By Mulengera Reporters
Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo furiously responded to utterances by State Minister for ICT Idah Nantaba who claims there is a plot involving powerful security and political leaders to bump her off. Speaking at her thanksgiving ceremony in Bukoloto SDA Church Kayunga town on Saturday, a tearful Nantaba claimed there is a well-orchestrated plot to bump her off and it’s being coordinated by influential actors in the security apparatus. Nantaba, who spoke for more than 60 minutes, claimed one of the reasons she is still alive is because she has vehemently resisted efforts to recall her chief bodyguard Tugume, who is the SFC officer overseeing her personal security.
Dismissing the official government narrative attributing assassinations of prominent people to ADF, Nantaba said those responsible for such prominent deaths are rogue-minded actors within government and security agencies. This irked government spokesman Ofwono Opondo who, when approached for comment, told reporters it was imprudent for Nantaba to act like as if she isn’t a minister with adequate contacts to report any threats to her life. Opondo challenged Minister Nantaba to use her closeness to big people like the President, the IGP OMO and CDF Gen David Muhoozi and credibly register her complaint and see if appropriate action won’t be taken.
Opondo added that crying to people in churches in order to attract public sympathy won’t take the once very popular Kayunga woman MP anywhere. Police spokesman Fred Enanga, who also Nantaba cursed during the church ceremony, equally had no kind words for her. He told the media that Nantaba should reveal everything if she indeed has credible information that police is complicit in efforts to bump her off. He challenged her to name the powerful people in government wanting to kill her rather than speaking in parables.
Enanga called on Nantaba, whose Kayunga ceremony was shunned by majority of the political giants in the district because she has been fighting them, to report to the top leadership of the army to boost her security since she says she doesn’t trust Uganda Police Force anymore. He also called on her to wait for the CIID investigations into the Sebulime murder to be concluded. He said Nantaba complicated investigations when she chose not to fully cooperate with investigators from Police whom she told much less than she claims to know about what exactly happened. Enanga said now a special team of investigators from KMP are the ones investigating.
THE KAYUNGA CEREMONY
Nantaba, who begged voters to forgive her for being inaccessible because its due to security fears, used the Church function to denounce big government officials whom she said haven’t done enough to prevent her from being killed. One of those she attacked was Deputy IGP Gen Mzee Sabiiti saying he hadn’t done enough to use his position as DIGP to bring those behind Sebulime to book. She said that, just like former IGP Kayihura, Sabiiti has always been very hostile to her political interests in Kayunga district. A tearfully sobbing Nantaba said the DIGP is among those who don’t wish her well at all adding that he stands to benefit the day she is politically ousted from the office of Kayunga woman MP.
Nantaba, who spoke for over an hour amidst prayer from the SDA clerics, accused the police leadership for allowing themselves to be used to subject her to unwarranted persecution. She also accused some key generals of interfering with her security detail by insisting on the recall of a one Tugume who heads her SFC escorts. She also disputed the official government narrative linking the murders of Felix Kaweesi, Joan Kagezi, MP Abiriga and Mohammed Kirumira to ADF yet as far as she is concerned the orchestrators of such crimes are within the security agencies.
Saying she was ready for political martyrdom as opposed to getting cowed, Nantaba said she would continue exposing the truth and in the end pay the price like Kirumira. In her public rant inside the Church, Nantaba didn’t stop at Sabiiti but also tackled other government officials including Police publicist Fred Enanga branding him an instrument of emotional torture and persecution against her. She also accused Enanga of attempting some cover up to prevent the public from knowing the exact perpetrators of what she maintained was an assassination plot targeting her. She said Enanga was a traitor for refusing to tell the public the security chief who ordered for the shooting of Sebulime long after he had been subdued and even put on handcuffs.
Claiming she has so far survived four assassination attempts, whose perpetrators can easily be tracked through modern technology, Nantaba also bashed UCC bosses. She said she rung UCC top management and shared clues on how much more would be exposed about the Sebulime saga and all the others involved in it still at large but the powerful UCC officials asked her to leave them alone saying the matter was “very sensitive.” She said this indifference by UCC shocked her because they are expected to be very loyal to her since she is their line minister. Nantaba said the biggest problem now in Uganda is selfishness and wondered why even after being reported several times, assailants still have guts to make good their threat as was the case with Kirumira who was killed after making public alarm that his days were numbered.
At the Bukoloto ceremony, Nantaba wanted to spill more rot in government but was restrained by her escorts and State Minister Godfrey Kiwanda who was one of the big officials in attendance. Others were Ntenjeru South MP Fred Baseke and Nakasongola County MP Noah Wanzala Mutebi. Largely because the paranoid Nantaba has been attacking and calling them land grabbers, most of the Kayunga political leaders shunned the event. This made Nantaba politically even more frustrated resulting into the anger and belligerence with which she spoke about Sabiiti, Enanga and the UCC bosses. Kiwanda made things even worse when he confirmed that Nantaba has many powerful political enemies who dislike her character of telling the truth and resisting land grabbing in her district.
Bugema University Director Moses Maka was the chief celebrant at the thanksgiving ceremony which for unknown reasons was shunned by a large section of Kayunga district’s political heavyweights. Saying she was increasingly being targeted for assassination yet the state wasn’t capable of giving her proportionate security, Nantaba begged her voters to understand in case she becomes rare in the coming months. She said the increased feeling of insecurity occasioned by the Sebulime saga had confined her to live in her house, keeping incommunicado, for the last two months.
In a related development, Sebulime’s family lawyer Nkunyingi Muwadda in a press statement said the family wouldn’t give up until Nantaba is brought to justice. Muwadda said Nantaba remains the key suspect who must answer for the circumstances of the Sebulime murder. Muwadda also said Police should assert themselves and force Nantaba to explain herself against reports that she is the one who ordered for action against Sebulime resulting into his death in cold blood. Sebulime family members have vowed to join Bobi Wine and decampaign President Museveni’s reelection unless Minister Nantaba is reprimanded. (For comments, email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
