Kampala, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | President Yoweri Museveni is urging the police to conduct thorough investigations into corruption cases highlighted in the Auditor General’s reports, favouring this approach over extensive inquiries by parliamentary committees.
Addressing the National Resistance Movement-NRM 38th Liberation Day celebrations at St. John SSS Wakitaka Playgrounds in Jinja Northern Division on Friday 26, January 2024, under the theme “Building a Country We All Cherish,” Mr. Museveni emphasized that once the Auditor General releases reports on corrupt entities and individuals, the police’s investigative arms should take precedence, avoiding prolonged discussions in boardrooms.
These comments follow recent Auditor General reports indicating that corruption is hindering efforts to ensure service delivery, accompanied by issues like ghost works.
Mr. Museveni contends that corruption reflects political failure and should be dismantled through legal means rather than relying on systems that proved ineffective in preventing graft.
Highlighting the theft of public funds as criminal behavior, President Museveni stresses the importance of prosecution procedures, urging all responsible government agencies to be vigilant.
Accusing superpower countries of using aid, loans, and influence to coerce third-world nations into complying with their demands, President Museveni cites Moses Simbwa’s case.
Simbwa, using the Liberation Day platform, accused elements within the opposition of bribing him to make torture claims against the government. Mr. Museveni asserts that Uganda’s robust systems cannot be easily dismantled by saboteurs.
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Simbwa claimed opposition politicians promised him one million shillings to openly accuse the government of torture before international media. After months of living in fear, he sought the Liberation Day organizers’ help, providing a platform to unveil the truth about his situation.
At the event, Moses Ssimbwa, self-proclaimed activist affiliated with the National Unity Platform (NUP), asserted that he had been manipulated by the opposition.
According to Ssimbwa, he was initially promised a trip to a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya for treatment of a leg injury resulting from an accident. However, he claimed that he was instead taken to a human rights conference and coerced by opposition forces to falsely accuse Ugandan security agencies of torturing him.
“I was taken to Nairobi by politicians who told me to claim that I was tortured by the Ugandan government. I apologize for everything that happened. They used us because we were in need of money,”Ssimbwa said.
President Museveni speaking in response, reveals that intelligence reports implicate opposition leaders in collaborating with western countries to undermine Uganda’s economy and goodwill among the people, with plans to expose them in the future.
“They have been doing that in other African countries and also some of the other third world nations, but they don’t know how strong the NRM is,” he noted.
“Those who miscalculate that Uganda is a typical neo-colonial African country that they can familiarise with should know, Uganda under NRM is a different cup of tea.”
