Museveni will do everything to protect his pigs

While presiding over the anti-corruption day held at Kololo grounds in Kampala on December 9, Museveni stunned Ugandans when he publicly warned the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms. Beti Kamya, to “go slow” on corrupt officials rest she scares them to invest their stolen money abroad.

“We are still lucky that our corrupt people are corrupt here, they steal the money, and put it here, you see a five-star hotel from corruption. Now if you only concentrate on the lifestyle, then they will take the money out and you will have no evidence here,” Museveni said, to the amazement of the audience!  

Museveni said that the money being stolen is mainly government money and the country will have a problem if the corrupt officials start investing abroad.

Museveni’s maverick reasoning on how to fight corruption, came in response to the IGG’s launch of the lifestyle audit campaign, which he officiated and signed as Head of State. 

In her presentation, the IGG said that there is a public outcry, to arrest some “big fish” and her team is determined to bring them to book through this campaign.

“The public outcry is that we catch the big fish, they say ‘catch us some big fish’. The truth is the big fish are so slippery, they don’t sign anywhere, this is why we are promoting the lifestyle campaign,” Kamya added.

In December 2019, when Museveni took part in a march against corruption, many Ugandans dismissed the act as a mere publicity stunt.

Transparency International in its 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index, ranked Uganda among the most corrupt countries in the world (137th out of 180). The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance rates Uganda worse than average among African countries, while, Global Integrity report 2006, estimated that more than half of Uganda’s annual budget is lost to corruption each year, amounting to US $950 million. Fifteen years later, the level of corruption has increased.  

Does Kamya know the power of the pigs?

Just like in George Orwell’s 1945 novel, the Animal Farm, the pigs controlled the government and passed a commandment that, “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Museveni has also created his own breed of pigs in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government who are untouchable. Corruption is institutionalized under Museveni’s watch.

However much evidence on corrupt officials that can be provided, Museveni will simply look aside. In fact, the majority of corrupt people in Uganda are his family members and his inner circle.  So, Kamya, with all her good intentions to fight corruption, will not achieve much so long as Museveni is the one protecting the big fish she wants to name and shame.

When Museveni tells Ugandans that corrupt officials invest in Uganda by building five-star hotels, it is like encouraging others to steal.

Again, by saying that the officials steal government money, Museveni is implying it’s okay to steal from the government, yet he allows himself to forget that government money comes from the sweat of ordinary Ugandan tax payers!

In a story first published by the Monitor on June 7, 2018, and re-published on January 12, Beti Kamya’s predecessor, Justice Irene Mulyagonja, revealed that the most corrupt government officials are “hiding behind” the back of Museveni and use their connection to the Head of State to defeat or escape justice.

The former IGG further said that the corrupt are powerful and whenever she attempts to pursue them they fight back and they often win the fight. Museveni himself started fighting the IGG and voices behind Museveni started murmuring that she should resign. When Justice Mulyagonja was under pressure from the pigs and their boss to resign, she insisted that despite the frustrations in trying to catch the “powerful thieves,” she will not resign but serve her full term.

In what was seen as an attempt to provide a cover to corrupt officials from facing the wrath of the IGG, Museveni announced the creation of a parallel anti-corruption body headed by former Secretary General of Uganda National Teachers Union, Mr. James Tweheyo. Museveni’s own NRM top official was not happy about the move. The Secretary General of the NRM then, Ms Justine Kasule Lumumba, expressed   skepticism on Museveni’s creation of a new anti-corruption unit.

“If every ministry will have an alternative unit in State House, will he then close the ministries? Personally, the IGG is doing a good work and I think they have challenges that need to be addressed. The President should hear her out. I do not support the President putting up a parallel structure because it will hinder her work,” Ms Lumumba observed.

In almost all mega corruption scandals in Uganda you will not fail to trace the hand of Museveni and his family, especially his brother, Gen Salim saleh, former foreign affairs minister, Sam Kutesa, Gen. Jim Muhwezi, Kahinda Otafire, daughter in-law, Charlotte Nankunda Keinerugaba, Ishta Asiimwe Kutesa, and  many more.

In an article published by the Observer titled, “Museveni is enjoying corruption, reason he won’t leave”, (June 9, 2021), the author, Kakwenzire Rukirabashaija points out that, Museveni,  “Himself, family members and close associates have been named in mouth gaping scandalous corruption syndicates - domestic and international.

“A recent foreign one is where he and Sam Kutesa were marked as exhibits 1510 and 1504 respectively in the U.S. Courts during the trial and indictment of a Chinese investor, Patrick Ho. Since he says that corruption is caused by poverty pressure, are they poor?”

The IGG is meant to appease the international community that there is an institution by name meant to fight corruption, yet its hands are tied. In reality, Museveni is the mastermind and protector of corruption cartels, and therefore, cannot allow the IGG to do her job effectively. Who will save Uganda?