THERE’S NO PRESIDENTIAL WILL TO FIGHT CORRUPTION IN UGANDA

By Abbey Semuwemba,UK

The root cause of all corruption stems from those who led us after independence. When we got independence in 1962, Uganda drifted from a bureaucratic administration that emphasized good governance to one that put more emphasis on the sovereignty of politics. We had a breather of some good governance when King Edward Mutesa 11 was president, though there were problems of bad financial deals in the Buganda federal government between 1964 and 1966.

When Obote took over, we ended up with a bureaucratic autocracy lacking in accountability, transparency, and the rule of law. It was almost the same everywhere in Africa. For instance, the first country to get independence, Ghana, ended up with a corrupt Kwame Nkrumah at the end of his leadership. Nkrumah and his post independent leaders started out well, but they got lost at some point.As a result, corruption became one of the main reasons given by almost all coup plotters from the 1970s onwards. Amin listed it as one of the reasons in 1971 why he had to kick Obote out. In Sierra Leone, Captain Valentine Strasser also gave it as a reason for the coup. It was the same in Ghana and Mali in 1991.

Corruption itself comes from Latin word called ”RUMPERE” which means that something is broken. What has happened in Uganda since 1986 shows that ‘something is broken’ in the country and needs fixing. When you listen to the arguments online made by someone in their 20s with a degree, you may think that they have just finished primary seven. A lady, like ‘Bad Black’, who has confessed to being a prostitute, is more followed and listened to on Facebook than a religious leader or scholar. Foul language (‘Okuwemula’ in Luganda) is the order of the day. When you don’t steal public funds, people think you’re dense.The Besigyes(products of NRM) realized that they could not fix it from within and opted out. Yoweri Museveni,too, has formed various institutions to fight corruption but nothing much has been gained.

Africa has ended up with two classes of leaders since the coup era: BENEVOLENT AUTOCRATS AND KLEPOCRATS. Both are not really absolute dictators or autocrats because they try to work or try to portray themselves as working within the existing state institutions. There are so many characteristics of these two types of leaders, but I will pick a few to make a point.

Museveni is specifically a kleptocrat: he is fearful of being overthrown and therefore favors policies that benefit him in the short run with costs spread in the future. He can manipulate any state institution for personal gain. For instance, he can spend a lot of money bribing people in an election, like he did all previous presidential elections, because he believes that with the oil money coming in, this void can be fixed in future. He has spent a lot of money on the likes of: Full Figure, Catherine Kusasira, Balaamu, and others, and then,he will likely drop them after elections–they might not fit in his long term plans.

Combating corruption at presidential level is actually more difficult because the president has got immunity while there are still in power. By the way, up to now I don’t know how to interpret his shs.770m donation to a school in Kigali in 2011. Is a poor person supposed to donate food to a neighbor when he cannot feed his own family? I don’t know what religious scholars say about this, but I don’t think its right.

Kleptocrats will also seek a taxation system that efficiently generates revenue, but they are likely to introduce distortions. At the moment, Uganda collects more taxes than at any time since independence but there is very little to show for it because we are led by wrong people. So, we cannot change a system that has gone wrong with a ‘wrong people’ still at the helm of things. According to Ismail Musa Ladu of the Daily Monitor, ‘‘ despite the increase in revenue from Shs10.6 trillion in 2014/15 to Shs27.4 trillion in 2018/19 of which 65 per cent were tax revenues, government spending has not only continued to outstrip revenue.’’

Kleptocrats tend to support projects that generate large corrupt payoffs. Thus, the leader will endorse projects with little economic justification, propose public projects that could be efficiently carried out in the private sector. If revelations of corruption are likely to destabilize the regime, the Kleptocrat will do everything to make sure that they go away on his own terms. For instance, just look at the people that were implicated in the Global funds, Temangalo, CHOGM,e.t.c, and how their court cases were handled– It all doesn’t make sense, but as long as they are on the good side of the president, they are eventually free. Some are even continuing to serve as MPs; and others were even appointed in M7’s cabinet. Summarily, there is no serious political will to fight corruption in Uganda.

Will Museveni save Kuteesa ?

Dont pay guys from national water who come to your house after you made payments at NSWC

When you ask for a new water meter, you don’t pay guys from national water who come to your house after you made payments at NSWC.They are not supposed to be paid. They have an employer who pays them. Ugandans need to work on their entitlement vice when it comes to other people’s money.The connection fee you pay at Nwsc includes the materials, meter, trenching fees and labour. You are not supposed to pay any money to the field staff. All payments are made in the bank and mobile money. Corruption starts from us– why motivate an official worker by giving money yet he is paid at work.

Whether umeme or nwsc people,they will always ask for money which is most times not necessary.At times,you just have to tell them that you already cleared all the payments with their office but sometimes they can be so hard to deal with.

Its very important you go to the nearest branch office in case you want a new water connection and go thorough the right procedure of acquiring the connection.

Museveni blocked me for an international job as he did with Otunu

FDC hails gov’t for supporting Byanyima’s UNAids appointment

By George Okello In London via the UAH forum
You see here the FDC’s achilles’s heel gets exposed once again with the appointment of Winnie Byanyima as Executive Director of UNAIDS. You must be supported by your own government in order to be appointed to such a position. Conversely, your government can block your appointment if it does not want you as it constantly blocked Olara Otunu’s apointment to Deputy Secretary General to the extent of forcing him to take the citizenship of the Ivory Coast.

Obviously Kayibanda has no problem with his former girlfriend being appointed to this position, but what about the FDC?It is the same problem the FDC had with the appointment of Anne Mugisha to the UN regional office in Somalia. To get the support of the Ugandan government, she had to kneel down before Kayibanda and promise to withdraw completely from politics, a promise she has kept up to today.

So what promise has the FDC got from kayibanda for supporting the appointment of Byanyima to this top position? Winnie was on her way out of Oxfam anyway following the horrible sex abuse carried out under her watch by Oxfam staff on very vulnerable girls in poor countries, so this post has come at the right time for her.

With apointments like this, many people do not see any difference between NRA and FDC. The difference is very cosmetic as the two feed on each other and need each other to survive.

Uganda needs a completely new start.How is backing Byanyima decent when Kayibanda has blocked every single person from the north who has been appointed to an international job requiring home country endorsement?

Olara Otunnu comes to mind. Kayibanda blocked Otunnu time and again from when he wanted to stand as UN Secretary general and when he was appointed Deputy Secretary general. Poor Otunnu was forced to look for a friendly African country to sponsor him, and that’s how he ended up with the Ivory Coast citizenship.

And what about me? I was appointed to a legal post in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, then based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I had then returned from the Philippines, and at a meeting of Amnesty International, I met the then Director of the Commission who came to talk to us about the Commission, which was still new. Later on at dinner, he said he was very impressed by my overall grasp of African human rights issues, and my energy and enthusiasm, so he asked me to go and work for him in Addis Ababa, a request I accepted.
I was then asked to make a formal application for the role and was invited for an interview in Addis Ababa. This was a lengthy selection process that involved a written exam, presentations, face to face interview and then a final interview with the Directors. They selected two of us, out of 9 candidates who had competed for the roles.

But to my surprise, I was then told the job required home country approval. I knew at that point, all my effort was wasted. I went to the Ugandan Addis embassy and spoke to some officials there, who assured me they would deal with the matter there at the embassy level, and not pass it on to the Foreign Affairs ministry. I then left and returned to London, and expected the whole process to be completed in about 2 weeks.

After 3 weeks, I got a telephone call from the Addis embassy, telling me that my request for country endorsement had to be passed to the Foreign Affairs Ministry as the embassy had no authority to deal with it, and that somebody would be in contact with me.
In the meantime, the commission was pressing me, wanting to know when I would sort out the endorsement process so that I could start.
After 6 weeks, I finally got a message, from the Uganda embassy in London, telling me I would not be endorsed by the government of Uganda because of the work I had done for international human rights organisations, which was very critical of the Ugandan government, and of Kayibanda Museveni in particular.

Eventually I withdrew my application, even though the Director still wanted me to join them, but at a lower level as an Assistant Legal Officer, which did not require any country endorsement. But I turned it down.

The issue is not about qualifications. Every candidate considered for such a job is highly qualified. Olara Otunnu was for eg highly qualified and met all the required job specifications to be appointed Secretary General or Deputy Secretary General of the UN.

The issue is that for some international jobs such as at the UN, AU, International Court of Justice, World Bank etc, you cannot be appointed to some positions, unless you are endorsed by your own government. Qualifications and experience are required, but home country endorsement is essential and is a road block that disqualifies many competent candidates.

In my case, it wasn’t even a question of being qualified, because I had already done and passed a written test, a video presentation and two oral interviews in a selection process lasting one week.

Looking back, I was not really surprised that I was blocked by kayibanda Rubatisirwa. The African Commission for Human Rights was new and one of its key tasks was to investigate human rights abuses committed by African governments. It was created by the OAU as it was known at the time, but was not universally welcomed by many African governments, including Uganda.

The Commission had problems from the the very beginning with many governments refusing to cooperate with its investigations. Kayibanda Rubatisirwa knew I was going to push for an investigation of Uganda, and especially as the Genocide in Acholi was raging at the time. The last thing kayibanda Rubatisirwa wanted was an investigation by a Commission of the OAU, and so he blocked my appointment.

Actually, the Commission became ineffective as the years went by, it was starved of funds, and moved its HQ from Addis Ababa to Banjul, Gambia to save costs. The Director who appointed me left in frustration after a while.

Later on much of the work of the Commission was taken over by the International Criminal Court, or ICC, which had a higher profile, stronger mandate, and stronger investigatory powers. This time to protect the integrity of the court, governments have no role in the appointment of judges of the court.

But even with these added power and authority, you can see the ICC still faces a huge problem, most of which stemming from reluctance of African governments to cooperate with its work and opposition and hostility from the USA. .

So in the case of Byanyima, she would not have got the UN AIDS job without the nod of kayibanda Rubatisirwa. Only Byanyima and the Fdc know the pound of flesh kayibanda Rubatisirwa demanded for his goodwill. Anybody who has known the modus operandi of the pot bellied Rwandan knows he does not give free meals.

UAH’s Abbey Semuwemba, this is the tribalistic Rwandan thug you have the temerity to call “decent”. Give me a break.

I think FDC is making a huge blunder by making these sorts of backroom deals with kayibanda. It will come to haunt them one day, and they will live to regret it. Winnie Byanyima is scum, and I see no reason why FDC should sacrifice its credibility for her. She is a millstone around Besigye’s neck, and he can never be elected president with Winnie Byanyima holding his waist. Take it or leave, but that’s the fact.What I am saying here is that this UNAIDS appointment has the hallmarks of a case of ‘scratch my back and I will scratch yours’.

Who is Evelyn Anite, the minister ready to die ‘with’ mafias?

Evelyn Anite Kajik, is a journalist by profession. She is the State Minister of Finance for Investment and Privatization in the Ugandan Cabinet. She was appointed to that position on 6 June 2016.

President Yoweri Museveni is so fond of Anite and he usually refers to her as his daughter. Previously, she served as State Minister for Youth and Children. She was appointed to that position on 1 March 2015, replacing Ronald Kibuule, who was appointed State Minister for Water Resources.

She also serves as the elected Member of Parliament representing the Youth from Northern Uganda, a position she has occupied since 2011.

Anite was born on 11 November 1984, in Adakado Village, Koboko District, to Steven Dravu, a civil servant, and Sarah Wokoru Dravu, a businesswoman.

She attended Arua Hill Primary School for her elementary school education before joining Saint Mary’s Ediofe Secondary School for her O-Level studies. She transferred to Muni Girls’ Secondary School, for her A-Level education. She holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, awarded by Uganda Christian University in 2008.

Right out of high school in 2005, Anite started working as a radio presenter on a radio station in Arua, continuing in that capacity intermittently until 2007. Beginning in 2006 and continuing until 2010, she worked as a radio presenter at Uganda Broadcasting Corporation in Kampala, Uganda’s capital and largest city.

From 2008 until 2010, she worked at the Uganda Media Centre as the Public Affairs Assistant for International Relations. In 2011, she contested for the parliamentary seat of Youth Representative for Northern Uganda. She beat nine other candidates to win the seat.

Anite is married to Allan Kajik and together, they have one daughter.

M7 LIED ABOUT THE COFFEE BILL & ITS DISGUSTING!

By Saasi Marvin

I watched a video of Gen. Museveni calling Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga a liar because Mayiga criticised Government’s move to require #Coffee farmers to have licenses. M7 claims that coffee farmers will just be “registered” but not “licenced”. I have had the opportunity of studying the National Coffee Bill 2018, and I can confidently say that M7 is the LIAR in this national conversation. Here’s why:

Clause 26 (1) of the Bill provides that the National Coffee Authority ‘SHALL register all coffee farmers’ in Uganda. This literally means that unregistered farmers will be growing coffee ILLEGALLY. Clause 1 defines a coffee farmer as ‘a person who grows coffee for commercial purposes.’ How many people have really been growing it for domestic purposes?

Clause 26(2) says that a person can only be registered as a coffee farmer IF, among others, the Coffee Authority has evaluated the land on which the coffee is to be grown and found that land suitable for that purpose. In other words, no person will be allowed to grow coffee unless they have a licence to grow coffee on a particular piece of land.

Clauses 35(1)&(3) say that the Authority shall issue a ‘coffee buyers’ licence, and that no body shall buy coffee without that licence. This means that even if you may grow your coffee illegally without Government’s approval, no body will be allowed to buy it from you without that person having a licence. Having that licence, by extension, also means that a coffee buyer will be breaking the terms of the licence if they purchase coffee from you the ‘unregistered’ farmer.

Clause 54 (1)(j) makes it an offence for any person to deal in coffee “for internal marketing” [whatever that means] without a licence. If caught, he/she is liable to a fine of up to UGX 960,000/=, or 2 years in prison, or both. In short, dare grow coffee without Government’s approval and you’ll see fire .

The mistake Gen. M7 keeps making while addressing the nation is that he imagines he is addressing the docile, unthinking and unquestioning lot that his cabinet is. The earlier he realises we’re not in 1986 anymore, the better for him. Liar. Gambler. Thief!

Shimon school land belonged to Prince Kakungulu of Kibuli family

By Frank Mujabi via UAH forum
JULIUS Businge of The Independent Magazine cannot be this ignorant in his article,Sudhir’s Kingdom Kampala Mall’:https://www.independent.co.ug/sudhirs-kingdom-kampala-mall/. He is just an accomplished tribalistic liar.

He conveniently forgets to say that this building was the Shimoni school for over 50 years and that the land belonged to Prince Kakungulu of Kibuli family .

The newly open Kingdom Mall Kampala

The Kakungulu leased the land to Shimoni school over 60 years ago, and when the 49 year lease expired, some ‘Twalire’ thief in the Ministry of Education took over the land and fraudulently claimed that it belonged to the Ministry Of Education, and quickly sold it to the Saudi Prince.

The Saudi Prince who had started building a big hotel but was stopped by Prince Nakibinge who had the expired lease, and land titles.

The place has been in limbo until recently when now it is claimed that Sudhir owns it, having bought it off the Saudi Prince!

The Businge’s are convinsed that they can rewrite history with a gun.

BAGANDAs DON’T CRY FOR #SUSAN;

By a Concerned Muiru.
Bagandas, Easterners and Northerners shouldn’t cry for Susan because this was a Western insider affair. These fat lazy stupid arrogant two-legged pigs called Bahima deny us jobs and then sit with their bi big buttocks in high offices to just brag around and not do any work which would have saved Susan. The bi men bibigula bubiguzi tebilina magezi. Please note that Susan was a Westerner too and these were the very people who got all the oil deals and only employ Westerners in their companies like Enhas and elsewhere. She died and the president (Sababizzi) was all over the place yet when our Entebbe women were being murdered day and night he wasn’t anywhere, even our fathers are being killed in masaka and he’s quiet but just a simple Susan got kidnapped and all the pigs were all over the news. Total Nyokore just.

Late Susan Magara(R.I.P) who was kidnapped, and later killed

I can’t forget the day I went to Ministry of finance to drop in my application and found out that the official language their was Runyankore from cleaners to the directors. They asked me in Runyankore whom i knew there and I didn’t know anyone so they told me not to waste my time. I felt like crying and that’s when I joined Owino. Before you call me tribalistic, just know I’m just writing about it here yet these Bahima are openly and shamelessly practicing it almost everywhere in the country, so who’s bad? Their sons and daughters are the only ones who can afford good schools and then they easily make it to Makerere University and you find that the guild president elections are like Banyankole village elections, total nyokore just.

Now these kidnappers too were Westerners who seemed to have done their homework very well and knew that the family had more than 1 million US dollars to pay. They were even speaking their ki language all over like the SFC soldiers speak Runyankole only since they don’t see any other tribe at statehouse. In deed the Magara family is so rich in that they’re well connected to the president meaning they’re well connected to the national Treasury, so where do Bagandas come into this? Can’t you see that your Northern friends are quiet? Baakoowa dda.

The kidnappers used 17 unregistered SIM cards all along, so where was UCC, ISO, Special Forces and NIRA? Just full of naturally stupid Bahima occupying offices meant for capable and qualified Ugandans who are instead doing jobs out of their professions due to nepotism in job sector. But now that they’re being targeted by kidnappers, God has finally answered our prayers because all the millions they’ve been stealing will be demanded within 20 days or else they’re sons and daughters will face the knife, isn’t this good news?

On the other hand, I fault the Uganda Police for not doing their work to capture or at least get sensible clues about these kidnappers because they had a whole 20 days to do so. They could’ve put a tracker in the paid money, employed a drone to monitor movements of the person who picked the money or even have a professional negotiator to strike a better deal with them so as to save life but they did nothing. These are the stupid Bahima arrogantly posing in our offices, every district they’re the DPCs, every town clerk is Muhima, Kampala Metropolitan Police is like Kiruhura village association with a super art arrogant Muhima head called Mwesigwa and Owoyesigire as the spokesperson, the Baraalo are stealing land in Gulu, Entebbe town is like a village in Kiruhura now. Almost all ranked traffic officers in town are long-nosed with some still walking the city with cow sticks (nkoni) as if we motorists are cows. Gasiya.

The capable northerners and easterners are given lesser junior field roles in Field Force Unit to rot in poverty while the Bagandas like Kirumira are being forced to leave the force. Until qualified people are recruited into relevant offices in this country, expect this shithole to stink even more. If you want to arrest me, find me in my muzigo in Bwaise now, but use a boat because it flooded. Anti that’s where you want us to live.

Southern Sudan and Somalia wars are like a business to Museveni and his family!

By Annet Kobusingye via UAH forum

Sudan is like M7 second home. He creates wars and sponsors them in order to remain big. This is how he benefits from.somemof the wars:

1.His family members are exporting food. Many business men were hoodwinked to supply food to similar place like the first family when they took food to Sudan but their trailers,cars and food packages were confiscated and drivers arrested. Their money wasted and these business men in kla today they are crying over their money that was never paid. That is how he weakened some rich men in Uganda.

2. Some Ugandan business peopple were robbed or killed in Suddan as they attempted to follow their goods in hope they would recover their vehicles.

3. Keep northern region distabilised with guns in circulation.Many refugees entered northern region with them. It’s has been difficult to separate a refugee from a rebel. The local in another region fear refugees more than anything because they are armed. Who is allowing them to enter with guns? the M7 regime. Whom do the refugees salute? Museveni.

4. In times of elections,so many refugees enter through this route of Sudan,they register and vote. No body should deceive you that they don’t vote. They do vote for M7. If you don’t believe my story go to isingiro quotelybd ask the local in Isingiro mbarara District,where so many refugees havebeen captured and you be shocked with details you will find.

5. Makes money from inflated numbers of refugees in the country and gets more donor funding which he channels into his private businesses.

From such deals he cannot allow a war to come to an end.

Now on realising that people have discovered his game, he is so quick to arrange a peace talk deal Sudan.

Another example was Somalia. He has been putting it that the war in Somalia is so bad and the donors pumped lots of money for him.

He once surprised the Anite world when he returned empty COFFINS at Entebbe international and presented them to cameras.Up to now no body has ever been hurried nor printed in news papers to have died or families to have have r received their dead ones…..

National parks have been turned into bidding sports for the regime. Lions have been poisoned and unknown people placed in those national parks.Nobody knows where these people come from nor their motives.The tourism indutry is headed by an NRM man who has no backbone to ask what has happened to our lions.The entire national parks is covered with long horned cows now day.

The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age?

BY JOHN NSUBUGA VIA UAH FORUM

Don’t you know that, the secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age? That is what some of our leaders are practicing. Old age is not a sin, but it’s not a joy either, any one can get old, all you have to do is live long enough. So, I’m not here to despise our elders, because I know they can be useful, but not every where. Once upon a time, whenever president Museveni was addressing Uganda, every citizen of East and Central Africa tuned in to listen to this sharp Munyankore son of Africa roar. Today when he speaks, cows, pigs, goats, birds, babies, money lenders, eeeeeverything goes to sleep.

Surely when your steak has to be put through a blender before its served, or when you wake up as many times during the night, but not for the same reasons, you know you’re too old to be president. When you put on a thick winter jacked and hand gloves like our president does in temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius, you know you’re too old to be president. Haven’t you heard that every thing that goes up must come down, but that there comes a time when not everything that’s down can come up?

What I’m saying is that, when age catches up with you, there are many warning signs, you will know it, therefore, you do not need a piece of paper to be reminded how old you’re. The excuse that some people do not know when they were born, is one of the very reasons we have “prohibitive lines in the holly constitution” for checks and balances purposes. Removing age limits will attract interested candidates in their 90s, being aided by push chairs. What do you do then, especially in our corrupt infested Uganda, where money changes hands in exchange for power?

Please be reminded that, it is very important that a country keeps on introducing fresh blood into the political system to maintain a healthy country. If these 90yr old somethings cling on to power, then I ask you, will Abbey Ssemuwemba ever contribute as president of Uganda? I know you mean well, but ours is a unique political environment, dominated by dictators and thieves. He rules you for 50yrs, he dies and his son takes over, and the sequence goes on.

We must maintain both age and term limits.