NAGRC denies ordering purchase of shs7bn semen stuck at Entebbe airport

The National Animal Genetics Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC & DB) has denied reports they ordered for purchase of semen worth seven billion shillings.

A few weeks ago, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema raided NAGRC headquarters in Entebbe to investigate shs7.3 billion semen which had allegedly been procured from Italy and for many months is still being kept at Entebbe Airport after the organization declined to accept it.

NAGRC has a Memorandum of Understanding with Inseme SPA, an Italian company to supply semen.

Speaking on Wednesday, the NAGRC Executive Director, Dr. Charles Lagu said they have never ordered for that semen that he said was brought to be dumped into the country by the Italian company.

“We have never ordered for that semen. The Italian company used the opportunity that we have a Memorandum of Understanding to bring dead semen and dump it here. They took advantage of this relationship to dump the semen here but our technical team refused it,” Lagu said.

“We have written to Uganda Revenue Authority to show that we have never ordered for the semen and it should be returned to where it came from.”

The NAGRC Executive Director insisted the Italian company wanted to dump the semen in Uganda but said they will never accept it.

He said that because they have never ordered for the semen, it is still stuck at Entebbe Airport as the Italian company that wanted to dump it is pondering taking it back .

The NAGRC board director, Dr.Johnson Nkuuhe, however, blasted the State House Anti-Corruption Unit for carrying out their investigations in the open, saying they will not achieve anything.

He said that is not the way investigations should be conducted, noting that few witnesses can testify in such a scenario.

“The manner in which it was conducted was not good. You cannot do it in the open like a kangaroo court or else the results will not be good. Only workers who don’t value their jobs will talk in such an open procedure and those who value their jobs cannot talk,”Nkuuhe said.

This website has however independently learnt that the whistleblower about the semen worth shs.7.3 billion stuck at Entebbe Airport was among some of the NAGRC staff whose contracts recently expired but had fraudulently engineered the procurement of the semen for their selfish gains.

It is also reported that when officials led by the NAGRC Executive Director refused to accept the semen, the said whistleblower run to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to report the same so as to force the government body take it despite not ordering for it.

According to a September 26, 2019 letter, NAGRC Executive Director, Dr.Charles Lagu wrote to the Inseme SPA , Italy Chief Executive Officer, Dr.Camillo Cannizaro informing him that they have never ordered for the said semen.

“We have been informed that you shipped semen to the National Animal Genetics Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC & DB) without prior notice or without any order of notice from NAGRC,” the letter reads in part.

“Apart from transactions made earlier, and more recently by Buwagi Agro Traders Limited, we have not yet expressed interest for semen in quantities sent by your team. According to the Ugandan laws, dumping is not acceptable. There must be a willing buyer and a willing seller. In this case, there was a willing seller (Inseme) and no willing buyer.”

About NAGRC

National Animal Genetics Resources Centre and Data Bank, (NAGRC&DB) is a body corporate under the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries whose mandate is to take a leading role in establishing a comprehensive national animal breeding programme.