MTN Uganda, the biggest telecoms operator in the East African country, currently faces questioning from the country’s authority over allegations of falsifying sales figures to avoid its full obligation to the country.
According to reports on Reuters, the alleged action further deteriorates the sour relationship between the South-African firm and the Ugandan government which has in the past weeks deported four MTN officials – with the expulsion of MTN Uganda’s Chief Executive Wim Vanhelleputte last week as the most recent of such action.
The government had cited the compromise of national security as reason for the measures taken against the MTN officials.
However, MTN Uganda’s spokeswoman Justina Ntabgoba claimed that the government had not given them any detailed information to support its claim.
“We have not gotten any official communication, so we don’t have a response. Once we receive an official communication then we can respond,” she said.
South African Paper Daily Maverick claimed that a “bitter rivalry between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame seems to lie behind the deportation of MTN’s Ugandan CEO and other top company executives over the past month”.
However, the tussle with the telecommunications giant may not be unrelated to desires by the government to keep within borders the profit MTN makes in Uganda as over the years, MTN has been reportedly under pressure to list on the domestic exchange of the country.
Just recently, MTN Nigeria ran afoul of Nigeria’s apex bank on account of repatriating some $8 billion outside of the right channel.
MTN, however, settled with the Central Bank of Nigeria and is expected to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange later this year.
For Uganda, which accounts for 4 percent of MTN Group’s earnings, the government claims to have a handle on the transactions of the telco and has made direct and indirect accusations of MTN trying to cheat the government out of its tax obligations.
“It is as a result of that technical capacity that MTN and its officials have run afoul,” government spokesman Ofwono Opondo was quoted as telling Reuters.
“They have been found that in some instances they have not been making full declarations of transactions which constitutes undermining Uganda’s economy,” Opondo said.
SEGUN ADAMS
