King Ceaser Mulenga’s Gemtel Telecom Company’s operations in South Sudan have hit a snag prompting the Ugandan tycoon to approach “powers that be”. Unfortunately, his approach for support has been in vain.
In 2006, King Ceaser, the I-Telecom’s CEO and the then proprietor of Gemtel, secured a franchise from Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL) to use its national code (+256) in South Sudan.
This deal was variously questioned by Members of Parliament especially because there was no known agreement between the two governments of South Sudan and Uganda. The implication is that Uganda lost millions of shillings for usage of the code without paying direct taxes to the government.
Whereas Mulenga repeatedly claimed that his Company was remitting 50,000 dollars to UTL monthly, the operations of Gemtel remained shrouded in mystery.
Intelligence report shows that Mulenga was able to pull off this feat with the aid of two powerful Ministers at the time, who were actually part of Gemtel Directorate.
Intel further indicates that in 2010, Gemtel sold 80% of its shares to a Libyan Arab Investment Portfolio (LAP) Green Networks.
Soon, Mulenga allegedly pocketed most of the proceeds from this sale, cheating the two Ministers and other high ranking officials in government who facilitated the initial. These sidelined top government officials are up to date very disgruntled.
Interestingly, the Operations License that the South Sudan government eventually gave to Libyan owned Gemtel is up for renewal – requiring the assent of all the directors. (Remember the original Gemtel Directors remained with 20% of the shares).
Mulenga is said to be in a fix. For renewal to take place, all the directors have to append their signatures and yet he cheated his colleagues at the time of selling Gemtel to the Libyans. The other two former ministers are demanding their share before they can sign for renewal of the operations license.
Mulenga, according to sources, has opted to contest for the position of Chairman NRM National Entrepreneurs League in order to get direct access to the most powerful offices in the land to help him find ways of renewing the operations of Gemtel in South Sudan.
Just in case he fails to have the operations license renewed, the Libyans may have no option but to drag him to court with drastic financial implications that will see Mulenga lose billions of shillings.
“This is a result of him cheating the two powerful ministers who helped him when he eventually sold Gemtel to the Libyans in 2010,” says a source privy to the transactions.
This has also portrayed him as a go-getter who is unscrupulous and untrustworthy, the source added. “The reason he is paying each delegate shs3m to get him elected at all costs.”
The pertinent question senior NRM cadres are asking is whether the NRM delegates will be swayed by the hefty cash hand-outs to entrust a man already seen as untrustworthy with the sensitive CEC position come August 25, 2025.
“Mulenga who moves by chopper is giving between shs3m to shs5m to each delegate
Why would he be so desperate to this extent?” asked a concerned NRM cadre.
It is also an issue raised by NRM’s Secretary General, Hon. Richard Todwong while meeting CEC aspirants early this week.
Todwong warned that some CEC aspirants have a lot of money and are using it to influence the elections. “Please, don’t use your money to destroy NRM,” Todwong warned.
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