By Our Reporters
Until mid-2016, Bufumbira South MP Sam Bitangaro was one of the best friends to current Attorney General (AG) William Byaruhanga. However, something strange happened in around June that same year. As the two close friends sat at Kampala Club for an evening, news of the new Cabinet reshuffle was read on the TV as they keenly watched. Byaruhanga, renowned for his contempt for conventional politics, had been named AG the very job for which Bitangaro well-wishers had asked him (Byaruhanga) to use his clout and lobby for him. The two men are longtime friends and share many things in common including both being lawyers of almost same generation. They also have a knack for business and they have at some point both been very successful at money-making. Whereas Byaruhanga is so much into real estate owning vast prime commercial properties in Kampala, Bitangaro has always had appetite to trade in minerals among other things. “This is very difficult to believe. See what this man [M7] has done. The very job some wished to be given to me having been reelected to Parliament is what they have given you? This is hard to believe,” a clearly downcast Bitangaro jokingly told Byaruhanga as they reflected on the composition of the new cabinet reshuffle they had just watched on the NTV news. The two friends since that day had their friendship diminish yet in actual truth, Byaruhanga tried his best lobbying for Bitangaro who well-wishers badly wanted to get the position to grow himself in stature and access more powerful opportunities.
HOW DID HE?
For starters, Byaruhanga has been a State House man for a very long time. His long time person is Gen Salim Saleh who has been with him through thick and thin including the junk helicopters saga over which the 6th Parliament raised a lot of dust and demanded action against Saleh. In all these things, Byaruhanga has always distinguished himself as the well-connected and well-schooled attorney on whose legal representation Gen Saleh could count. He was also among those who closely advised the Ugandan State on lucrative deals like ENHAS. He has always leveraged on such powerful contacts to excel as a private lawyer in private practice through which he has accumulated lots of wealth. Sometimes William Byaruhanga casually wonders to friends why somebody like him who God has blessed so generously still has reason to wake up and go to work. So on reclaiming his Bufumbira seat Bitangaro, who financially wasn’t doing very well, looked forward to an opportunity to serve at a very high cabinet level. And in our part of the world, it’s normal for people to lobby for those they wish very well because (as Bitangaro’s fellow lawyers say) equity works for the vigilant and not the indolent. So Bitangaro was advised that if his good friend Byaruhanga went out and used his contacts to speak to two people, there is no way the big man from Rwakitura wouldn’t look at him favorably. Byaruhanga, with whom the President was already very happy because of the very fruitful campaign fundraising efforts he spearheaded targeting some tycoons in the Asian community, was expected to basically reach out to Sam Kutesa and Gen Salim Saleh. The expected result was that the two powerful Museveni influencers would definitely take Byaruhanga’s counsel very seriously and get Mzee to do the needful. Indeed he reached out and spoke to the two powerful men. Whereas Gen Saleh was ambivalent in his response, Sam Kutesa was frank. He told Byaruhanga face to face he wasn’t prepared bothering Museveni to reappoint Bitangaro back to his Cabinet. “The good thing is that your friend [Bitangaro] has been around long enough. He was MP and Minister before and let nobody deceive you that there is anything the President doesn’t know about his weak and strong points,” Kutesa reportedly told Byaruhanga. This bad news didn’t make the AG, renowned for wishing others well, relent or become weary. He carried on and indeed met and spoke to Gen Saleh who proceeded to go confide in his big brother Museveni why it was appropriately prudent to give Bitangaro the AG slot now that the incumbent Fred Ruhindi had lost his MP Seat in Nakawa diminishing his eligibility for reappointment as AG. Knowledgeable sources say, Museveni told Gen Saleh as follows: “By the way why doesn’t William Byaruhanga take that position? Of course Fred Ruhindi is out and I was actually still looking around with no decision made as yet on that docket.” Museveni added: “I know he [Byaruhanga] has always been reluctant to join the mainstream government but I’m making him Attorney General and it’s your duty to go and convince him since he is your good friend.” Gen Salim Saleh acted maturely as expected and never told Museveni about Byaruhanga’s wish to get that same job for his good friend Sam Bitangaro. In the end, as we all now know, Byaruhanga was made AG and this is something Bitangaro well-wishers took for betrayal yet in actual sense Byaruhanga (as usual) selflessly tried his best but his efforts didn’t yield the desired results. Museveni remains convinced that Byaruhanga, who is too rich to chase after bribes and other forms of material gratifications, has done a very good job the very reason he sometime back rejected his request to be released from cabinet duties to return to his once very thriving private practice. For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.
