UGANDA: Why Museveni's kitchen IGG, James Tweheyo is an IDIOT

WHY MUSEVENI'S KITCHEN IGG, JAMES TWEHEYO IS AN IDIOT

CHANGE OF GUARDS - The  Constitution of Uganda 1995 created the office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) with a mandate to, among other functions, fight corruption.  Museveni runs a government that thrives on institutionalized corruption, abuse of office, embezzlement of public resources, nepotism, patronage etc.  The loyalty of his regime cadres is determined by how much ill gotten wealth they have accumulated.  Recruitment of new members and enticement of fence sitters is premised on access to ill gotten wealth. With Museveni as the patron, the vice has succeeded in becoming an acceptable norm amongst Ugandans more, especially regime cadres.

In his June 2018 State of the Nation Address, Museveni expressed displeasure at IGG's performance.  He went ahead to name James Tweheyo as the Head of the newly created Anti-corruption Unit under State House.

The constitutionally mandated IGG, Irene Mulyagonja, responded immediately telling Daily Monitor in June that the corrupt and powerful ‘big fish’ were hiding behind Museveni to frustrate her investigations.

“I still have a lot to do in fighting corruption. There are people who present the front that we are not competent enough to investigate them. Maybe they think my officers are too junior to investigate them…."

Last week, Museveni's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Matia Kasaija told an accountants’ meeting in Kampala that he knew of people who had “stolen [in government] and even in their own private companies.

He said;
     "Somebody was telling me people keep billions of shillings in their houses; what if thieves break in the house or if it catches fire?”

The Head of a new Anti-corruption unit, James Tweheyo told The Observer that he was “not ashamed to say the minister is condoning corruption if he cannot name” the officials he says are stealing money.
      "It is not enough to say I know and then keep the information to himself…,” Tweheyo said. “It is not fair. He should better come out and tell us if he knows so that they [corrupt officials] can be prosecuted."

Earlier, the same frustrated Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija had told Museveni's Land Probe Committee that;
       "There are some ministries where if I am signing off their money, I sign when my hands are shaking because I don’t know whether the money will reach where it is supposed to be,”

Much earlier, in February 2018 during a high-level meeting in Entebbe, the same Minister had disclosed that he was “amazed by people wanting to get rich overnight, others wanting to take things by force.  Systems allow stealing money because there is a weakness somewhere..”

During the August 2016 regime retreat at the Institute of Indoctrination in Kyankwanzi, Museveni's then Director General of Internal Security, Brig. Balya presented a 50 page indictment of Museveni over institutionalized corruption.

He said;
     "Pervasive graft involving bureaucrats coupled by deteriorating public service delivery are a security threat. Corruption could lead to loss of legitimacy and trust in government because of corruption disenchanted citizens can resort to mass demonstrations, violence, and mob justice in some countries; governments have collapsed because of this. Corruption makes the government in power irrelevant to the general population.  Corruption undermines service delivery thus facilitates political and economic sabotage of government programs.  Where trust in government institutions is poor, people's willingness and ability to engage in gainful activity also reduces - a recipe for poor sections of society to sink further into poverty since they are highly dependent on services provided by government. Unchecked corruption can lead to insecurity and uncertainty and undermine democratic and developmental gains of the regime in power. Corruption leads to elite capture (where technocrats and connected individuals turn institutions, opportunities and resources to their private advantage) and on the other hand, patronage and clientalism entails a situation where a small but highly organised group controls power and uses its influence to benefit from public resources at the cost of the would be beneficiaries."

During the same retreat, the IGG Irene Mulyagonja  presented another that also indicted Museveni thus;
          "When public officers are implicated in corruption they are simply moved to other offices. If we are going to keep the bad apples in public service, how are we going to clean out corruption? We need a strong anti-corruption tone from the top most offices of the land."

Consequently, Brig. Balya was sacked and banished to South Sudan.  However, since the position of IGG is constitutional, Museveni could not outrightly sack Mulyagonja but instead opted to undermine her authority by forming a parallel body under James Tweheyo.

In April 2018, the Museveni Regime Secretary General, Richard Tadwong expressly put forward his frustration at a public function thus;
       “Corruption, greed, nepotism are the things that are making Ugandans more disgusted in the leadership of our party in government. If we can’t restrain or control, our greed in how we use public resources, how we steal with impunity, then Ugandans will push us out of power. The hills of Kampala are expanding with buildings but schools and hospitals are shrinking, so where do people get money from? And the owners of these buildings are Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, Ministers and Directors, people are disgusted.”

In July 2018, following the assassination of Hon. Abiriga, Museveni's Minister Musa Ecweru  told parliament thus;
   “There are many of us in NRM when you do a small thing you think you should be treated as a special person. There are many of us in NRM who have accumulated unnecessary wealth because we think we are entitled. Abiriga has done what he has done but he remained humble. We as NRM need to humble ourselves. If we keep this sense of entitlement, we will ruin the country.”

Just early this week, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanya publicly expressed his disgust over institutionalized corruption thus;
       "One thing is clear, unless we make a formal declaration of never again, we are wasting time discussing corruption. You bring an auditor general’s report to parliament for oversight after 10 years. Ten years! By that time, the people who were accounting officers then, are now members of the accountability committees." Oulanyah added.

A few years ago, then Museveni's Minister of Health,  Gen. Jim Muhweezi told Justice Ogola during the Global Fund inquiry in March 2006;
        "....you are one of those people who were hiding under your beds when the rest of us were fighting."

From the aforegoing, it can be authoritatively argued that it is plain idiocy for Museveni's bedroom IGG, James Tweheyo to assume that he is more informed about the internal workings of the Museveni regime than Minister Kasaija.

Minister Kasaija is also frustrated by the presence of a parallel Kitchen Minister of Finance at State House, Lucy Nakyobe.  James Tweheyo had for many years been a vocal leader of the Uganda Teachers' Union.  He had proven to be a stumbling block in Museveni's efforts to destroy education thus why the latter had to fish him out.

The earlier Mr. Tweheyo realises that he was not put in that position to fight corruption, the better.  Like his village folks who traditionally flock to Nyabushozi to Kukuura Omuteete and omwaata (weeding) the cattle pastures and banana plantations, James Tweheyo ought to consider himself as such. Like his folks, he should also concentrate on Kukuura Omuteete  and omwaata and be able to buy a bicycle and clothes for his wife after one year of service when he returns to his village. He should forget about fighting corruption or else he is headed for a big humiliation.

Maybe he should take a tour of those sides of Najeera, Kyanja and the neighborhood to get a first-hand taste of the fruits of corruption that Richard Tadwong talked about.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM