By Muhimbise George
First forward, I will not join the bandwagon of those condemning MPs as corrupt, just because they have been aligned before Courts of law. As a student of Human Rights, I will maintain the standard of presumption of innocence until proven guilty. It is until the Courts of law finds them guilty that I can declare them to be corrupt. If the Justice system is unable to find them guilty then it will mean that they are either innocent or the system is incompetent.
However, we need to understand the politics behind this whole thing and how President Museveni has always used Parliament as a scapegoat to run away from the incompetence of his own government.
President Museveni has always blamed all the Parliaments from the sixth Parliament claiming that they sabotage his programs, even when they have always passed all the money he asks for in the budget. It’s a psychological war fare which the President has done against Parliament because the more it becomes unpopular the more he benefits. This explains the high attrition rate of incumbent MPs who never get re- elected. It also explains the notion in the population that “Museveni has no problem but lower leaders are the problem”!
So when an MP is arrested and charged in Court, President Museveni is looked at as a champion of fighting corruption and so he gets political capital out of this. I think Ugandans need a leader who can fight corruption genuinely not someone who wants to take advantage of corruption to achieve political capital.
The same President who claims that some MPs are bribed to pass money in budgets is the same person who has been giving money to MPs to amend the constitution like removal of term limits or age limits, so where does get a moral authority to now blame MPs if he has been the chief briber?
Secondly, President Museveni has always used his state machinery and the media to propagate a negative narrative against the MPs. This is done to stir anger within the population against MPs so that instead of them demanding accountability from him, they instead blame the MPs. This explains the reason why MPs pay and allowances is highly published so that people can get angry against MPs. When they get 200m to buy cars, it becomes a serious public concern yet Permanent Secretaries, Ministers, Heads of government agencies drive cars worth 500 million and no body talks against them.
The President has always blamed MPs for earning a lot of money. He claims to earn a salary of 3.5 million yet he spends 2 billion per day. The President has a budget of over 100bn for donations which the MPs don’t have yet MPs are easily accessed than the President and this has pushed MPs into loans so as to cater for their electorates. So how can someone who spends 2 billion daily also blame others for wastage?
In 2020, President Museveni blamed MPs for giving themselves 10 billion shillings to fight Covid 19. He made very tough statements against MPs claiming that they were selfish to say the least. In the same year the President had pressurized Parliament to pass close to 400bn which was given to Pinneti to construct Lubowa Specialized Hospital. To date the hospital doesn’t exist and he has not arrested anyone over this scandal. How could he have shouted about 10 bn but become silent on close to 400bn?
Parliament has discovered corruption in several agencies and made recommendations which the President has ignored. When Parliament investigated the rot in the NSSF, what punitive actions did the President take? When Parliament censured Minister Namuganza over her involvement in the Nakawa – Naguru estate fraudulent land give- away, why didn’t he act? When Parliament recommended the sacking of the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Trade over corruption, didn’t the President reinstate her? When Jim Muhwezi, Sam Kutesa, Mathiew Rukaikaire etc were censured over corruption the President re-appointed them. He even appointed people like Hon Alice Kaboyo who were convicted over corruption, how can he then claim to be a champion of fighting corruption?
Therefore, President Museveni wants to show that he is fighting corruption yet he is silent on the massive corruption in the Executive arm of government which he leads.
If the President is committed to fighting corruption, let him arrest Erica Pinneti who took billions for Lubowa Hospital and five years down the road, nothing is on the ground. Let him arrest Dr Musenero who took 30 bn to construct a Covid 19 vaccine factory and it is nowhere. Let him arrest the people who stole money from NSSF, Let him hold the proprietors of Atiak Sugar accountable for the billions so far injected in etc.
Let Parliament not be turned into a punching bag yet there is mess and rot all over the government that has gone unchecked. The MPs who were arrested should not be turned into a political sacrifice by the President.
Muhimbise George, muhimbiseg@gmail.com,0787836515
