President Museveni.
PHOTO BY ABU MWESIGWA
Kyaddondo East Member of Parliament, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi has scathingly reacted to President Yoweri Museveni’s latest promise to fight corruption, saying the head of State lacks the will to decisively tackle the vice.
On Monday, Mr Museveni while officiating at the Anti-Corruption week at Kololo Independence Grounds said his new plan is to confiscate property of public servants who steal public money.
“All property belonging to corrupt officials will be confiscated. But I will first get first-hand information before confiscation of the property and I will order organisations fighting corruption to avail me with more details of stolen money,” Mr Museveni said.
However, Mr Kyagulanyi, commonly known as Bobi Wine, said in a statement he circulated on his social media platforms that Mr Museveni has no capacity to clean the mess since he’s presiding over the worst corrupt systems.
“It is because of that corrupt system that hospitals have no drugs. That schools are rotting. That the levels of unemployment are sickening. That we have no public transport,” Mr Kyagulanyi said in the statement. “That our infrastructural projects are inflated, costing many more times than they do in other countries, and yet we end up with shoddy works. That our nation suffers and bleeds.”
He said as far as fighting graft is concerned, Mr Museveni has always shot himself in the foot by appointing, reappointing and elevating corrupt and compromised people in public office.
Mr Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine)
Below is Mr Kyagulanyi’s statement that has been slightly edited
So today President Museveni has asked Ugandans to listen to him as he announces new measures against corruption. What a joke!
After 32 years of empty promises, he is promising yet again!
How can we depend on the man who created the mess to clean it up?
How can a man who has created and presided over one of the worst corrupt systems talk about fighting corruption? How can a man, who goes around bribing citizens with sacks of public funds purport to fight corruption? How can a man, who was only last week linked to receiving a bribe of $500,000 in a United States federal court, say anything about fighting corruption?*
What can a man who has established, nurtured and supported political and economic corruption talk about combating corruption? A man who bribes MPs to pass decadent laws? A man who only two weeks ago admitted while in Kenya, that he bribes Ugandans, so as not to lose votes? A man who treats our nation’s treasury as if it’s his own purse? A man who treats Uganda’s natural resources as his own?
It is because of that corrupt system that hospitals have no drugs. That schools are rotting. That the levels of unemployment are sickening. That we have no public transport. That our infrastructural projects are inflated, costing many more times than they do in other countries, and yet we end up with shoddy works. That our nation suffers and bleeds.
If corruption in Uganda is a baby, President Museveni is its midwife. If it is a football game, he is a striker. If it is a song, he is the producer. If it is a building, he is the chief architect. And yes, if it is a plant, he is that fertile soil that has enabled it grow, blossom and flourish! He has appointed, reappointed, and elevated the corrupt and most compromised people in public office, and protected them.
Mr President, you have no moral authority to say anything about fighting corruption. You are not just part of the problem – you are the biggest stumbling block in any effort to rid this country of corruption, patronage and abuse of public funds.
* There is no evidence that Mr Museveni expected, solicited or received such money. Both the President and Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa were not defendants in the case and were not called to testify.