Until I see the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) move to arrest the big fish in this country who have looted enough public resources, I will not be convinced that the IGG has the strength to deal with corruption in this country.
Every Ugandan knows that the IGG only runs after officials in lower positions under instructions from corrupt juntas in the same offices.
If the IGG is really fighting corruption, why not go to Kakumiro and listen to the cries of the people there against the current Minister of Works, Fred Byamukama?
The Kalembe family is crying tears, and they do not know where to turn. They have tried to seek the intervention of President Museveni, but they are always being blocked after Mr Fred Byamukama allegedly forged documents to acquire land in Nyansimbi Village, where he claimed to be a surviving relative of a certain Kalemba Yowana. Yet the family says he never belonged to their family. These are the kinds of public officials who should be investigated and brought to book.
I heard him accusing some MPs of owning property along the railway line, yet he himself and his brother, who was his front, have a land forgery case at Hoima High Court registered as Civil Suit No. 108 of 2023. But you are not investigating this.
Still, the family of Kalembe Yonah is crying after Mr Byamukama allegedly forcefully obtained 65 million from the family, money that was meant for road construction compensation. Why can’t you, IGG, investigate this by reaching out to that family?
Instead, you watch innocent officers being interdicted and dismissed in the Ministry of Works, yet the real people who should have been held responsible for the current corruption saga in the Ministry of Works are still in office.
There is no way you can recommend the interdiction and dismissal of officials who are not decision-makers while leaving the people responsible for designing, preparing bidding documents, and negotiating the costs of road works. Let’s look at the loopholes surrounding the Busega–Mpigi Expressway. There is no way you can transfer that mess to junior engineers while leaving Mr Isaac Wani out of it.
Why should Mr Wani, Commissioner for National Roads in the Ministry of Works, not have been interdicted some time back? Much as he claims to be a whistleblower, he is not. He was the Director of Roads Design at UNRA at the time. He was the chairman of the contracts committee that approved the Busega–Mpigi Expressway contract, even when he knew that its design was not yet in place. He was the one who first approved the increase of Shs 1.8 trillion for the project.
This compelled the Ministry of Works at the time to establish its own committee to guide Mr Wani. This committee did a wonderful job by negotiating the cost of the project downwards to Shs 1.108 trillion. Instead of respecting the negotiations conducted by the Ministry of Works, Mr Wani, either out of greed or for other reasons, went and conducted his own independent business research and added Shs 300 million, which increased the cost of the project to Shs 1 trillion, without the consent of the minister, whose role is to communicate the position of the government.
Really, is this not enough evidence for the IGG to have acted upon and required Mr Wani to step aside, if it is not true that they are dining together with Wani?
Let’s look at an advert that was published for the position of Commissioner for National Roads.
Ministry/Department
Ministry of Works and Transport
Post
COMMISSIONER, NATIONAL ROADS
Scale
U1SE
Terms of Employment
ONLY STAFF OF THE FORMER UGANDA NATIONAL ROADS AUTHORITY SHOULD APPLY.
Vacancies
1
Reference
HRM 91/153/01 VOL.5
Minimum Age
35
Maximum Age
Not specified.
Minimum Qualification
Applicants should be Ugandans holding an Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, or any other relevant degree in the field of Civil Engineering, plus a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Bridge Engineering, Highway Engineering, or any other Civil Engineering field from a recognised university or institution.
Applicants must have a postgraduate diploma in a management field from a recognised university or institution. Applicants must be registered with the Engineers Registration Board (ERB).
Working Experience
Applicants should have a minimum of twelve (12) years of relevant working experience, three (3) of which should have been served at the level of Assistant Commissioner, Civil Engineering, in government, or an equivalent level of experience in a reputable organisation.
Duties
The incumbent will be responsible to the Permanent Secretary for performing the following duties:
- Initiating and coordinating the development and review of policies regarding national road development and maintenance.
- Collaborating with international organisations, intergovernmental organisations, agencies of other states, and the private sector on issues related to the development of national roads.
- Planning, designing, and developing the national road infrastructure.
- Developing and enforcing regulations and policies related to the use and management of national roads.
- Securing and managing funding for the construction and maintenance of national roads.
- Developing, maintaining, controlling, and managing national road reserves and facilities.
- Preparing and implementing annual road maintenance programmes.
- Developing, maintaining, and utilising road asset management systems for national roads.
- Managing the performance and development of supervisees in line with the performance management system.
- Performing any other duties as may be assigned from time to time.
Now, my question to the IGG is: Who is currently occupying that position in the Ministry of Works? Why have you not taken an interest in interrogating this person, bearing in mind that he is responsible for the delays or stalled completion of roads? Are you not also showing Ugandans that you are corrupt by allowing such a person to continue discharging his duties when he should have stepped aside to pave the way for investigations?
Now, considering that entire job description, my question is whether the IGG’s investigations are targeting Mrs Allen Kagina and her team, or whether the IGG is also playing a hide-and-seek game with its investigations by protecting people who should have been interdicted a long time ago.
Are you also dining with the corrupt through your targeted investigations? Ugandans need that report. Where is it? You conducted two separate investigations. Where are the reports?
This is something very serious that I would like to appeal to our President to look into. I would also like to bring to the attention of our bad man, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, that the IGG’s investigations seem to be targeting a small group of innocent people while leaving the entire team that should be answerable for this corruption.
My sources are even telling me that a letter was sent from State House directing Wani to vacate the office, but unfortunately, Mr Fred Byamukama, the Minister of Works, and the current Acting Permanent Secretary are hiding the letter. However, we shall bring out those details in the next article.
I am not witch-hunting anyone, but the truth must be established so that investigations and punishment are directed at the real culprits.
This is why I keep appealing to President Museveni over this matter, because what is happening in the Ministry of Works is similar to what happened to Jesus Christ when they took him with two thieves. Some people preferred Jesus to be killed, yet Jesus was doing the right things: raising the dead, making the lame walk, and making the blind see. But he was killed, and that is what has happened to the dismissed engineers. They were not responsible for designing the road, procuring the contractor, or negotiating the cost, but they have been accused of these things, while the IGG is bypassing the officials responsible for all this for unknown reasons. Something must be fishy here.
If the President spends time meeting with those interdicted officials, he will also remain in disbelief.
So, I would like to appeal to my honourable Minister Balaam: Please ignore those statements. Those are statements made out of panic. Instead of the IGG welcoming your efforts, some corrupt officials are now trying to use the IGG to frustrate your efforts.
Without favour or fear, several IGG officials, especially at the lower level, have been sharing the looted funds with district local government staff.
The writer is a senior veteran journalist.
