President Museveni cannot lead the fight against corruption because many of the suspects are his relatives and cronies, anti-corruption activists charged yesterday. Speaking at the second National Anti-Corruption Convention in Kampala, at which they launched the Black Mondays to mourn corruption in the country, the crusaders called for a review of the Constitution to limit the powers of the President. “How can you tell President Museveni to act against his nieces and nephews?” thundered Miria Matembe, a former minister-turned good governance activist. “It is impossible; there is no way he is going to take actions that will affect his own.” (http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Anti-graft-meet-puts-Museveni-on-the-spot/-/688334/1635796/-/2aw3hu/-/index.html)
NOT FORGOTTEN: Mukula (L), First Lady Janet and Museveni after the president's 2011 nomination at Namboole stadium
Ms Matembe speaks at the second National Anti- Corruption Convention at Hotel Africana in Kampala in December last year. The meeting was aimed at urging Mr Museveni to punish corrupt officials. PHOTO BY REBECCA VASSIE.
Museveni gives Mukula Shs 100m for legal fees
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24007:museveni-gives-mukula-shs-100m-for-legal-fees&catid=78:topstories&Itemid=116
Monday, 04 March 2013 00:04
As his incarceration entered its 43rd day, former
junior Health minister and Soroti Municipality MP Mike Mukula got some good
news. President Museveni handed Shs 100m to his legal team to help secure his
freedom.
Presidential Press Secretary Tamale Mirundi
confirmed the development over the weekend, describing the money as Museveni’s
contribution to his friend.
“Yes, I can confirm that the money was paid,”
Mirundi said.
Mukula was on January 18 convicted and sentenced
to four years in jail for embezzling Shs 210m from the Global Alliance for
Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi). An estimated Shs 1.6bn was lost in the Gavi
scam. Mukula maintains he is innocent and has appealed against both the
conviction and the sentence.
President Museveni has been under pressure to
come to the rescue of his former minister, who is also NRM vice chairperson for
eastern Uganda,
with delegations from his home region of Teso lobbying for his freedom.
Mukula’s supporters accuse the government of targeting their man after he
expressed interest in standing for the presidency. Keen not to be seen as
insensitive, and yet maintaining that he can’t influence the judiciary,
Museveni promised to pay Mukula’s legal fees.
During a meeting at his Rwakitura home on January
24, Museveni told visiting Teso leaders that he would pay Mukula’s legal fees.
However, he refused to agree with the delegation, led by the Teso cultural
leader - the Emorimor - that he should influence the judicial process to
get Mukula out of jail. The president told them that he had fought in the bush
to restore democracy and rule of law and would, therefore, be the last
person to seek to undermine the judiciary.
After a magistrate in the Anti-Corruption division of the High court found Mukula guilty, some circles spoke of a political witch-hunt and selective prosecution, especially given that his former colleagues in the ministry of Health, Jim Muhwezi and Alex Kamugisha, with whom he was accused of embezzlement, were acquitted of the charges.
The fact that his acquitted former colleagues,
including former State House aide, Alice Kaboyo, who pleaded guilty and was
fined, hail from western Uganda,
the president’s home region, has fuelled the politicisation of the case. That
Mukula has hinted on standing for president in the past has not helped either.
When the scandal came to light, Mukula said he
had given the money he is accused of stealing to the First Lady for a project
on HIV/Aids. However, according to the court proceedings, only Shs 53m of the
Shs 263m went to Mrs Janet Museveni, and it was reportedly accounted for.Mukula
said he refunded the remaining Shs 210m but the magistrate found he had done
that in piecemeal.
The Gavi donated $4.3m to Uganda in 2004 as a reward for
surpassing the national immunisation targets in 2002.
