The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development Permanent Secretary, Dr. Stephen Ishabalija has been suspended and removed from President Museveni’s delegation to Equatorial Guinea.
State House officials on Museveni’s advance team to Equatorial Guinea for a crucial oil related trip were startled on Wednesday by the news that Dr. Isabalija, who had been on the list, had been relieved of his duties.
“He was stopped from joining the rest to Malabo (Equatorial Guinea capital),” a source at State House said.
In the evening, the source told us, the President ordered for the letter firing Mr Isabalija to be printed.
The 41 year old was appointed the technical head of the energy ministry in November last year and had been on the job for 9 months.
Museveni is traveling to Equatorial Guinea, the third largest oil producing country in Africa and a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), for 4 days official visit. Museveni is a longtime friend of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
ChimpReports understands that a number of accusations have been made against the Permanent Secretary in the line of his duty. The major trouble according to sources stemmed from the Shs 2.5tn Kiba dam project situated in Nwoya district along the River Nile.
Dr. Ishabalija in July terminated the contract of China Africa Investment and Development Company (CAID) for delay in the project that contravenes the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the firm and the government of Uganda.
The departing PS also had challenges in Karuma dam project and his move to suspend officials from Rural Electrification Authority similarly backfired.