News coming through of Karamoja Affairs Minister, Mary Goretti Kitutu asking the President for forgiveness over the Karamoja iron sheets scandal may not surprise many Ugandans but is indicative of the upgraded paupers that most of our politicians are.
Uganda’s politics has been flooded with individuals who look at it as an avenue to swiftly accumulate wealth, fame and respect.
Whether Opposition or Ruling party politicians, you see the same characteristics being displayed of gluttony or even better expressed as binge eating.
In 2013, Mwenge North MP David Muhumuza in a meeting cried out to the President, “Loans are killing us, please help us Mr President.”
The president went ahead to respond, “My intelligence tells me that it is only 50 MPs who can sustain themselves. The rest are infested with debts.” Imagine this!!! Meaning that out of the then 374 MPs, 324 were actually broke.
Late last year, Hon Andrew Koluo, the MP for Toroma Constituency wrote a letter to the President requesting for over 1 Billion Shillings to build his house and pay off loans. How sad and shaming this is. If poverty was a person, that person would be Hon Koluo.
When she was appointed a Minister, Hon. Nandutu Agnes a media professional went around thanking the President for having elevated her and used any opportunity to let the world know her gyenvudde (past) giving narratives of how she was once a house help, yada yada ….
Numerous Members of Parliament and Cabinet appointees are no different from Hon Nandutu. These were down to earth lay men and women who clearly knew the problems of the unwashed masses. Unfortunately, the day the mantle of power and its trappings came upon them, things started to change.
Government projects come along and they start dipping their fingers into the cookie jar, hoping to grab whatever they can before it is too late. They begun uttering statements that make one think that there is a special variety of marijuana they consume.
Take the example of Minister Haruna Kasolo Kyeyune who went around last November saying that lazy, poor Ugandans should be beaten in order to get rich. Whatever Njaaye Tea this guy takes should be very potent.
He reminds me of Hon. Ronald Kibuule a former Minister and Parliamentarian who thought he had reached cloud nine by being a Minister and MP. He is known for having engaged in numerous land grabbing efforts as well as various actions not befitting of a sane brain that is suitable for leadership among human beings. Isn’t he the one who beat up a female bank security guard? Today, his larger than life ego is deflated and one wonders where what had inflated it went.
Seeing Hon Nandutu and Hon Kitutu walk like chicken thieves and appear in court devoid of all the razzmatazz that politicians are accustomed to gave some of us a sense of satisfaction. At least they were getting an opportunity to be demystified.
Another flashback was Hon Odonga Otto during his days as a Parliamentarian. So many were the crazy antiques he got entangled in especially in his personal life that made one think that he was a spoilt brat.
How about the recent duo that is filling prime advertising space in the city at tax payers money with their neanderthal visages apparently to give the impression to our visitors that Uganda has the most handsome and beautiful politicians in the Commonwealth.
The list is endless. However, the move last month by Minister Kitutu begging for forgiveness from the President is so revealing. She is quoted in a written letter stating;
“…Your Excellency we are your daughters and sons. In a family, children can make mistakes but many times parents have some window of pardon and forgiveness…. Together with my colleagues who are facing court, we highly appreciate your leniency for having kept us in cabinet”
“On behalf of my colleagues whom we are all in agreement wish to give our apology to you as the head of state for whatever mistakes were made in the iron sheet saga … Your Excellency, we have learnt a lesson as individuals and we ask for pardon from you.”
In the same communication, she cries out about how costly the legal process has been to them. This leaves one wondering how such apparently elderly individuals could not have thought of the ramifications of their actions while they were busy depriving the Karamoja people.
It is very evident that they are all a pay cheque away from poverty and are sweating plasma upon the prospect of being dropped from their ministerial positions. This is why I love President Museveni. He raises you so high and by doing so arms you with alot of potential gravitational energy (GPE). The day he releases you, that GPE translates into very high kinetic energy sending you to a very big thud and devastating impact when your bottom hits the ground where you came from. (Allow me revisit my scientific knowledge)
She further states in her letter, “And the most depressing thing that we have faced as ministers is when the technical officers and the accounting officer who were part of the problem have caused more loss of 11,006 iron sheets are paraded as witnesses by the DPP against us.”
This statement just leaves one wondering whether they are displaying a Rural Approach to Urban Excitement or symptoms of the disease called Arrivalism.
It is no wonder that when most of them fall off the political scene, they drop deep into the abyss of poverty that they are either given an early ticket to meet their creator or join the gnashing impoverished majority.
Aspiring to be a politician in Uganda? First secure your future economically. Otherwise you will be lost at sea trying to embrace the sudden shock of crazy legitimate and illegitimate money that knocks at your door.
It does not matter which side of the political divide you are. Take a cue from the noisy crew that was ushered in by the red brigade of sensational voters. They speak less lately, reminding me of the African proverb, the mouth which eat does not talk.
James Wire
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