I would like to thank President Museveni for his wise decision to appoint Hon. Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi and his junior minister, Justine Namere, to head the Local Government docket.
Honestly speaking, ever since these two ministers launched anti-corruption crusades across the country, many projects that had been abandoned at various local government levels are now being completed, yet they had previously stalled due to corruption.
In fact, merely mentioning the name Balaam at any gathering of civil servants is enough to make some officials flee. Among district civil servants, the name Balaam has become something many fear.
The actions of Minister Balaam and his junior minister, Namere, have made many Ugandans wonder why the country has so many ministers who are not performing at all. In fact, some believe Uganda only needs five ministers like Hon. Balaam and Namere to effectively manage service delivery across the country.
Mr. President, I think you have also seen what has been happening. Many people have lobbied to be appointed, but they do not use those appointments to improve service delivery in the country.
Mr. President, if Hon. Balaam and his team continue doing what they are doing until the next elections, trust me, you won’t even be required to traverse the whole country looking for votes. Instead, you will only need to move around greeting the people and would win by a large margin.
In fact, many Ugandans have now concluded that President Museveni is not the problem, but rather that the challenge has been non-performing ministers.
Imagine people lining the roads and others sweeping wherever Hon. Balaam is passing on his way to inspect projects.
The Ministry of Local Government is the centre of corruption, and the President was right when he jokingly said he appointed Hon. Namere and Hon. Balaam to go and quarrel with civil servants in local government. It is true that the ministry does not need smiles but a tough approach to confront corrupt officials.
Hon. Balaam, Ugandans are proud of you. My humble request is for you to reach Karamoja and visit Nakonyen in Moroto District, where the Ministry of Agriculture reportedly spent Shs47 billion on a ghost dam.
I would also like to thank our Badman General, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who identified Hon. Balaam and brought him to PLU, where he was picked after being vetted. Long live the Badman General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, long live President Museveni, and long live the people of Uganda.
The writer is a senior veteran journalist.
