State of corruption! Social media forces M7 to retrieve & address legal conclusions on past cases 

Kampala – For long, president Museveni has been known for putting his points across trying to explain to Ugandans on very many issues. But the issue of corruption seems to have been a hard paper for him most especially when it comes to the Bazzukulu (young generation).

The Bazzukulu who are mostly on social media seem not to make notes connecting on what the president says especially when it comes to issue pertaining corrupt officials in government.

President Museveni recently was forced to explain how government has handled previous endless corruption cases more especially individuals he continues work with and others who have been reappointed even though they were involved in corruption in the past.

According to the president, the major concerns that needed response were raised via his social media portals from his Easter massage, among which; Ministers that were convicted by courts of law relating to corruption but were shielded by his office and have been consistently and continuously reappointed like Jim Muhwezi, Sam Kutesa, Alice Kaboyo.

Defending of Dr. Musenero; the current Minister for Science and Technology, shielding of former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, and sacrificing Kazinda,   Pinnetti and Lubowa Hospital project where government spent over Shs600b in the name of putting up a modern hospital.

Shielding of Uganda Airlines CEO Jenifer Bamuturaki, and former Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kuteesa also came up.

Investigations into the misuse of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) funds were initiated by the president through a letter dated 5th April 2007 to the then Inspector General of Government (Justice Faith Mwondha).

Investigations involved Jim Muhwezi who was the Minister for Health at the time, Dr. Alex Kamugisha (State Minister), Capt. Mike Mukula (State Minister) and Alice Kaboyo who was a Private Secretary in charge of youth affairs at State House.

They were charged with the offences of abuse of office, theft, embezzlement, causing financial loss and making false documents by the Anti-Corruption Court. These were among others that president Museveni tasked Florah Kiconco, the Commissioner of Legal Affairs at State House to explain.

According to Kiconco, the case of Jim Muhwezi and Dr. Alex Kamugisha were acquitted of the charges, relatedly Capt. Mike Mukula was also acquitted on appeal to the High Court having been earlier convicted by a Chief Magistrate.

Whereas the in the same case, Alice Kaboyo was convicted on her own plea of guilty, and was sentenced to a fine which she paid.

She explained that, in respect to the appointment of Alice Kaboyo as Minister of State in charge of Luweero Triangle after her conviction, the matter was considered by the appointment’s committee of Parliament which approved her appointment.

The Attorney General also gave an opinion to the effect that the law did not bar her from holding a public office. Therefore, her appointment was done in accordance with the law.

More so, on the issue concerning Dr. Musenero, the legal commissioner reminded that a Select Committee of Parliament investigated the allegations that had been made about the misuse of funds that were meant for research and development of diagnostic and therapeutic vaccines.

The Committee recommended that a forensic audit into the misuse of funds be carried out by the Auditor General which was done, and Dr. Musenero was not found liable for misusing the said funds.

For the case of shielding former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi in the misused refugee funds in OPM, the commissioner reported that, all officers that were involved in the misuse of funds meant for refugees and other projects in the Office of the Prime Minister were investigated.

The investigation led to the conviction and sentencing of the suspects that were found culpable.

According to Kiconco, no incidences of corruption have been reported in the construction of the Lubowa Specialized Hospital Project. The project is still on course although complaints were made by some people that the project should have been undertaken by government itself instead of getting an investor, delays in project implementation etc.

She also explained that, the recruitment of Uganda Airlines issues, are of a policy nature like the organization structure, inequality in recruitment, alleged recruitment of non-qualified staff.

Adding that the said issues were investigated by Parliament and there’s a report to that effect. The allegation of corruption against Jenifer Bamuturaki, the CEO was referred by the Committee to Police for investigation.

The allegation against Sam Kutesa regarding the obtaining of money from a Chinese national during his tenure at the UN was investigated by the former Attorney General William Byaruhanga on the president’s directive and Parliament was briefed accordingly.