KITEEZI HEIST! Ex-IGG Kamya Vindicated as Ghana ‘Investor’ Jospong Shady Landfill Deal Backed by Speaker Tayebwa Fails to Take Off After Duping M7

Nearly a year after explosive revelations about the controversial takeover of the Kiteezi landfill by Ghanaian firm Jospong Group of Companies, fresh information reaching Red Pepper Intelligence Unit indicates that the project has never taken off — raising even more serious questions about what really happened behind the scenes.

Sources familiar with the matter now say the company that was expected to revolutionize garbage management at Kiteezi has simply vanished from the scene, with no visible activity at the landfill and no progress toward the much-touted waste-to-fertilizer project.

“From the latest information I have just gotten, that company never took off,” a source close to the matter told Red Pepper. “Apparently from the research conducted it was a briefcase company.”

The update has only deepened suspicions that the deal approved by Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for Joseph Siaw Agyepong and his firm to take over the troubled Kiteezi landfill may have been built on shaky ground from the start.

As previously reported, Museveni approved Agyepong’s company — the Jospong Group of Companies — to manage the landfill following the devastating garbage collapse at Kiteezi that killed more than 30 people and displaced hundreds.

The firm had promised to deploy technology that would convert waste into fertilizer and recyclable materials, a proposal that was presented as a long-term solution to Kampala’s mounting garbage crisis.

But insiders now say the promised transformation never materialised.

Instead, sources claim the company spent months quietly searching for another investor to actually execute the project, approaching potential partners in the United States and Dubai in a bid to subcontract the work.

A whistleblower had earlier warned that Jospong lacked the capacity to implement the project and was merely acting as a middleman.

“Jespong lacks the capacity to execute such a project. His people lied to the President. They were actually brokers. After securing the President’s approval to take over the Kiteezi landfill they are now running around shopping for firms with capacity,” the whistleblower revealed at the time.

Now, with no visible activity at the landfill and no operational waste-processing facility in sight, critics say those warnings appear increasingly prophetic.

The stalled project also casts a long shadow over the earlier intervention by ex-IGG Beti Kamya, who had ordered the suspension of the Jospong deal amid concerns over how the contract had been awarded.

In a letter dated October 17, 2024, Kamya directed authorities to halt all dealings with the Ghanaian firm pending investigations into alleged irregularities.

“You are therefore directed to halt all transactions with Jospong Group of Companies who have been engaged to manage the Kiteezi landfill until this office completes investigations or issues further orders on the matter,” the letter stated.

The Inspectorate of Government had also raised questions about the procurement process, noting that Jospong was allegedly handpicked without going through the competitive bidding procedures required under the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.

Investigators also flagged several red flags, including the absence of a feasibility study, lack of an environmental impact assessment and uncertainty about whether the company actually possessed the technology needed to manage a project of such magnitude.

Another puzzling element was the company’s offer to run the landfill “at no cost to government,” a proposal that Kamya said raised serious questions.

“Jospong Group of Companies has offered to manage the Kiteezi landfill at no cost to the government. This raises questions since one wonders how the company will recoup returns on their investments,” the IGG letter noted.

Despite these concerns, promoters of the deal reportedly pushed ahead and secured a meeting with President Museveni, after which a directive was issued allowing the Ghanaian firm to proceed.

JESPONG LOCAL PROMOTERS

Some of Jespong Ugandan promoters who attended the meeting include Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs Ministers Minsa Kabanda and Kabuye Kyofatogabye, former Ag KCCA ED Frank Rusa and one Ssebagala.

Others include Obed Lutakome who is KCCA’s former land-fill management officer (who ironically should have warned the government before the Kiteezi disaster struck).

But together with other two partners, he now owns a firm housed at Fontis Residences Hotel-Nakasero, Kampala which was partnering with Jespong to take over the Kiteezi landfill privately.

“Obed Lutakome was formerly land-fill management officer at KCCA. He should have warned the government about the Kiteezi situation but he didn’t! He should be now in court with the Kisaka’s but he is a free man. He is now coming back to privately takeover Kiteezi with Jespong through a private partnership. Who bewitched Uganda for sure?” the whistleblower expressed concern then.

We are also told that the Deputy Speaker of Parliament who is among the local promoters of Jespong in Uganda is not happy about these new developments.

The name of Hussein Akandwanaho also featured prominently among the local promoters of Jespong. This publication could not independently verify if this Akandwanaho is by any chance biologically linked to Gen. Salim Saleh Akandwanaho.

But available information indicates that Hussein recently swore an affidavit to adopt ‘Akandwanaho’ name.

Bismark Nortei Annoo, the honorary consul for the Republic of Ghana in Kampala, Uganda is also among key promoters of Jespong in Kampala.

But today, with the project still dormant and no investor stepping forward to implement the plan, observers are questioning whether the entire proposal was ever viable.

Several local figures who were earlier linked to the project’s promotion have also remained silent as the controversy drags on.

The Ghanaian firm itself has not publicly explained why the promised operations — which were expected to start as early as March 2025 — never materialised.

Red Pepper has reached out to Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for an official comment on the status of the Kiteezi landfill project and the role of Jospong Group in the arrangement.

By press time, KCCA had not yet responded to our inquiries.

With the landfill crisis still unresolved and the once-celebrated investor nowhere in sight, the Kiteezi saga now raises even bigger questions:

Was Uganda sold a grand waste-management dream by a company that never had the capacity to deliver?

Or was the project quietly abandoned before the public could notice?

For now, the silence from those involved is only fueling suspicion.

Watch this space!

JESPONG CORRUPTION SCANDALS

There have been many scandals and corruption allegations levelled against Jespong.In 2013 an investigation into massive corruption in the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) led to the cancellation of all contracts under the programme. It also led to reforms which culminated into the passage of the Youth Employment Agency Law.
The main companies that were indicted in the GYEEDA scandal were those from the Jospong Group of Companies owned by Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong and the AGAMS Group owned by Roland Agambire.

The exposé also revealed and catalogued questionable contracts with various metropolitan and municipal assemblies.

The report exposed how a waste bin contract awarded on sole sourcing basis to the JOSPONG Group was inflated by at least GHC130 million.

Another report revealed how a GHC98 million contract was awarded to 11 companies under the Jospong group to undertake fumigation exercise across the country when Zoomlion Ghana Limited, the parent company of Jospong had already been paid to undertake the same fumigation.

In 2013 the World Bank banned Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Jespong’s  waste management services firm and its affiliate companies from bidding for the Bank’s contracts because Zoomlion “paid bribes to facilitate contract execution and processing of invoices” in Liberia.

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