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There’s more to the iron sheets saga than meets the eye
Author: Larmbert Ebitu. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Unfortunately, this story, like many others before it, will most likely disappear into thin air, replaced with another trending story very soon.
The way the Karamoja iron sheet saga is unfolding proves the truth of the saying attributed to Prof Patrick Lumumba of Kenya: “In Japan a corrupt person kills himself. In China, they will kill him. In Europe they jail him. But in Africa, he will present himself for election.” A clear observation from the submissions of accused officials appearing before the Presidential Affairs Committee, which is investigating the issue is that nobody is denying the charges, but also, nobody is being held to account.
Elsewhere, these ministers would have by now either tendered their resignations or been sacked and prosecuted. But instead what we have are apology letters and silly claims of iron sheets developing feet, locating premises, and stuffing themselves inside the ministers’ homes.
But aside from that, there seems more than meets the eye in this particular saga. For example, it can’t be true that iron sheets cost Shs79,000, twice their known market price. This raises more questions in light of the fact that public officials have been known to initiate ‘activities’ in order to justify expenditure! The ‘activity’ is never really a response to a need, and the relevance of the project is never really important here.
Rather, the “activity’ is their way of putting money into the leaky funnel along which they can siphon it. This appears to be the case with this saga. The minister in-charge of Karamoja affairs has apologised for diverting 3,000 iron sheets. But before the physical iron sheets in issue, there was the money received by her ministry. Was it all spent procuring the 3,000 iron sheets? Or did her ministry divert some money?
Also, before the ministry received the money, there was Shs22 billion budgeted out of the Shs39 billion supplementary budget. How much of it was actually released to the ministry? Again, one wonders if some was not diverted.
Further, before the budgeting, there was the ‘planning’. What was the motive? Was there ever a plan for the Shs39 billion supplementary budget? Was it ever inspired by a genuine need to give iron sheets to the vulnerable in Karamoja for building permanent structures?
Regardless of how one sees it, this Karamojong saga has all the signs of a project designed to siphon money. How do you justify budgeting iron sheets for people who are dying of hunger?
Because this was apparently done at the same time that hunger was ravaging Karamoja. And then, were they going to erect the iron sheets on mud and wattle huts? Because obviously permanent structures require cement and bricks, which were not part of the package. So even as we examine the diversion of the iron sheets, one can’t but wonder if this was not a case of an ‘activity’ initiated to ‘embezzle’ money, and we are only fixated on its finale.
It is possible that a larger portion of the budgeted Shs22 billion after leaving the Treasury, was retained and shared. It is also possible that, even of the small portion released, only a fraction was spent to actually procure the iron sheets. These need to be clarified, and we can start by asking why the major beneficiaries of the iron sheets are government officials of dockets with the lock and keys of the processes that initiated, handled, and completed the activity.
No doubt, if we follow this trail long enough, we could be shocked at where it leads, the officials it implicates, and the extent of institutionalised corruption bedevilling our country.
Unfortunately, this story, like many others before it, will most likely disappear into thin air, replaced with another trending story very soon. And the culprits will gleefully be running for re-election in 2026 with no repercussions. Because apparently, the biggest capacity of the Ugandan voter is the capacity to forget!
*Lambert Ebitu is DP chairperson, Soroti City
