On Thursday 16th march this year, when President Museveni addressed the parliament of Uganda, almost everyone expected him to make a comment on the issue which was in public domain and that was the issue of Karamoja iron sheets scandal. However, Everyone was shocked when the President instead decided to talk about the Parish development model without making any single comment on the Karamoja iron sheets scandal. Some people immediately went to radio and their social media platforms to say that the President was less bothered about that issue and that the ministers implicated in the iron sheets scandal would get away without and without being touched. We had however read stories on different online news blog claiming that the President was furious in one of the cabinet meetings about the issue of the iron sheets to the extent that some people run away from the meeting while others decided to be quiet. This information was difficult to be be verified because only ministers attend cabinet meeting and the media isn’t allowed in.
The media has however remained consistent on following and reporting about the story of Karomoja iron sheets especially the New Vision and the daily Monitor, Until when we saw the Minister of Karamoja being arrested and arraigned in court. Obviously as it has been, some people started saying that she has been made a sacrificial lamb at the expense of her colleagues who also participated in the shameful and embarrassing activity of diverting the items which were meant for the vulnerable people of Karamoja. I have seen people including the Bishop pleading that minister Kitutu should be pardoned because she didn’t steal alone. And I wondered if that was a reason enough to set her free. What has the police and the DPP said about that matter? They’ve been very clear that other files are being worked on so that other implicated ministers can be charged in accordance with the law. It should be noted that several ministers have already appeared before police and made different statements.
Ugandans are used to Street politics where people make noise on the microphone without making any actions. They seem to have been taken by the opposition kind of politics of fooling them on the microphone. But we should all believe that actions are more louder than the words. It wouldn’t make any meaning if the President called parliament to Kololo to castigate the implicated ministers and afterwards nothing is done to them. What would happen if those ministers were not arrested? Those same people would still accuse the President for making empty threats. I think the statement he will make after all the implicated ministers have been charged will surely be more meaningful and it will send a signal to the rest of the government officials who could be thinking of engaging themselves in other dubious deals. The New Vision of Tuesday 11th carries a story that the President has written to the Prime Minister directing that all the ministers who took Karamoja iron sheets should return them or pay the money, this surely means that the President has been keen on this matter and he will follow it up to it’s logical conclusion.
In his Easter message to the Bazukulu and all Ugandans President Museveni wrote that corruption has for many years crippled wealth creation hence affecting the economic growth of our country. He talked about the unpatriotic civil servants and politicians who steal government money and even ask for bribes from the public before giving them services including investors. And this is very true in a way that some civil servants have taken it as a norm to misuse money meant for different government programs some collaborate with accounting officers at the ministry level to execute their deals. A program like Emyoga which was strictly meant for the people with different skills to acquire some money and add into the businesses ended up helping the Civil servants who are actually better off and who were not target groups, without any shame they transferred the same habit to the Parish development model which is targeting the vulnerable poor by either asking bribes from them or misusing the PDM money. Few months ago some district commercial officers and some chief administrators officers were forced to cough the money which they had diverted.
President Museveni ‘s war against corruption has been on course as opposed to Timothy Kalyegira’s opinion in the Daily monitor of Sunday where he was asking why President Museveni tolerates corruption. We should only say that the President’s efforts to fight corruption has for several times been frustrated by the people who he entrusts with big position in the government. Like for instance why would someone at the level of a cabinet minister steal iron sheets? Aren’t those people capable of buying those iron sheets for themselves and donate to to whoever they would want to donate to? They remind us of a story in the bible where the carpenters who were given responsibility of crucifying Jesus ended up stealing the nails and used less. We should be reminded that several ministers have in the past lost their positions because of engaging in corruption scandals and many others have been charged in court and even banned from holding any public office. If the President was lenient about corruption as Timothy Kalyegira put it we wouldn’t be having any of those past stories. Everyone would be stealing peacefully without being inconvenienced.
The writer is a deputy RDC Sheema District.
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