The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has awarded the concession to run treks in Rwenzori Mountains National Park to ARTMC, a consortium including a local NGO and two companies registered dubiously. AfrikAlpine and Top Trek are part of the consortium that was on July 4 awarded the 10-year concession that is likely to yield $1.5m (Shs. 2.6bn) a year. The two companies were allegedly imposed on the local NGO, Rwenzori Mountaineering Services (RMS), without consulting its members.

According to documents provided by the Registrar of Companies, when AfrikAlpine and Top Trekk were officially formed as limited companies, both on March 13, 2001, the same unidentified person apparently signed for Top Trekk co-owners Jesper Feidler and Vivian Craddock Williams and AfrikAlpine co-owners Paul Tremmel and Gerald Kakuba in each company's memorandum and articles of association.

"I'm not a handwriting expert, but it is quite obvious that these four signatures are from the same person," a commercial lawyer in town said, when shown these documents. He added that if the signatures were made by the same person, these two companies should be struck from the Registrar.

Kakuba's seal is on the memorandum and articles of association of both companies. The commercial lawyer added that it was professionally unethical for Kakuba to act as commissioner of oaths for a company he co-owned.

Gerald Kakuba is an advocate to the courts and counsel to UWA Board member Zahid Alam. Alam is the director of Inns of Uganda, which owns Jacana Lodge at Queen Elizabeth National Park, a short drive from the Rwenzoris.

Kakuba said that Alam approached him and asked him to help float AfrikAlpine because they needed a local contact. Kakuba originally put up Shs. 1m to purchase 50 percent of AfrikAlpine, but says he has since sold those shares to AfrikAlpine operations manager Claus Dettelbacher. However, Dettelbacher told these reporters that the sale has not yet occurred.

Tremmel lists his address in the above-mentioned documents as P.O. Box 4641, Kampala. The Alam Group of companies, and Zahid Alam himself, are listed at that same address in the 2001 Monitor Business Directory. Mr. Alam said he would not comment at this time.

"You can't have companies, floated by the same lawyer, on the same day, being awarded the same concession," Godber Tumushabe, director of Advocates Coalition on Development and Envionment (ACODE), told these reporters when shown the documents. "Opening up the internal affairs of agencies reduces the risk of fraud."

Because RMS is still registered as an NGO and as such is bound by its constitution, any proposal for major organizational policy changes must be referred to the general assembly. The last general assembly was called in March, and there were not enough members present to satisfy quorum. The next meeting is scheduled for October, over two months after ARTMC will start operating treks in the Rwenzoris. RMS non-management members have received no official word about the terms of the merger or that lawyers are currently working to convert RMS from an NGO to a limited company.

Immediately after getting the concession July 2, the consortium increased the charges of visiting the park by more than 100 percent, from $350 to $900 (Approx. Shs. 600,000 to Shs. 1.6m). This has led to an outcry among local tour operators (See Tourists Cancel as Rwenzori Charges Rise by Over 100%, The Monitor, July 10).

ARTMC has also been linked to Joan Kamya, wife of the Uganda Tourist Board boss and owner of the tour firm, Let's Go Travel. ARTMC directed tour operators to pay the new fees on the Let's Go Travel account.

Read the details of the irregular award in tomorrow's The Monitor. David and Carl are freelance journalists from the USA.