There are a number of reasons as to why President Museveni recently removed Hon. Kitutu and Nandutu from the Ministerial ‘dining table,’ the Mabati saga aside. Poor etiquette during dining matters greatly at such high-profile functions. How one holds the fork matters a lot, and eating “food” meant for voters, in this case, the Karachunas, is an aggravated crime in itself, with no defenses to disentangle one from punishment. Recall that voters will be monitoring for leftovers and other related spills. As they say, what killed the chameleon was nothing but camouflage, changing colors unaware that it was being monitored.
Important to emphasize again that Hon. Nandutu Agnes had roughly served for less than 900 days as a state minister for Karamoja affairs. Other core reasons for rejection from the cabinet include the following: lack of solid home support. Both ministers are not politically solid on the ground or across the region. Their popularity among Bamasaaba is in doubt, whereas ministers like Hon. Lugolobi, who is also facing similar charges relating to mismanagement of public office in regard to the Mabati scandal, managed to mobilize the whole of Kayunga where masses told President Museveni not to touch their son, and President Museveni appears to have listened and yielded. Politics, just like business, numbers matter a lot. Both Kitutu and Nandutu failed to mobilize Bamasaaba to their cause.
Recently, when some fingers were pointed towards the Speaker of Parliament, Among Annet, for mismanaging parliamentary cash, she mobilized the whole of Teso and invited the president to open the hospital she had constructed. The president was very impressed with the turnout of thousands of Mwanainchi and the projects on the ground. The speaker reported to the president on how many people she is employing and how she raised the money to construct the hospital. Both Nandutu and Kitutu had nothing on the ground to hoodwink the president to disentangle them from the mess they were in.
Secondly, Hon. Nandutu, during the inauguration ceremony of Umukuka III in early October last year, flatly refused to kneel while greeting the cultural leader. While the likes of Hon. Namuwenge Ritah (EMYOOGA coordinator) and Hon. Wanyoto (now senior presidential advisor and CEC member) were rolling freely in the mud with joy when the government gazetted the cultural leader and welcoming their Cultural leader, Hon. Nandutu Agnes could have none of this. The Bamasaaba cultures and customs encourage respect for elders, and many elders were disturbed by this level of behavior, and many culturalists predicted the current outcome. In Buganda, if one won’t kneel for the Kabaka, he should know he has lost an election in advance.
Hon. Kitutu did not ask for requests from the president to pardon her for having mismanaged the Mabati scandal, but she was instead seen rather trotting villages to village and telling her voters and relatives in Namisindwa on NTV that the president can’t sack her. A president can sack even the most hardening minister; appointment is discretionary while termination of political service is equally discretionary as he needs no permission from anyone to do so.
The Karamoja-Bugisu rivalry over theft of Bugisu cows by Karamojongs. The other reason is that there was a lot of pressure from the Karachuna (Karamoja warriors) who have a natural mistrust with their neither Bamasaaba. Recall Karamojongs have been labeled as thieves of cattle by Bamasaaba. Conversely, the Karamojongs were pushing the president to remove the two ministers to make the world know that Bamasaaba also have thieves among them.
Many of the iron sheets that were stolen by the ministers were not put on charitable works like what others had done. In criminal law, there is stealing with a good motive. The one who steals to feed say 100 orphaned children may not be punished like the one who steals to sell and go and drink. Hon. Kitutu through her agents was said to have been seen selling the iron sheets through the agents in an open market, and Hon. Nandutu was said to have roofed her sty on her piggery farm in Wakiso. The arrested agents appeared to have given in, and that is the brother of Kitutu is still inside. Politics is about numbers and not family.
Crimes on theft ultravires the Penal Code Section 253, 254, and the Anti-Corruption Act 2009 sections 2 up to section 6 and once convicted can attract a very severe punishment.
However, many pundits fault the Office of the Prime Minister for not guiding some of these ministers. For example, Hon. Nandutu, as a TV presenter, had limited knowledge of public disposal of public assets, while Kitutu, who is very erudite with a PhD qualification, should have known the disposal procedures/allocation procedure of public items better than anyone else. Notwithstanding, the Prime Minister Nabanja claims that PhD holders are difficult to supervise.
In politics, numbers and the voice of Mwanainchi matter a lot. A story is told of how General Amin, who was about to ‘finish’ off a prominent Mukiga from Rukungiri, and the Bakiga came in lorryfuls and pleaded with him, and he had no option but to pardon the said person. Metaphorically, there were no millions from Bugisu pleading with the president to spare their daughters, and there is no noise against their being removed from the ministry of Karamoja from Bamasaaba. Mao Tsetung, the famous Chinese leader, once said that he is protected by masses, politicians need masses if they are to breathe politically for a long time.
The writer is a researcher and also the spokesperson for Inzu Ya Masaba, Tel: 0782231577.
