system.

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Charles Gazza Kodili: Charles Gazza Kodili is a seasoned journalist with over 20 years of experience in the media industry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication. He’s currently the Chief Editor at the Investigator.
Charles can also be reached via; Tel: +256 774 108978
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