By Frank Oyugi
“The Fox must first be chased, then the chicken can be warned never to wander in the bush again” Cinua Achebe,so
As I pondered to put ink to paper on this piece, I was wondering if there is still a single Ugandan who still have the vivid memory of a censored minister by the nomenclature Persis Namuganza, whose fate seems apparently redeemed by the veto power of the president, I guess no one because that is how fast the citizens of this beloved country can get averted.
For now, at least everyone’s attention has been drawn to the saga of the Karamoja iron sheets, even a boda boda guy on the street who might not comprehend the whole situation is talking about it thanks to the power of the new media, which for me is a good thing because it shows how vigilant the ordinary citizen has become/ is about fighting graft and it is indeed our constitutional obligation as enshrined in Article 17 (1) (i) of our constitution.
I am not a lawyer myself and I will not also risk to play the role of a devil’s advocate here but as student of administrative law, I have soliloquized and asked over 21 questions, more than those in singer 50 Cent’s song of how culpable are the ministers who unwittingly received the mabati donations, what are the possible charges that could be pressed on them by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions?
I may not be too old but I have lived in this country for close to 40 years now, and my recollection is still sacrosanct, from Princess Kabakumba Masiko who was censored for diverting masts meant for Uganda Broadcasting Cooperation for her own radio station, to the GAVi scandal that implicated Jim Muwhezi and Capt Mike Mukuala, but the situations and cirmctances have all played differently.
Mary Goreti Kitutu, Agness Nadutu and Amos Lugolobi are ministers who have already tasted the bitter aftermath of the karamoja Iron sheets ‘loot”, if that is the word, all in all at least police shall be on the hunt for over 82 people, some of them administrative officers who equally partook of the share.
“The traditional civil servant, the day he/she is charged in court, is suspended from office. If convicted, you are dismissed, and sometimes barred from getting another job in the public service. But for political persons, the discretion remains with the President. Whether he wants a person jailed for five years to remain in Cabinet but not working is upon him,” Mr Walubiri, himself an equally accomplished constitutional lawyer, explained. This is an excerpt from the Daily Monitor
And I seem to conquer much with this opinion, it should also be educed that the constitutional court also pronounced itself in a ruling that ministers are not government employees and thus cannot be charged with abuse of office because they are merely deployed.
Now, can we have charged them with theft? Then what would be the ingredients, did anyone of them break the store? No, most were merely called and donated to, so should they be culpable?
Now, the office of the OPM equally coordinates disaster preparedness to the smallest administrative unit like a village. So what if the Iron sheets said to be earmarked for Karamopja was actually donated to a community in Agago or Otuke because their structures were blown away by a strong wind, were we going to arrest all those families and their area LCI chairperson and charge them in court? Trust me even the charge of being in illegal possession of government stores would collapse under its own weight.
And Wait a minute, where is the permanent secretary of the OPM, I thought this is the accounting officer, I also ruminate that Ugandans are being driven by political sentiments and until then, yes I think president Museveni is issuing statements just to play along with the public gallery, I will wait as I sip my Porridge.
The writer is FRANK OYUGI, a journalist and a media director at Great Lakes Center for Strategic Media studies, News Editor in Chief at Radio QFM 94.3 in LiraCity, Media trainer and Investigative Enthusiast.
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