In his latest communication to Ugandans especially the Bazzukulu, President Yoweri Museveni assured the nation that he will fight and defeat the scourge of corruption in the country.
“The fight against corruption, is in my hands. I just need evidence and action will be taken,” the president asserted.
The question on many minds is why the president had taken long to reign in on these corrupt government officials to date. And the answer is rooted in attitudes of the victims themselves; Ugandans.
When the president tried fighting corruption in the past, it was we the people that failed him by protecting the culprits through appeals of leniency and forgiveness of our thieves. May be, some of our thieving suspects were innocent but we never gave the law any chance to prove us wrong or right. And as my senior party comrade, Honourable Augustine Otuko opined recently in his article “Tribal Mob Justice is a Threat to Corruption Fight in Uganda” New Vision July 16 2024, that under the banner “Lover of Teso Nation”, the sons and daughters of the area mobilised in large number to appeal to the President to prevent their suspected corrupt son from being tried in court for his involvement in the mismanagement of the Global Fund money.
The Teso scenario is not an isolated incident, we had several cases where Ugandans sided with suspects and either appealed to the president to forgive their man or woman and or frustrate court proceedings against them. Many of us still remember hundreds of Ugandans who flocked Makindye Magistrate Court protesting the trial of the then Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura who had been expected to appear before court to answer criminal charges of police brutality. Court could not sit on that day for fear of chaos that was likely to happen due to the large numbers of fired up supporters of IGP outside court premises.
People of Rukungiri from where I hail may have been the pioneers of ganging up in tribal or regional groupings to save their kith and kindred from court proceedings. In the early 2000s, we mobilised to plead to the president for Dr. Kiiza Besigye not to be court martialled. We were led by Bishop Kahigwa and the appointment with the president was secured by Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi. We did not care whether Dr. Besigye had committed a crime or not, we just wanted our son out of any trouble at any cost.
Just last month, a group of Christian faithfuls from the Pentecostal Churches of Uganda held a five-day prayer and fasting session seeking for divine intervention for the Igara East Member of Parliament, Hon. Micheal Mawanda who was arrested on charges of being involved in embezzlement of Ugx164 billion meant to compensate cooperative societies. Led by Bishop Adam Nkwatsa, they are seeking for God’s guidance and intervention to erase all accusations against Hon. Mawanda.
As if that is not enough, Lwengo District Woman MP, Hon. Cissy Namujju who is also facing corruption charges got support from not only her people but the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Anita Among who during a rally in Lwengo assured the people that the president had heard their cry and would pardon their MP and send her back on her duties.
“The president has heard your cries, when a child misbehaves, you punish them and later ask them to go back and serve the people. Hon. Namujju used government funds to help the people of Lwengo, and therefore her actions can be justified,” Rt. Hon. Among stated.
This unrelenting grassroot support for suspected thieves in government has complicated the war against corruption. It has turned into the Ankole proverbial Hyena Dilemma “Mire, mir’omuriro, nchweere, nchweer’obunuzi” for the president. Loosely translated; If I swallow, I will have swallowed fire, but in case I spit it out, I will have spat out sweetness. To relate this to the fight against corruption, if the president let court prosecute and convict corrupt people, he angers their voters, and by extension NRM voters. But if he also lets them go, the vice of corruption keeps growing bigger. So, the irony of victims of corruption supporting their robbers had become a challenge to the president.
But now that the victims have woken up and are the ones calling on the president to punish their corrupt kith and kindred, the president will find prosecuting them a smooth sailing process. As the president said; “I am now leading this little war. We fought the bigger war. We shall win this one also,” he will indeed win this corruption battle very easily now that we the victims are now on his side as opposed to the old days when we sided with our robbers.
