By Eria Mugerwa
Unless the Museveni government takes profound steps to prevent them, the evil-minded guys that took down Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga will be coming for other legislators. This is according to Mityana woman MP Judith Nabakooba. While contributing to the late Abiriga tribute-paying session, Nabakooba who also chairs the Defense & Internal Affairs Committee of the House disclosed that death-threatening messages similar to those Abiriga casually used to complain about have already been sent to Busiro South MP Peter Sematimba. The flamboyant NRM MP was in the session but never said anything though Nabakooba insisted he had confided in her. Putting the blame on Frank Tumwebaze’s ICT Ministry and the UCC which it supervises, an emotionally broken Nabakooba said “government should tell us who are these people sending threatening messages to Members of Parliament via whatsapp because this is becoming too much.” Before her two minutes got done, Nabakooba also reflected on her Luwero district woman MP counterpart Eng Lillian Nakate who is already living with death threats that potential assailants a few days ago issued vowing to harm her, her mother and other family members.
She blamed UCC and the ICT ministry officials for sleeping on the job. She demanded that by now UCC must have a mechanism to track down such fear-mongers. She understandably spoke with much emotion because Abiriga was her member on the Defense and Internal Affairs committee. The others who blamed UCC and its parent ministry included Gomba MP Robina Rwakojo Gureme who referred to a message she claimed was sent out in May predicting that Abiriga would die in the first week of June. “What are we to do? Our phones are being hacked and citizens’ money is stolen and their phones tapped as if we have no regulator. Why is UCC not doing anything?” Rwakojo ranted. Speaker Kadaga, who presided over the session, corroborated Rwakoojo’s rant by reading out a message off a mobile phone set whereby the author was announcing how Abiriga would die in the first week of June. However, social media icon Tom Voltaire Okwalinga (TVO) moments later posted something saying these Kadaga/Rwakojo utterances only exposed the ineptness of the Parliamentary leadership when it comes to detecting genuine from fake social media posts. TVO insisted this was a fake message that had been doctored to coincide with Abiriga’s death. It appears a genuine message but in actual sense it isn’t, TVO argued.
OTHER SPEAKERS;
In the same session, Jinja West Municipality MP Grace Moses Balyeku made what many Ugandans following on social media considered to be a fantastic proposal for a parliamentary committee to be constituted to look into the causes of the ever escalating criminology but none of the legislative colleagues declared support for him. Neither did the speaker pick it up yet as Balyeku eloquently argued, many in the public felt this would be a good way for Parliament to get information the public might be having implicating people regarding violent crime and yet the same public lacks confidence to share the same intelligence information with police. Balyeku’s view was that instead of merely waiting for the minister of internal affairs to come up with a statement explaining what is being done, this committee would be an opportunity for Parliament to pro-actively contribute towards a solution. “The public would come in and volunteer useful information to the Committee which the security agencies can take up to get to the root of this problem,” Balyeku submitted. It sounded a good proposal but no one else pronounced him or herself on the same throughout the session.
ECWERU SPITS FIRE;
Instead speakers like Minister Musa Ecweru used the session to vent out their anger against cabinet and party colleagues who do little work for the NRM party yet they are the ones materially benefiting much more from Museveni’s continued stay in power. A nearly tearful Ecweru ranted: “We need to humble ourselves like our colleague Abiriga has been. He did a lot for the NRM and yet some senior colleagues do so little for the party and have a big sense of entitlement. Why are they accumulating so much wealth because of the big sense of entitlement? I’m saying we must reflect on corruption. It’s becoming too much and I’m afraid we are going to ruin this country as NRM party. Some of our colleagues have accumulated too much wealth.” Ecweru didn’t give names but his submission generated significant controversy as members unanimously cheered as he ranted. He said the painful exile life he endured following the fall of Amin is what motivated Abiriga to believe in the indispensability of President Museveni. Ecweru’s point on excessive accumulation of wealth by some party leaders and sense of entitlement was further elaborated upon by James Baba who observed that “some people do so little for the party and want to be rewarded big” unlike Abiriga who did so much and never claimed any material reward. “We haven’t rewarded this man as NRM yet he has been a moving bill board for the party advertising it everywhere for free. We must reward his widow and the 9 children since there is nobody else going to take care of them.” Abiriga’s limitations when it comes to accumulating material things were referred to more directly by northern region youth MP Oscar Omony. The young legislator, who left hospital bed just to speak about Abiriga (got an accident last week), said the late always referred to him as “my son.” Omony said as he prepared to return to Kampala from Gulu on the day he got accident, Abiriga rang him saying “my son I’m broke bring the money.” He says he promised to bail him out when he gets well. And “since that hasn’t happened I have my Shs2m for the family,” Omony announced on the microphone after eulogizing Abiriga. Muruli Mukasa said even when he wasn’t materially very rich, Abiriga always stopped over at Mijjera market to share the little he had with the women. “He has been their darling and would always stop over. He had promised them T-shirts and some money for their SACCO,” said Muruli through whose Nakasongola constituency Abiriga always drove on his way home in Arua.
MWIJUKYE BASHES RUGUNDA;
Speaking moments after Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda who downplayed the Abiriga murder as mere acts of idiots and cowards, Buhweju MP Francis Mwijukye sharply differed with the official government narrative. He said “if we are being killed by idiots and cowards, then we aren’t serious.” He added “these are serious killers.” The eloquent Buhweju MP was unfortunately cut short before saying more. LoP Winnie Kizza said the fact that many MPs abandoned their weekend and came in big numbers at such short notice is indicative of how well Abiriga was loved. She challenged Parliament to come up with comprehensive solutions to end violent murders to ensure that Abiriga (she called him a martyr) doesn’t die in vain.
REAGAN OKUMU ROARS;
Reagan Okumu said Abiriga was loyal to his party, its chairman Museveni, his region northern Uganda, West Nile and Islamic religion. “I learnt these five things from him and he is better than many of us causing problems in this country by being something during day and something different at night. Abiriga professed Museveni and his party both in public and privacy,” Okumu said. Hood Katuramu said the Muslim faith, whose caucus he chairs, had lost a strong pillar. Chris Baryomunsi said “the height of a tree can only be told after it has fallen” adding that the big turn up of MPs at such short notice was proof how tall a political giant Abiriga was. He said amongst his own voters in Kanungu, Abiriga was popular the way he was in his constituency of Arua Municipality. Baryomunsi said voters had been asking him to bring Abiriga to entertain them. Whereas Nansana Municipality MP Kasule Sebunya (in which Kawanda falls) said he had lost a strong resident, Alli Ismail Ogama who represents lower Madi Okollo where Abiriga is to be buried said “in Kawanda where he lived Abiriga was more popular and more known than the real area MP [Kasule Sebunya].” Elijah Okupa, who along with Lydia Wanyoto and Barnabas Tinkasimire was among the first legislators on the Kaayi village crime scene, said Abiriga was a giant who spontaneously transcended political differences. Speaking on behalf of the independent MPs, Kabale Municipality’s Alex Aryayanga said Parliament must demand that the executive ends its rhetoric and decisively acts to end brutal murders of VIPs otherwise Abiriga and many others will continue to die in vain. Saying nobody was safe anymore, Aryayanga told a story of how his beautiful wife Doreen recently survived being assassinated at the gate of their residence as she returned from work. The would-be assailants pelted the car with stones as she waited at the gate and what scared them was the endless alarm she made. “They picked her bag and took off and it was only the grace of God, otherwise the story would have been different,” Aryayanga said. Some MP s condemned the selfishness of some ministers and other high profile citizens being secured with sirens and many lead cars when the rest of Ugandans, legislators inclusive, are left to die helplessly. Prof Ephraim Kamuntu caused laughter when he referred to the day Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze forcefully removed Abiriga’s yellow hat and threw it to the wind. “I was with Honorable Abiriga standing out there and he said if I chase and give her a kick in the bum I will be accused of sexual harassment,” Kamuntu said throwing the house into laughter. Fortunately or unfortunately, Nambooze had already moved out by the time Kamuntu made his submission. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755.
