Prime
Museveni assures on economy, promises hellfire for corrupt officials
The President waves at the Speaker of Parliament, her deputy and other Parliament staff upon arrival for the budget reading at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds on June 13, 2024. PHOTO/ DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The President says his government is ready to take tough action against corrupt officials whom he said have ignored his advice to desist from the practice.
President Museveni is optimistic that Uganda’s economy is on full-throttle growth after weathering the shocks of the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war, flagging “corruption” as the remaining impediment to the country’s full socio-economic transformation.
“We are going to stamp out corruption…I don’t know how they [the corrupt] forget that we have got a lot of power [and] capacity, which we shall use, if necessary…these corrupt people insult our heroes,” he said in his speech yesterday at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds shortly after Finance Minister Matia Kasaija unveiled Uganda’s Shs72 trillion budget for 2024/25 Financial Year budget.
The new financial year starts on July 1, introducing a regime of new taxes on fuel, wine, spirits, and the Internet, among others, to enable the Uganda Revenue Authority to raise more than Shs31 trillion domestically over the next 12 months.
The President added: “Now that they (the corrupt) don’t listen to our advice, they have now attracted our full attention, you will see. We shall crush this treachery. This is really betrayal and we are going to finish it.”
His terse remarks came a day after the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala remanded three Members of Parliament – all from his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party – to Luzira Prison on corruption charges.
They are Lwengo District Woman representative Cissy Namujju, Bunyole East MP Yusuf Mutembuli, and his Busiki South counterpart Paul Akamba.
Prosecution averred that the trio offered to lobby Parliament’s Budget Committee to increase the annual allocations of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, the statutory rights body, on condition that 20 percent of the increment was passed back to them
The accused denied the joint charge and were sent to prison, pending a bail hearing.
Senior security officials at the budget reading on June 13, 2024.
Mr Museveni, who yesterday excoriated this publication as “an enemy of Africa” after branding it “wajinga” (Kiswahili word for idiot), said he had been prompted to deploy “harsh” measures to tackle corrupt bureaucrats because they failed to heed his previous “soft methods”.
Detectives picked the lawmakers on Monday after President Museveni ordered AIGP Tom Magambo, the director of the police Criminal Investigations Directorate, and prosecutors to go after thieving officials.
This was after Mr Museveni during his State-of-the-Nation Address last Thursday disclosed that he had evidence incriminating unnamed MPs, Finance ministry technocrats, and government accounting officers of colluding to inflate the national budget in exchange for bribes.
In a wide-ranging speech in which he repeatedly praised Finance Minister Kasaija and his charges for getting the narrative on Uganda’s economy right, the President said jobs were being created and wealth multiplied through four key sectors: commercial agriculture, manufacturing, services, and Information Communication and Technology.
“For the economy to grow [faster], we need to be competitive in the products that we produce. Our products and services must be cheaper and of better quality than products from other countries … to achieve this, we need affordable electricity, which is already being worked on … [and] low-cost money for wealth creators …,” he added.
He rejected cheaper credit for business people, whom he said were flooding Uganda’s markets with imported clothes of dead people abroad, and said expected windfall from oil will turbo-charge Uganda’s economy in ways the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will jump ten-fold before the 2040 target.
The worth of all goods and services produced in the country at present is $55 billion (by exchange rate computation) and about $150b (purchasing power parity), according to official statistics.
The head of the state also broached other matters of national importance, including justice administration under which he hailed traditional justice methods employed by the Judiciary and demanded tougher handling of murder, rape, and corruption suspects.
In reaction to this, some MPs who spoke to this publication demanded that all capital offences be dealt with equal measure as they all inflict damage on society.
“I found it disturbing that the President talked about the selective approach [on capital offences]…thieves are thieves, whether you stole chicken or cows, you are a thief,” Butiru County MP Gerald Wakooli said in a rejoinder.
Left to Right: Vice President Jessica Alupo, Third Deputy Prime Minister Lukia Nakadama and Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja at the function.
Earlier in her remarks, Parliament Speaker Anita Among urged accounting officers of various government entities to openly report all instances of influence peddling by legislators or parliamentary staff.
“Previously we have urged accounting officers to share with the leadership of the legislature any incidences of influence peddling,” she said, adding: “However, we haven’t received any such information. We urge accounting officers to maintain open channels of communication and coordination with the leadership of the Legislature in pursuit of greater transparency and accountability.”
She also rallied MPs to desist from corrupt tendencies, including soliciting “inducements from anybody”.
Hours before the budget reading, Deputy Parliament Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said they were working “very closely with the President and we hope that we can continue cleaning up” the House.
Some Opposition parliamentarians, among them Ms Lucy Akello (Amuru District, FDC) and Mr Geoffrey Ekanya (Tororo, FDC), defied a boycott call by the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi and attended yesterday’s budget reading.
