By Amlan Tumusiime
Dr. Patrick Wakida (PhD) has for a long time opposed the NRM government and President Museveni in particular. I used to follow him on TV talk shows and no doubt from his presentations he has never believed in the NRM administration.
When he crossed to NRM, I doubted if his decision was genuine or if indeed it was his personal decision to join NRM or an invisible hand then cajoled him to join NRM promising him a ministerial slot. This of course was a pipe dream.
Today, he’s an ordinary MP and deep in his heart he regrets why he joined elective politics having missed out on the cabinet list. I was not surprised when I saw him on the floor of Parliament lambasting the local government minister-honorables Balaam Barugahara and Namere Justine who are fighting corruption and Ugandans are very happy. Perhaps he’s talking out of envy. I saw him asking Parliament to prevail over the two ministers criticizing their methods of work.
What the MP did not inform parliament, and I believe for his personal selfish reasons, is that the two ministers are working closely with other relevant government agencies. For instance, Hon. Balaam is working with the Police CID department, SHACU, local leaders like LC1 Chairmen, District Chairmen or Mayors and area members of parliament whom he invites while visiting their constituencies.
For the case of Hon Namere, she’s working with police and IGG. People like Hon. Wakida should be concerned more about the results of the two ministers’ efforts in the fight against corruption than concentrating more on trivial issues.
Actually anyone who has been following the two ministers’ campaign trail against corruption should have by now noticed that in most cases it’s the wanainchi at the rallies helping the ministers to expose the corrupt.
I didn’t see Dr Wakida explain to parliament that once the two ministers identify the corrupt, they publicly hand them over to police for statements-recording and I personally find this a very normal practice.
By law, any citizen of Uganda has a duty to arrest a person suspected of committing a
crime and hand over the same to police. Ugandans are apparently so happy with the two ministers for the patriotic job they are doing and they view anyone trying to derail the efforts of the two ministers as an enemy of Uganda.
Therefore, all of us Ugandans should consider supporting the efforts of the two ministers instead of demonizing their good work for populist reasons. I therefore see Dr Wakida aspiring to become a populist trying to please his local political allies in Budaka against the will of his constituents. Amlan Tumusiime NRM Cadre. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com.
