By Mulengera Reporters
Speaking on Sunday during the thanksgiving event to mark his wife Janet Kataha’s 77th birthday that was held at Nakasongola’s Migera UWESO Secondary School, President Museveni expressed readiness to appoint more Christian lawyers to influential government positions. See video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZedbUs4YhI.
The President said he had been motivated to consider especially members of Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity because of the effectiveness with which Annie Muhairwe, the association immediate former President, had gone about her duties as Deputy IGG.
He explained that Muhairwe, who initially was recommended to him by the First Lady, had impressed him for being fearless and clear-headed when investigating complex corruption cases.
Saying she was one time intimidated and threatened with death but didn’t back off her investigations, Museveni contrasted Muhairwe (who one time told him she was ready to emulate Jesus Christ and die for the truth) with other corruption investigators who he said deliberately write vague reports with ambiguous recommendations in order to keep his hands tied so that he doesn’t use his position as President to direct or cause the sanctioning of public officials who get implicated in corruption dealings.
Museveni said Muhairwe’s reports have always made his work easy because they are always written with extreme clarity from the fact-finding stage all the way to recommendations.
He gave the example of the Kiteezi investigations which he said was very easy for him to intervene in by sanctioning KCCA officials because Muhairwe had made clear findings and wrote for him clear recommendations which could be legally implemented.
He added that some investigators deliberately write vague things in order to shield the implicated officials against political sanctioning by him and criminal prosecution in the Courts of law. He said once he gets assured that the Christian Lawyers Fraternity has more Annie Muhairwes, he will be more than ready to deploy many more such lawyers into corruption-fighting positions in government.
Muhairwe has been Deputy IGG for the last four years and Museveni inevitably had to make reference to her because the fight against corruption was a major talking point at Janet’s birthday event.
The birthday girl herself spoke about it at length just like Bishop Joshua Lwere and Pastor Laban Jjumba who spoke earlier. Before the day’s MC Irene Kawuma signaled Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa to give his brief speech and invite Janet to speak, organizers had played a documentary in which many praised Janet for being exemplary as First Lady and went ahead to implore her to lead a decisive fight or crusade against corrupt public officials the way she did against HIV-Aids in the 1990s.
One such commentator in the Peter Mukiibi-made documentary was Dr. James Magara who asserted that the AIDS which Janet fought against and defeated in the 1990s was back but now under a different name-namely now as Acquired Integrity Deficiency Syndrome. The comments and observations in the documentary tickled Janet to dedicate up to over 90% of her speech time to addressing the problem of corruption which she vowed to dedicate her energy to fighting for the next three years of her life before she clocks 80.
This repeated referencing on corruption by the different speakers prompted Museveni to give his views too-making it clear he was ready to do everything possible, including deploying new warriors, in order to reenergize the broader fight against corruption which his wife Janet signaled she was more than prepared to lead.
That is the context in which the President came to make reference to Annie Muhairwe whose effectiveness he implied had impressed him and thereby opening doors for many more fellow Christian lawyers in whom he now has hope having seen what their former President Muhairwe has demonstrated. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
