Let actions be by law
Jun 04, 2004
ON Tuesday I read news in both <i>Vision and Monitor</i> which shook me badly
ON Tuesday I read news in both Vision and Monitor which shook me badly. This was that Special Presidential Assistant Kakooza Mutale had threatened Inspector General of Government Jotham Tumwesigye with arrest if the IGG went ahead to have Solicitor General Lucien Tibaruha arrested, if he refused to hand over a requested file. You sensed he would cause the SG to be legally arrested by the Police, the constitutional arresting agents. Kakooza Mutale seemed to be threatening he himself would be arresting the IGG, being quoted as stating, “I am talking to you in my capacity as a special presidential assistant†He said he had provided security to the SG to ensure he was not arrested as ordered by the IGG. My goodness that is “special†indeed but is it constitutional? And would it not be like a captain arresting a general? The relish with which Kakooza made his intentions known reminded you that the IGG had “fired†him for not filling in his income and property forms under the Leadership Code. (The High Court reversed this.) Could Kakooza be showing you did not cross him and escape scot-free? Additionally he asked whether the IGG had consulted with the President before issuing the arrest orders. Well then, had Kakooza consulted the same supreme authority before issuing his threats? It goes without saying that President Museveni would never set up his special assistant against a whole Inspector General of Government, much less give him illegal powers to arrest him. It is true that Kakooza Mutale has never feared to force an issue if he considered it right, but where does this leave his Boss if the action is off-beam, as this one clearly was? Later on, in a supreme irony, Mutale was reported in the Monitor as accusing the IGG of over-enthusiasm (for Mutale is nothing if not over-enthusiastic) and stating that the IGG wanted “to incapacitate Museveni’s government.†Surely one of the quickest ways of incapacitating any government is for its officers to behave illegally, such as Mutale’s threatening to arrest people without authority. Mutale would never even dream of incapacitating Museveni, who has been so good to him over the years. But what he needs to appreciate is that some (not all) of his actions put his master’s nose out of joint. Government was quick to clear up the mess. Prime Minister Nsibambi ordered the Solicitor General to hand over the file the IGG wanted. He also suggested things would move quicker if the IGG, independent though the Constitution made him, cooperated with Government, for example in a case like this where all he needed was a file. The President, who after all put the Inspectorate of Government into place, ordered that all files should be availed to the IGG whenever requested. He said on the other hand that the IGG should not interfere with the work of government while on-going, but react when a decision had been reached, and if necessary even before its execution. This of course was proper, for otherwise the IGG would in effect be running government. The case in point was a good example. A Mr J. Musinguzi was asking for a whopping 13 billion shillings (over US $7 million — nice work if you can get it) from Government for his Rakai ranches. Read it as you like, but Uganda’s Solicitor General did not hand the file over. Now the IGG will get the file and will do his work on these billions, and tell us the peasants what we have done to deserve surrendering such overwhelming sums from our exchequer. And he must finish this work before a shilling is handed over to our friend Musinguzi, who looks unlike one to hand it back! If Musinguzi prefers court, so much the better.
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A few years ago I came across an organization called Raleigh International, a group of youngish boys and girls who went from England to various places in the world to carry out voluntary activities to those in need. They might repair or even build houses for the elderly, erect school buildings for areas which could not afford them, clean up unhygienic sites. Their emphasis was to do good where it was most needed. I was hooked, if not to the extent of joining them in their often filthy, but exemplary, activities, at least to attend their end of visit party, courtesy of the Sheraton Hotel. What was special for me was that they were keen to involve our Ugandan youths in their work. To see those from the “rich north†work for nothing was easy to credit (for perhaps it counted as a hobby). But to see our young here smitten by the same bug, and for no pay, bordered on the incredible. And what’s more they would wait for the same medicine when their guests turned up again. But at the end of one of the trips, the English leader told me sheepishly that their bosses at home now considered Uganda at risk and would not send them again. I was flabbergasted, for our country seemed more secure than before. I thought that was it then, but the Ugandans refused to. Under one of the originals, Ronald Nyende, they are still at it today, and have made me their willing patron. They have manually erected a school building, and cleaned up the UWEC headquarters lately. We need minimal funds, for transport to projects and feeding while there. Otherwise the young people are at school or employed, doing their voluntary work for no payment. The name: Uganda Voluntary Youth Initiatives. Please pick up your phone.
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A few years ago I came across an organization called Raleigh International, a group of youngish boys and girls who went from England to various places in the world to carry out voluntary activities to those in need. They might repair or even build houses for the elderly, erect school buildings for areas which could not afford them, clean up unhygienic sites. Their emphasis was to do good where it was most needed. I was hooked, if not to the extent of joining them in their often filthy, but exemplary, activities, at least to attend their end of visit party, courtesy of the Sheraton Hotel. What was special for me was that they were keen to involve our Ugandan youths in their work. To see those from the “rich north†work for nothing was easy to credit (for perhaps it counted as a hobby). But to see our young here smitten by the same bug, and for no pay, bordered on the incredible. And what’s more they would wait for the same medicine when their guests turned up again. But at the end of one of the trips, the English leader told me sheepishly that their bosses at home now considered Uganda at risk and would not send them again. I was flabbergasted, for our country seemed more secure than before. I thought that was it then, but the Ugandans refused to. Under one of the originals, Ronald Nyende, they are still at it today, and have made me their willing patron. They have manually erected a school building, and cleaned up the UWEC headquarters lately. We need minimal funds, for transport to projects and feeding while there. Otherwise the young people are at school or employed, doing their voluntary work for no payment. The name: Uganda Voluntary Youth Initiatives. Please pick up your phone.