Attorney, and Mr. Bichachi Ojiambo, State Attorney represented the
Respondent.
C. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
5. At a time when in Uganda access to the treatment of HIV/AIDS was
almost impossible to the poor and malaria was at its peak, the
Government
of
Uganda
(the
“Government”)
conceived
the
establishment of a pharmaceutical factory to manufacture drugs to
treat illnesses in that country. Therefore, the Government and QCIL,
a Private Limited Company incorporated in accordance with Ugandan
Laws and Regulations, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (The
“MoU”) on 14th December, 2005, under which the off-take purchase
of Antiretroviral (“ARVs”) and anti-malaria drugs from QCIL by the
Government was guaranteed until 2019. A guarantee to QCIL was
also issued on the same date and both the MoU and the Guarantee
provided that QCIL shall construct a pharmaceutical drugs and
products factory which shall carry out the manufacture of ARVs and
Anti malaria drugs.
6. The MoU provided that the Government shall purchase the drugs from
the QCIL Plant in Uganda before the construction of the factory was
completed and the drugs manufactured. Moreover, it was agreed that
the prices of those drugs would be equal to or less than the prices
provided in a joint UNICEF-UNAID-WHO-MSF Project.
7. Prior to the completion of the construction of the aforesaid factory in
2007, the Applicant alleged that he discovered that the Government,
through the National Medical Stores had procured drugs from QCIL
imported from India and which were at an unjustified 15% mark-up of
international prices and that this act had caused a financial loss of
Reference No. 5 of 2013
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