Kampala, Uganda | URN | The forthcoming ‘Anti-corruption Walk’ by President Yoweri Museveni is a mockery to the nation because corruption is part and parcel of the current leadership, Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, the national coordinator of Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party has said.
Mr. Museveni is expected to lead the country in a walk against corruption on December 4th, walking from Constitutional Square to Kololo Airstrip in a move aimed at raising awareness against corruption.
He’s expected to be accompanied by the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, heads of government anti-corruption agencies, religious and traditional leaders among others.
The walk will be held under the theme; “A corruption-free Uganda starts with me.”
However, Muntu describes the planned walk as a mockery and waste of time with intentions of confusing the masses to believe that Museveni has goodwill to fight corruption. Muntu says that Museveni is incapable of fighting corruption because he uses it to maintain himself in power.
He says that the only way people will believe Museveni efforts in the fight against corruption is when he starts to arrest top government officials implicated for corruption including ministers and permanent secretaries among others.
“Now they are running all over the country trying to see how to confuse the public to make it seem as if they are concerned, and as if they can turn around the situation. It is too late for them. They just simply can’t do that, and corruption is going to remain a central issue or a thorn in their backside. And they can’t manage it, they can’t turn it around… I hope the population will not get confused by those knee-jerk reactions,” said Muntu.
“The only way to know that Gen Museveni is now serious is to start by arresting people from the top. But he will not do that because they are the pillars of his survival, he can’t tackle them. They are trapped, he’s trapped to clean them up and to clean up corruption. Forget about those antics, there is no way they are going to turn around the situation as far as corruption is concerned. They are part and parcel of it, a few small people are going to suffer. You can never tackle corruption unless you start from the top,” he added.
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Charles Tukamusaba, the ANT coordinator for Luweero district, says Museveni uses money to bribe voters and critics alike and therefore his anti-corruption walk won’t stop corruption. Tukamusaba asks Museveni to walk the talk on corruption and arrest his officials who siphon money from the national treasury.
Takamusaba the corrupt are very close to Museveni and there is now Museveni can fight corruption when it is right at his doorstep. Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Don Innocent Wanyama declined to comment, saying he was busy.
He asked our reporter to send him a WhatsApp message but was yet to respond by the time of filing this story. According to a 2015 Uganda Parliament report, the country is estimated to have lost more than Shs 24 trillion to corruption in the last 10 years.
Uganda has failed to make any positive progress in the fight against corruption despite setting up several anti-corruption agencies. According to the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index report by Transparency International, Uganda ranked 149 out of 175 countries with highest corruption cases.
