Why is it hard to prune ‘For God and my stomach’ ministers!

Proverbs 11:11 says a country prospers when it is led by the righteous. It is also stated in the same book that “the godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people traps them” (Proverbs 11:6).

Headlines about yet another scandal from the Office of the Prime Minister have dominated the news in the past two weeks. The scandal spilled into public view when the mother and brother of the minister for Karamoja Affairs, were arrested for selling iron sheets meant for vulnerable groups and those who had given up cattle rustling. Later, it was discovered that many ministers, including the prime minister, got the iron sheets.

The premier received 2,000 sheets under voucher no. 8514. The minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija, received 300 sheets under voucher number 7837. Kasaija says he never asked for the iron sheets. He said he was called to pick up his share. The minister of state for Planning, Amos Lugolobi, also picked 300 sheets and used them to roof his cowshed in Misanga village, in Kayunga district.

Lugolobi told New Vision (February 21, 2023) that he requested the iron sheets to roof churches, schools, and community projects. But it is evident that one of the beneficiaries was his farm in Misanga!

The country cannot prosper when leaders become vultures and the people they lead are easy prey. If the intention was to motivate the rustlers to drop the guns in exchange for iron sheets, can this be achieved when the iron sheets are diverted for the personal use of ministers? The minister for Karamoja Affairs does not find it appropriate to take political responsibility and resign; she still wants to be censured.

In the 1990s, it was discovered that the then minister for Transport, the late Alhaji Kirunda Kivejinja, used his influence and ordered Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) to give one Movement supporter 2,000 litres of fuel.

The minister took political responsibility and resigned. That was when leaders still felt accountable to the people. What remedies are Ugandans left with if they cannot even fire a minister whose fingers are caught in the pickle!

President Yoweri Museveni is also quiet about the scandal! Why is corruption so hard to fight in the National Resistance Movement (NRM)? For whom are these people stealing?