Touching the ‘untouchables’

Tough talk or empty talk

But it appears not everyone is convinced about Nakalema’s tough talk. Several anti-corruption activists The Independent talked to said she mostly targets low-rank local government officials and steers clear of the top officials; the so-called “untouchables.”

“Lt. Col. Nakalema is just being blind to the facts on the ground,” said Cissy Kagaba, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition-Uganda, “Ugandans cannot be taken for fools.

“Ugandans know that there are high-profile people in this government who cannot be touched and so talking them away won’t eliminate corruption.”

Kagaba told The Independent on Oct.22 that, to prove her point, Nakalema “should come out and show us some of the big fish that she has handled.”

Kagaba told The Independent that if Nakalema is interested in restoring public confidence and rallying Ugandans towards the fight against corruption, she must go for the so-called “untouchables.”

She said by the time Nakalema talks about the “big fish,” the other moniker used for “the untouchables,” it means that she is very much aware of these people she needs to pursue who have been published many times in the media, in government reports and international forums.

Peter Wandera, the executive director of the Uganda Chapter of Transparency International also told The Independent that “talking about how there are no “untouchables” in Nakalema’s war against the corrupt is not enough for Ugandans.”

Wandera points out the allegations President Museveni has made in reference to the recent sacking of senior officials in the Uganda Revenue Authority and the Electoral Commission.

President Museveni said on Sept.07 that he sacked the Electoral Commission officials because they were involved in corruption during the procurement of biometric equipment that was supposed to be used during the 2016 general election.

The sacked EC officials include; Sam Rwakoojo, the former Secretary, Joseph Lwanga, the former director of finance, Godfrey Wanyoto (head of procurement), Jotham Taremwa (public relations officer), Pontius Namugera (information technology director), Jordan Lubega (administrative networks), Charles Musuza and Edgar Kasigwa (data specialists).

However, the EC Chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama, said the officials had actually sought early retirement, which was granted. “The record that we have is that they sought early retirement. I have the letters on record; the commission sat and conceded to their request and they left,” Justice Byabakama said.

Meanwhile in June, this year, President Museveni sacked several commissioners at the Uganda Revenue Authority alleging corruption. Although, the URA said in a statement that Dicksons Kateshumbwa, the head of domestic taxes, Henry Saka (domestic taxes), Siraje Kanyesigye, the commissioner in charge of large tax payers’ office and Samuel Kahima, an auditor were not sacked but resigned, Museveni said the officials were sacked because of corruption.

Speaking shortly after the 2020/21 budget reading, Museveni said he had cleaned the corruption problem at URA. Referring to the commissioners as a “crowd,” Museveni said the commissioners were stealing instead of serving their people.

“There has been a lot of corruption in URA. That one I have cleaned as we shall clean some other places. Wherever there is corruption, we shall get you like we cleared the URA crowd.”

“We were begging as if they are doing us a favour instead of working for their country. Those young people who were given a great opportunity to serve their country, they were busy doing other things. So we have dispersed them; that URA crowd,” he said.

Interestingly, weeks after his sacking, Kateshumbwa announced he was joining politics. He said he would run on the ruling NRM ticket. Kateshumbwa is now eyeing the MP seat for Sheema Municipality in western Uganda.

Cissy Kagaba told The Independent that the test case for Lt. Col. Nakalema should be the senior officials at the Electoral Commission and the Uganda Revenue Authority who President Museveni said were sacked because of corruption.

Kagaba said she found it ironic that Kateshumbwa, one of the URA commissioners whom the president claims sacked because of corruption immediately joined his ruling NRM party to run for MP in the 2021 general election. Wandera of Transparency International-Uganda was also baffled by Kateshumbwa’s serene metamorphosis into elective politics.

“If you dismiss someone whom you claim to be corrupt, it should not stop at dismissal, the public needs to know what this person stole,” Wandera said, “He or she should go to court, stand trial and get convicted and anti-corruption agencies must recover what he or she stole.”

The publicist at Nakalema’s anti-corruption unit at State House, Natasha Mariam, told The Independent on Oct.22 that the URA commissioners’ sacking “stopped at the administrative level.”

She said the State House Anti-Corruption Unit is not investigating the URA commissioners because no one has brought a formal complaint to the unit.

Meanwhile, Munira Ali, the strategic partnerships and public relations officer at the Inspectorate of Government told The Independent that the Inspectorate of Government is not investigating the URA officials for now but a probe into the EC officials is almost reaching its conclusion.

“I can confirm that the IG is in the final stages of investigating all the people who were sacked at the Electoral Commission,” she said, adding that “By the time the president spoke publicly about the EC officials, the IG had already received a complaint about the corruption allegations.”

Kagaba says Nakalema should engage with the former IGG, Irene Mulyagonja, so she gets a few pointers of who the untouchables are.  “When we are talking about the untouchables, we are not talking about ordinary people,” she said.