By Mulengera Reporters
During the Saturday radio talk show on his 90.8 Metro FM radio, Capt Francis Babu spat so much fire against the Museveni government to the extent that Keno, who was moderating, even feared the Drone-men were about to storm the studio. “Captain this is becoming too much. I fear the Drone. I hope they don’t pick you,” Keno said prompting Babu to assure him he was prepared for anything (including being tortured Kakwenza style) in defense of his right to tell and propagate the truth the way he knows it.
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Leveraging on his Saturday 10-12pm weekly program on Metro FM, which he owns, the former Minister and ruling NRM CEC member gave his views about a number of things which had happened in the week including the confirmation of Jennifer Bamuturaki as the Chief Executive Officer for Uganda Airlines-at the instigation of the President. Babu furiously objected to this on grounds that the President’s act amounted to interfering with and usurping powers and mandate of the Board. Babu said this was bad manners and bad practice that is detrimental to the dictates of corporate governance. Follow the Link for more details: https://www.facebook.com/MulengeraM/videos/369201985351081/
The former Minister asserted that Gen Museveni was making such blunders because he had allowed himself to be surrounded by inept advisors who are also self-seeking. He said such people use their proximity to the President to market their cronies who sometimes turn out to be unfit for the positions they end up occupying. Referencing to UK, whose Premier Boris Johnson was in the same week forced to resign simply because he lied about the Covid19 parties at his residence, Babu said such interference will cost Gen Museveni someday. He asserted that the transparent recruitment process which the Board had commenced should have been permitted to take its full course because that is the only way the very best, including one applicant he said fluently speaks Chinese, would have been identified and recruited.
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He said some power brokers, whose identity he didn’t disclose, had one time approached him but he was saddened all his ideas and advice was disregarded. An authority on aviation business, the former flight Captain wondered why President Museveni’s government was in a hurry to put corporate governance structures like the Board and a substantive CEO in place before the airline business can even prove viable.
Babu also ranted about many other things which he said had gone wrong under Gen Museveni’s Presidency including the running down of the country’s railway transport network whose absence, he said, is the reason why roads aren’t durable anymore in Uganda yet they are constructed very expensively. Babu also scorned the decision by government to prolong the trickling in of oil money by unnecessarily insisting on very expensive infrastructure projects relating to both refinery and the 1500kms pipeline. He said that investing in the refinery is bad economics because you don’t need one when there is already one at Mombasa. He demanded the government begins selling oil now so that the resultant cash can be used to amplify service delivery besides offsetting the country’s debt burden.
Babu, whose anger at the status quo and decision-making inside his own NRM party began years ago when then powerful SG Amama Mbabazi imposed Peter Sematimba to become flag bearer for Kampala Lord Mayorship, also questioned the decision to impose former State House operatives to head key state institutions. He made reference to URA’s Johnson Rujoki Musinguzi and Don Wanyama who currently heads Vision Group as CEO. He demanded for proof that these are the very best this country could get for the two jobs.
The former Minister, whose wife Margaret Zziwa was acrimoniously ousted from EALA Speakership, also faulted Gen Museveni for readily accepting and entertaining rumors some of the people close to him keep peddling against independent-minded truth-tellers inside NRM like himself. That such false news peddlers are motivated by desire to create a wedge between truth tellers/incorruptible officials like himself and the President.
Babu also disputed Uganda’s political system’s readiness to fight corruption which he said would continue failing government programs like Parish Development Model. Renowned for his eloquence, Babu said PDM is actually a very good intervention but whose intended objectives may never be realized because of the corruption and obscurantism in the system. He said the only way to amplify the PDM and ensure it succeeds is by involving popular figures like the Kabaka of Buganda.
“We all saw in the just concluded marathon, how popular and influential the Kabaka of Buganda is. We should humble ourselves and leverage on his influence to popularize the parish development model since his Kingdom administrative structure already has strong chiefs at parish level,” said Babu who also used the same radio program to publicize his grandson Cyprian Kugonza’s birthday that was celebrated at St. Jude Catholic Church Naguru. He also scorned the new IGG Beti Kamya for the initial enthusiasm she exhibited under the false hope and conviction that any IGG (however well intentioned) can ever succeed stamping corruption out of Uganda.
A fire-breathing Babu also decried lack of patriotism among African leaders who he cursed for serving foreign interests while betraying their own people. He spoke about Uganda’s vast gold resources which he said was actually the cause of all the instability and gun violence in Karamoja. He advised that much as the Chinese are very important partners for Uganda, they should be permitted to take at least 60% of the country’s gold wealth and leave the 40% which he proposed should be deposited at BoU to strengthen the country’s currency.
Babu also talked about the renewed gun violence in DR Congo saying it was being orchestrated by armed and ruling groups who have been paid or hired to create chaos to act as cover for foreigners to loot that country’s vast mineral riches. He repeatedly described Uganda and its leadership as being in a ‘slumbering state.’ He reminded Gen Museveni of the higher duty-bearing status he enjoys which makes him more liable for whatever goes wrong in Uganda than any other person holding public office in contemporary Uganda. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 0200900416 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
