The rate at which President Yoweri Museveni is empowering ex-EC Chairman Eng Badru Kiggundu is causing some uneaseness in some circles. Some have gone as far as speculating that the wealthy Hajji from Mutundwe is being prepared for some coordination role in the Cabinet reshuffle that is expected in the coming months. This is coming up at a time the Prime Minister-aka leader of government business-Ruhakana Rugunda is perceived to be declining in clout like never before. The name of Ruth Nankabirwa has repeatedly been referred to as a potential successor for Rugunda at the OPM. There is also Kasule Lumumba who is understood to be favored by the Catholic Church one of whose very prolific figures the Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga last week met and held private talks with the President at Nakasero State Lodge. Pundits say Kasule Lumumba could potentially use the position to check on the influence of Speaker Rebecca Kadaga in their home turf of Busoga since the two are renowned rivals.
KIGGUNDU CLOUT;
But this is what we have impeccably gathered so far about Eng Badru Kiggundu who has lately distinguished himself as a potential candidate too hard to ignore in the upcoming Museveni cabinet reshuffle. He was one year ago appointed by Museveni to chair a taskforce of high profile officials to re-direct things that had gone wrong in the energy sector especially regarding the two power dams namely Karuma (600MWs) and Isimba (180MWs). Work wasn’t only behind schedule but it was also shoddy and heads had to roll even in the Energy ministry where some officials perceived to have let down the government on supervision were made to pay the price. So engineer Kiggundu, who had just quit his duties as EC head where he thrice delivered Museveni back to State House (2006, 2011 & 2016), was called in a savior of sort to salvage the anomalous situation the energy ministry’s ineptness had created to the great embarrassment of government. The Chinese engineers on the two dams (respectively from Syno-Hydro and China Water) had proved too big headed as no body at the energy ministry would risk crack the whip on them. It’s against that background that Museveni, who considers the two dams a very big infrastructural political achievement, called in Kiggundu. His assignment originally was to last one year which was recently extended to two years. Kiggundu operates a whole floor on the building next to the Nigerian High Commission in Upper Nakaseko. This same building houses Uganda Electricity Distribution Company (UEDCL) Ltd. On his floor, Kiggundu has an entire bureaucracy and has a very big budget, a thing that has given him autonomy to do his work without being undermined by any accounting officer. He has security at home, on the road and at office. He has a fleet of 4 posh cars that were procured on Museveni’s orders through Mr. Allan Kajik, the hubby to powerful minister Evelyn Anite. A Museveni blue eyed boy, Kajik works as the Administrative Manager for UEGCL which ideally is the agency/entity under which Kiggundu falls though he is designated as a consultant. He reports to Museveni directly and not to anybody else. He calls weekly meetings to which he specifically summons the PSST Keith Muhakanizi and the PS Energy Ministry. These two report to him what has been accomplished in their respective ministries in the previous week, the mitigation steps taken to tackle the challenges and what they plan to do in the new week. He also uses these meetings to guide them on areas that he considers priority for their attention and action. Kiggundu then writes his weekly reports to Museveni advising him specifically on areas that require his urgent intervention either through cabinet or parliament.
A grateful Museveni recently added onto Kiggundu the additional responsibility of supervising the events in the works ministry where he considers the $2.9bn SGR project to be one that has grossly been mismanaged. We are reliably informed that each time the clearly overwhelmed Works Minister Monica Azuba Ntege gets an assignment from Mzee, she is always advised to seek Kiggundu’s input when reporting back to the Principal. Indeed in his 15th February letter showing his anger on SGR (we published it here on 4th April), Museveni directs Azuba to work with Dr. Kiggundu to address the concerns he raises in his 5 page letter regarding the SGR. This has raised anticipation that the former Makerere professor could join cabinet as either works or energy minister since these are the two areas where Museveni has so far tapped into his expertise. In his characteristic humility, Eng Kiggundu laughed US off when we rung seeking his views on the matter. “I’m a humble servant just serving my country and that is all,” he said. It’s also true that, using his clout and influence on Museveni, Eng Kiggundu is currently helping Erias Kiyemba’s UETCL to get Museveni nod to their request for budget increase because they are currently very underfunded and can hardly do anything beyond just preparing monthly invoices for UMEME. These dynamics have combined to prompt some pundits and State House watchers to speculate that Kiggundu could be headed to cabinet either as Prime Minister (it appeases Muslims especially the Old Kampala faction) or some powerful cabinet posting. The other coordinational vacancy that could be awaiting Kiggundu is at NPA whose very influential chairman Kisamba Mugerwa’s term is expiring later this year and can’t be renewed. Though terribly underfunded, NPA has a lot of coordinational role it does for this country and Museveni has always relied on Kisamba’s wise counsel to make many decisions of significant importance regarding governance and service delivery in this country. Clearly, a vacancy exists here because Kisamba has already been assigned the headship of Microfinance Support Center. Kiggundu has many attributes that must be attracting Museveni including not being politically very ambitious as to threaten the principal’s grip on power. He is also hard working, scandal-free and despises material things. As EC chairman he was accused of many things but none of those accusations related to financial scandal or misappropriation of money. Watch this space!
