In his 38th year as president, Uganda’s long serving president, Yoweri Museveni Kaguta Tibuhaburwa, has vowed to fight theft of public funds and crush corrupt officials in his government. But in just one week, the 79 year old president has thrown more anti-corruption youth protesters than suspected corrupt officials.
Recent revelations through initiatives such as the Uganda Parliament Exhibition have suggested that there could be gross corruption, abuse of office and diversion of funds at parliament. Just recently, deputy speaker Thomas Tayebwa defended parliament, saying that it controls about one per cent of the national budget and cannot, therefore, be blamed for corruption in the country.
According to the inspectorate of government, the country loses about Shs10tn to corruption every year. President Museveni has claimed that some of the corruption is being engineered by corrupt MPs and officials at the ministry of finance, planning and economic development.
President Museveni has vowed to crush corrupt officials. He has also presented his plan to fight corruption at a retreat of his cabinet ministers, permanent secretaries of government ministries and the top brass of his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. (See Details Here and There).
He has also previously threatened to throw them in prison, block them from holding public office, force them to refund stolen money and deny them bail.
“Fighting corruption is not as difficult as people may think. By the time we run out of space in Luzira, people will have lost appetite for corruption. The battle against corruption is more achievable and is not as tough as it seems. Soon, we will go after those involved, and I’ll ask CID to take action,” said Museveni.
But when young people came up to protest against corruption, and demand the resignation of Speaker Anita Among over alleged corruption, over 100 were arrested. According to police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke, 104 people were arrested between July 22 and July 25, 2024, as mostly youth protesters attempted to march to parliament in Kampala “leading to significant police intervention.”
Rusoke noted that on July 22, 2024, nine individuals were arrested and charged with common nuisance and traffic regulation violations. All the nine were taken to court. The following day, on July 23, 2024, continued the police spokesperson, a total of 75 suspects were apprehended – 74 were taken to court, while one remains in police custody.
He went on to note that on July 24, 2024, three people were arrested and charged with common nuisance offenses. On July 25, 2024, Rusoke further reported, 16 people were arrested – 13 were taken to court while three remain in police custody.
“Overall, 104 individuals have been arrested during this period, with 100 already taken to court. Among those arrested, 13 had prior criminal charges,” he added.
Meanwhile, five MPs, sacked trade ministry permanent secretary Geraldine Ssali, a few trade ministry officials and lawyers are all there are for Museveni and his government to show their recent commitment to fight corruption. (See Details Here and There).
The president has claimed that foreign agents are funding protests calling for Speaker Anita Among’s resignation. (Read Story Here).
