Some supporters of First Son and Presidential Advisor on Special Operations Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba have described reports claiming that Minister Frank Tumwebaze contributed Shs2.3bn to Rwanda to help in the fight against Covid19 as an attack on Muhoozi and his friends.
Tumwebaze, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, is on the list of Ugandan businessmen and government officials that contributed money to Rwanda according to a letter some believe was sent by Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente to President Paul Kagame.
In the letter, Tumwebaze and other Ugandans who allegedly contributed are described as “foreign allies and close friends from Territory North”.
Tumwebaze has come out to deny working with Rwanda to undermine his boss President Yoweri Museveni or send resources to Paul Kagame’s government to help Rwanda in the current fight against Covid19. In a short online statement and a media interview, Tumwebaze said the reports were drafted by the mafia and were meant to soil his good public image and make him fail politically.
“These fake fabrications are being vended around thru various social media platforms. I always ignore such and many of the kind but for the sake of friends and followers, just know these are fake. Their vendors and sponsors are known and have been at it for a long time. I hope our security and intelligence services who have the details will act on them and also establish the motive,” said Tumwebaze.
“All those malicious schemes against me started in 2012 after I was appointed Cabinet Minister. So, they are not new; their vendors and sponsors are known. I have chosen to ignore them and focus on my work. The God who appointed me into leadership will surely defeat them. Trying to soil our names isn’t a big deal, but maybe the next step will be to target our lives.”
Even when he is connected to both the President and the First Son who some claim has presidential ambitions, Tumwebaze’s insisting that the people trying to link him to Rwanda are known to security agencies shows that this could indeed be the work of the mafia either trying to bring him down or stop him from supporting Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
It should be remembered that the First Son has of late been commenting on political matters making some suggest that he has made up his mind on joining elective politics to succeed his father. However, in a recent interview, Museveni said he was still fit to rule Uganda beyond 2021 despite being aged 75 already.
Minister Tumwebaze is the most high profile Minister to have come out openly to express support for Muhoozi even when some are being careful on the matter or choose to back the first son in silence. Could a mafia gang, that seems untouchable (since it is known but security forces are reluctant to deal with them) be trying to drag Tumwebaze into the contentious Rwanda-Uganda tensions so as to discredit him, cause his sacking from government and force him to stop supporting the Muhoozi presidential bid?
The talk of the mafia in government has been going on, but the question that has remained unanswered is “who are they?” Although he claims he is aware of those vending and sponsoring what he calls false fabrications meant to soil his good name, Tumwebaze doesn’t seem free to name them, perhaps fearing that their “next step will be to target our lives.”
In 2013, former spymaster Gen David Sejusa alleged that there was a plan to eliminate all top government and army officials that didn’t want Muhoozi to succeed his father Museveni. However, it now seems like the mafia are working hard to fail those pushing for the Muhoozi Project such as Tumwebaze.
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