Shun Imperial-backed riots genuinely fight corruption

It is a selfish endeavour which we should not buy into. As you may recall for instance, the Hon. Speaker of Parliament was sanctioned for allowing the enaction of the Anti-Homosexuality law under the guise of corruption which they could not prove even after the President wrote to them requesting proof that the speaker owned a house in the UK!

By Hudu Hussein

I seek to add my voice to the ongoing public discourse on corruption and its related evils within our society.

To begin with, we must appreciate the historical and geographical context in which we find ourselves so that in fighting corruption, we understand where we are coming from, where we are and where we are headed.

Uganda was a global laughingstock and a nation in total distress before the NRA Revolutionary War. The inspiration to save our nation at that time from total collapse was overwhelming and with great risk to personal comfort and life, H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni went to fight a successful liberation war.

The task of rebuilding a near-dead nation in a globally evolving world into a democracy of reasonable standards required setting up institutions, laws and structures for running government. These institutions like courts of law and the parliament are the anchors of our democracy. Much as they are not fully developed, it is far better to have them than to have a military or autocratic rule which dominated this nation before NRM came into power.

Therefore, faced with the challenge of corruption today, we must not forget that we are a growing democracy, and we cannot afford to compromise these young institutions, especially in their infancy. We must also understand that corruption as a vice is not local, it is international and a weakness of human nature. Marching to Parliament or attacking judicial officers cannot cure human weakness. It must be every individual’s fight and it must be fought from the roots. The remedy to a corrupt free society starts from the social institutions that we all cherish; the families, churches and mosques, the schools that our children go to and what they are taught.

It has been reported that we lose nearly or even over 10 trillion shillings annually to corruption. These funds are misappropriated to the detriment of the masses who consequently cannot have access to proper medical care, better roads and education and several other such services provided by the government.

This is not a small issue that should be reduced to personal fights with a speaker of parliament or a magistrate, all of whom are not permanent. This is the spirit of the nation that we are fighting for and the fruits of the NRA revolution which were earned with sacrifice and blood.

Therefore, we cannot base on rumours and unverified accusations to nail people on the cross of corruption. That alone is an attack on the rule of law and certainly, corruption too. It does not matter how grave accusations may be. We must uphold due process and the cardinal principle of innocence before being declared guilty by a competent court of law.

We cannot go back to the Obote and Amin era where people were sentenced before trial. This approach which has been adopted by some social media cowards masquerading as anti-corruption apostles is an abuse to our constitution and rule of law which the NRM fought so much to bring to Uganda.

Every public official suspected to be engaged in corruption should be subjected to a legal process. Otherwise, any undue crucifixion without subjecting them to our democratic institutions is a danger to order and a display of an unwillingness to grow our democracy. Our courts have proven to be, largely, dependable with several precedents such as the conviction of Hudson Jackson Andrua, a former Executive Director of the National Forestry Authority, Lwamafa Jimmy, a former PS to the public service and several others who have even barred from holding public office.

Though there are challenges in investigations and following the entire due process without compromising the independence of the judiciary, these are expected of a young democracy. However, it is without doubt that the president has the political will to fight corruption and should play by the rules too.

We must not lose focus and give neo-colonial forces access to the soul of this nation through artificial uprisings such as the failed march to parliament. As earlier stated, such uprisings do not help end corruption, rather they are means by which some imperialists seek to topple Pan-African governments.

Their script is not new. They use youths excited by social media propaganda to march to the streets and face the fire of the security forces while they plot in the background to install puppets whom they can easily exploit to access our natural wealth; that in itself is corruption. You will bear me witness that you will never see the guys who make the noise most on Twitter joining the riots or at least their children.

It is a selfish endeavour which we should not buy into. As you may recall for instance, the Hon. Speaker of Parliament was sanctioned for allowing the enaction of the Anti-Homosexuality law under the guise of corruption which they could not prove even after the President wrote to them requesting proof that the speaker owned a house in the UK!

We must not buy into the misguidance of some forces. Rather, we should be organized and bold enough to use the laws and institutions in place to fight corruption from the top to the bottom. Many anti-corruption units have been set up, several laws have been enacted and the president has publicly pronounced himself against the vice severally, taking action and regularly having the corrupt arrested, including his ministers.

All these are signs of the will to fight corruption. In whatever capacity you are as a Ugandan, you should be bold to fight corruption without resorting to violence, blackmail and malice. Otherwise, our fight will be hijacked by those whose intentions are selfish and personal.

I will conclude by thanking H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and several other Ugandans who have resisted the temptation to yield to seeming Western-backed influencers whose hatred for the democratically elected government is greater than their genuine passion for fighting corruption. I commend those who like me fight corruption with actions and not words. My record is clear. In Masaka alone, I have ordered the arrest of over 10 people involved in the misappropriation of public funds, and I have stopped the construction of factories in wetlands despite attempts to compromise me. Riots are unjustified.