In a startling change of events, a pharmaceutical medication and mRNA vaccine manufacturing plant in Kigogwa, Matugga, in Wakiso District, commissioned by President Museveni in 2020, has been put up for sale over debts. The facility is valued at roughly $500 million (approximately shs1.8trillion).
The company, now known as Dei Biopharma Limited but formerly Dei Natural Products International Limited, is responsible for the debt because it took out a loan.
“We have been duly instructed by our client, a financial institution which is the registered mortgagee to advertise and sale by public auction in order to recover the outstanding loan balance, our fees, and other costs,” the statement read. “Our client is the registered mortgagee.” An advertisement that was published by Kaweesi and Partners Advocates on September 14 says, in part, “The owner/owners are hereby notified that unless full payment to our client is effected within 30 days from the date of this advert, the property shall be disposed of to recover our client’s money.” This information was included in the advertisement.
According to the advertisement, the facility may be found in an industrial zone in the neighborhood of Matugga in the district of Wakiso.
It is reported that the company borrowed money from two local banks in addition to the Uganda Development Bank to finance the building and importation of high-tech medical equipment and machines, as well as working capital assistance; however, the company has not repaid the money since it was borrowed.
The remaining real estate is currently available for purchase.
In the advertisement, the corporation is offering several other properties it owns for sale. These properties include a wheat milling factory in Luzira, a hospital in Kitende, residential residences in Muyenga, commercial property at Seguku, and a weighbridge station.
There were three launches from the plant.
On June 3, 2020, President Museveni officially started operations with Dei BioPharma. However, a few years later, the facility had not begun production, citing inadequate structural planning.
In 2021, President Museveni paid the facility a second visit and helped inaugurate it alongside his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto. Both leaders lauded Uganda’s ability to participate in the pathogenic economy during their time there.
According to Museveni, Africa is undergoing a revolution, and the continent is unparalleled in terms of biodiversity.
“Pharmaceutical companies are in the ideal position to take advantage of this opportunity. My job is to get you up to speed on the new approach while bringing together the best aspects of the classic approach. A member of our scientific staff named Professor Ogwang is now working on something for Corona, but it is not his; it is for the community. There is a really large number of items here. We are only beginning to scrape the surface of the medicinal potential of plants. There is a great deal of medicine in them. “It couldn’t have come at a better time or in a more convenient location,” he added.
According to Deputy Prime Minister William Ruto, the investment is important for three primary reasons: Magoola, the man responsible for the multibillion-dollar investment, is an East African and a Ugandan.
“In the normal course of events, financial transactions of this magnitude have white faces. People from North America and Europe are typically the ones who participate in these types of ventures. I want to offer my congratulations to Magoola. As an East African, we are incredibly proud of you since the language you use to talk about billions of dollars is currently being domesticated on our continent. He continued, “It is new, but we have champions like you who are daring to walk the journey to invest in the space and magnitude we have witnessed.” Although new, he said, “We have champions like you who dare walk the journey.”
At the ceremony were present, among others, the Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng; the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Monica Musenero; the Minister of State for Industry, David Bahati; the World Health Organization country representative Yonas Tegega Woldemariam, the Dei Bio Pharmacy chairman Managing Director Mathias Magoola, the Dei group Director Kellen Magoola, and the USA advisor Food and Drug Authority Professor Sarfaraz Niaz.
The facility was officially opened by President Museveni once more on October 20 of the previous year.
Takes a firm stance against those who are irritating The Magoola
Museveni referred to Magoola as a “fighter” at the third event of the commissioning ceremony. He asserted that some were determined to make Magoola’s life difficult.
I pay my respects to Magoola. He did not flee even his life being. He is a fierce competitor. Once more, a fresh war broke out between him and the Indians he allied with in the last conflict. They were dishonest with him. Because this is an act of national resistance, I want to salute Magoola, his family, and his colleagues. We put up a fight and keep moving forward. Now, Magoola was forced to engage in combat. Neocolonialist puppets will stand in the way of every African who aspires to accomplish something significant. Museveni stated that people in Uganda do not recognize the significance of essential things.
On December 15, 2022, only two months after Museveni commissioned it, Magoola’s property was put up for sale so it might be sold.
Both the New Vision and the Daily Monitor published advertisements announcing the impending sale of the land; however, it is unknown what transpired after the advertisements were published.
At the beginning of this year, the Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija, stated that the government was prepared to save Magoola.
Kasaijja, who did not divulge the necessary amount, stated that the government “must co-invest with Magoola because he is doing a wonderful job.”
The government then sent out a group of approximately ten ministers with the mission of touring the facility and compiling a report on whether or not it would be possible for the government to invest.
Magoola informed the visiting ministers that he needed at least $600 million to complete the task at hand, and he said that in five years, Uganda would have recouped $5 billion from revenues alone. Magoola’s comments were made in front of the visiting ministers.
After informing the August House’s budget committee that he required $1 billion (about 3.7 trillion), he requested that Parliament commit shs70 billion (approximately 3.7 trillion) from this financial year’s budget to Dei Pharma Limited for the plant at the beginning of this year.
This transpired during demonstrations spearheaded by opposition legislators Muwanga Kivumbi and Ssemujju Nganda, who warned the administration that it was being taken advantage of.
“We contend that the consolidated fund should not be used as a lender for any notion that cannot be banked. There are numerous different methods by which the government can help those initiatives if it determines they are feasible and worthy of support. For example, that money should be transferred through the Uganda Development Bank, or the government can purchase shares in those businesses, Muwanga suggested.
A magnet for scandals?
When the Covid epidemic was at its height, a little-known businessman named Magoola made news when he introduced an investor who claimed to have pharmaceuticals that could treat the fatal Coronavirus. Many analysts have come to investigate the character of Magnolia. Magnolia was a man who created headlines.
Since then, he has earned a reputation for focusing equally on flamboyance and scandal in his reportage.
Magnolia is rumored to have more wealth than Uganda’s most successful business magnates because he always drives the most up-to-date vehicle in town. However, one thing—a scandal—continues to be linked to his unusual lifestyle.
Magoola walks and smells like scandal, but many people have vouched for him, including President Museveni, who devoted a State of the Nation Address in 2021 to his favor. Additionally, former Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga would hold his name high for everyone to see, even in the dying embers of a village fire. Magoola is a man who walks and smells like scandal, but many people have vouched for him.
But as the adage goes, “There is no smoke without fire.” Magoola has been portrayed as someone trouble finds seated and rests on his lap. Still, he is a damned Christian, and his values include remaining silent during it all and enduring persecution without receiving any advantage.
“People are fighting him, people are fighting him” is the involuntary proof that has slipped the lips of both Museveni and Kadaga at all intervals, but is that all that has been said about it?
The controversies
The first sign of trouble for Magoola was when a large sum of money suddenly appeared in his bank accounts. When the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) discovered the sudden influx of cash, they demanded an explanation from Magnolia.
Magoola allegedly caused his “wonderful efforts” to be frustrated by letting out the dogs of war on the officials of FIA by using his access to power to do so. This led to his dismissal from his position.
Magnolia entered into a contract with Mutoni construction company for Shs9.6 billion when he began the project at Matugga; however, just a few months into the project, the two parties were in court over failure to pay the agreed-upon amount.
Contractors working for Mutoni claimed that Magoola gave them the runaround over their payment of 4,000,000,000 shillings.
Magoola counterargued that Mutoni constructors were implicated in a breach of contractual obligations and, as a result, were no longer worth a cent. He ignored the Mutoni constructors’ complaints and the political kerfuffle that was going on.
Magnolia is also involved in a legal battle with Isaac Musumba, a former minister, over a disagreement of 268 billion shillings.
Musumba had represented Dei Minerals International in a legal dispute, and Dei Minerals International’s clients had demanded damages of US$241 million (about shs700 billion).
According to the paperwork, Magoola is obligated to pay Musumba shs268 billion as 30% of the agreed-upon payment that he and his Dei Minerals International firm are anticipated to acquire from the UK-Indian company Videocon Industries Ltd as compensation for breach of contract. The money is expected to come from Videocon Industries Ltd.
