Staff
Fresh cracks have emerged in the Shs68 billion Kanungu tea nursery compensation saga after beneficiaries accused lawyers and leaders of the nursery operators of denying deductions that they say were actually made from their payouts.
The dispute is laid out in a May 7, 2026 letter in which former Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka briefed President Museveni on complaints raised by tea nursery operators in Kanungu District over compensation paid under a court settlement.
Kiwanuka said the matter arose from two cases filed by nursery bed operators against NAADS, the Attorney General and Kanungu District Local Government over tea seedlings supplied under the Tea Development Project.
The claimants had sought about Shs157.17 billion, but government later settled the dispute through a consent judgment worth Shs69.27 billion.
According to the former Attorney General, government has already released Shs68.25 billion in instalments.
The letter states that under the consent judgment, all outstanding payments were to be deposited into an account designated by the claimants.
The account provided to government was Pathways Advocates’ led by Kiconco Patrick Katabazi Client Account in NCBA Bank, Nakasero Branch, and Kiwanuka says all payments were made through and Byaruhanga Frank
Dr. Francis Runumi
George Owakukiroru
Tumwesimira Caleb Kipande
Arineitwe Sam Kajolo
Tumushabe Julius
Kanyamunyu Julius
Rev. Byamugisha Bernard that account on the claimants’ instructions.
But the controversy now centres on what happened after the money was released.
Kiwanuka said his office wrote to Pathways Advocates of Kiconco Patrick Katabazi and other advocates on April 20 after concerns were raised that some of the funds due to nursery operators were being withheld. He added that a meeting was later held on April 29 with representatives of the nursery operators and their lawyers.
At that meeting, according to the former Attorney General, both the legal representatives and the operators’ leadership denied allegations that 30 percent had been deducted from beneficiaries’ money. They also submitted a list of nursery operators said to have already received payment.
That position has, however, been challenged by complaints from beneficiaries in Kanungu, some of whom insist they were charged before receiving their money.
Some of the beneficiaries now claim the deductions went beyond the 30 percent figure that had initially been raised, with fresh allegations suggesting that more than 40 percent was taken in certain cases.
The contradiction leaves a major gap between what was formally presented to the former Attorney General’s office in Kampala and what some beneficiaries on the ground say happened when the compensation was being distributed.
It also shifts scrutiny to the chain of payment after the funds left government hands and were deposited on the claimants’ designated account.
Kiwanuka says the matter has since been referred to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit together with the documents submitted by the claimants’ side, with further action expected to depend on the outcome of the investigations.
The inquiry is now expected to determine whether beneficiaries received the full amounts due to them, how much was deducted if any, and who authorized the charges now being disputed by those meant to benefit from the compensation.
