By Otim Nape
It appears something has fundamentally gone wrong with government agencies’ CEOs who happen to be Balokole ladies. With claims that they are very close to the first lady, these ladies have always been praised, feared and admired in equal measure. President Museveni has occasionally praised them publicly and one time said “if I had 8 Jennifer Musisis in the whole country, Uganda would be very far.” One time the opposition MPs Abdul Katuntu and Semujju Nganda spoke well of UNRA ED Allen Kagina and Museveni, who was debating with them in the Capital Gang studio, said “then at least credit me because I’m the one who identified and empowered these people you are now praising.” It has always been at that level and whoever wanted to intimidate adversaries and appear powerful say at the work place always had to find a way of forging some solidarity and proximity to these ladies. Some have had to strategically change churches just to be perceived as close to Jeniffer Musisi, Kagina or Doris Akol of URA.
THINGS FALL APART: These ladies have always had disciples who have also been heading several entities in government painting an impression of ruthlessness when it comes to fighting and resisting corruption and mediocrity in public offices. Currently things aren’t good anymore and these ladies are no longer unanimously the source of inspiration they once were. “They can’t claim to be infallible anymore and I’m sure the big man is now embarrassed of them and can’t comfortably sing praises of them in public because he knows the extent to which the Shs6bn handshake damaged their reputation,” said a female MP who has been helping one of the companies Kagina has been squeezing in the road sector. The female MP has been consulting for the company advising them on how to win the President’s favor and they recently prevailed when Museveni signed a letter directing Kagina to re-instate them on the juicy road construction deals. We are talking about Dott Services which, more than anybody else, has fought and invested money to demystify the powerful image Kagina had portrayed for decades. The company has a lot of money and has been having many allies in UNRA helping them spy on Kagina and thereby being able to expose her weaknesses as a hitherto much revered CEO.
This espionage naturally made Kagina paranoid and thereby resulting into witch hunt of people suspected to be spying on her. The more paranoid she became, the more mistakes she has made turning the once much admired UNRA into a shadow of its former self. Because of the damage Dott Services has occasioned, the young graduates no longer consider it prestigious to get a job in UNRA when compared to how favorably they rated it in the pre-Kagina era. The levels of staff turnover at UNRA are simply unprecedented. People have been quitting at every level and this has demoralized those for whom it was a dream working for UNRA after college.
A paranoid Kagina has gone as far as falling out with former friends like Hope Mugyenyi, the wife to Col Mugyenyi who the UNRA top management thinks is the invisible hand behind the monster called Dott Services. The top UNRA management has sunk as low as leaking some damaging information to MPs to weaken those they want to get rid of having considered them to be moles for Col Mugyeni. This has greatly demystified Kagina who was once credited for building very strong corporate institutions while instilling strong values of integrity. At UNRA the team isn’t cohesive anymore and staff these days openly defy Kagina. There is one example; where in the past even none staffers struggled to gain access say to UNRA to attend weekly evening prayer fellowships just to create an impression of being close to Kagina, these days the iron lady (as sycophants once called her) struggles to get even 20 people joining her for these Friday evening fellowships in the UNRA offices at Nakawa. The way partners like AfDB and World Bank have been reluctant to work with UNRA protesting the expulsion of engineers Kagina has been witch hunting is a further indication of how much the aura of invincibility around Kagina has evaporated. Museveni has had to weigh in to convince them to stay and continue funding the sector as Kagina’s assurances are no longer counted as good enough.
THE AKOL SAGA: At URA, headed by Doris Akol whom Kagina mentored and recommended for the Commissioner General post, the situation is hardly any better. Corruption and inefficiency of the pre-Kagina era is back and groups like the clearing and forwarding association members are very bitter and frustrated they often give information exposing smuggling but nothing is done. Such whistle blowers have met Akol several times but no action is taken. She appears either too busy or fearful to crack the whip on the mafia involved in these smuggling and tax evasion rackets costing tax payer of billions. President Museveni personally is on record showing displeasure at Akol administration in URA. Sometime last year, Museveni (who was using Amos Nzeyi and other UMA bosses to spy on URA) wrote a letter to Finance Minister Matia Kasaijja complaining about URA’s inefficiencies that had resulted into Shs300bn being evaded in taxes annually in just the steel sub sector alone. He called for a forensic audit into the activities of URA under Akol and shortly before. Disapproval at that level showed nothing but how deep these once mighty Women of God have fallen. Just like at UNRA, Akol-led URA has seen unprecedented staff turnover as people don’t see a good future anymore as the CEO from Karamoja picks a leaf from her mentor Kagina to become increasingly very paranoid and vindictive towards those she suspects of not wishing her well. The staff departures are at every level; low, middle and high. The revenue collections too have been plummeting every now and then, making Museveni even more disappointed.
JENNIFER MUSISI COLLAPSES: At KCCA it’s even worse because in the last one month alone, four people at the level of Directors (KCCA has less than 20 Directors) have been acrimoniously resigning following in the footsteps of Deputy ED Judith Tukahirwa who recently got a job with World Bank in Washington. Very frightened staff members these days live on borrowed time and they associate walking into City Hall offices to arriving in the torture chamber worse than Gen Kale Kayihura’s Nalufenya. Like Akol and Kagina, Musisi is becoming paranoid every other day. “I can risk to tell you this as an insider that this woman [Musisi] is alone and frightened inside City Hall because of the traps Beti Kamya has laid for her. And it can only worsen until she quits,” said a knowledgeable insider. This has resulted into those she suspects of disloyalty being mistreated and undermined. Legal Director Micheal Okuo is a good example. He was mistreated and left KCCA cursing why Musisi had to lure him into KCCA only to torment him like a thief. Harriet Mudondo, the Director Gender is another top official that insiders fear will quit soon because of her irreconcilable differences with Musisi. The ED had recently actually tried to force out Mudondo but she was forced to eat a humble pie and re-instate her after powerful backers weighed in and told Mudondo to stay put. The relationship is souring every passing day as Musisi has intensified efforts to undermine Mudondo by working with juniors in her Directorate. The revenue collection levels have declined and US/UK-based rating agencies that previously praised Musisi as a reformist KCCA ED are these days writing very damning reports. “Corruption has intensified to the levels that make past leaders of the old KCC angels. We now talk of St. Ruth Kijjambu, St. Nasser Sebaggala and St. Sebaana Kizito because today’s corruption in KCCA is simply unprecedented and the ED has become too powerless to do anything,” said an aggrieved insider close to Kampala Minister Beti Kamya who is working behind the scenes to expose Musisi to the President. It was further revealed that Annie Galiwango who was director education is another old lady Musisi badly humiliated and thereby bringing curses to herself. It was further revealed that Musisi’s old friend and fellow Mulokole lady Jennifer Kaggwa (aka JK; was Director HR) quit for UNRA not just because she wanted to help Kagina set up systems. No. Its’ because she got some instinct that something bad was going to happen in KCCA and would erode all the reputation Musisi has built over the years. And it appears the day of reckoning for Musisi is fast approaching. When her contract sometime last year was due for renewal, a frustrated Musisi opted to quit but was persuaded after Musisi said okay she wouldn’t be subjected to competitive interviews. She only reluctantly appeared before public service ministry to illustrate what she had achieved and what more she planned to achieve. She told the panel “look guys give me the job if you want and if you choose otherwise I’m okay. I won’t take it personal because I really want to move on.”
PASTORS INTERVENE:
Some elders from various born again churches in the city have been trying to organize prayer sessions while counseling Musisi to reconcile with her adversaries in the KCCA technical wing but it seems the situation is only escalating every other day. Some of them like Bishop Joshua Lwere who heads all born again churches in Uganda are beginning to give up because Musisi is becoming more paranoid every other day. The elders are concerned the healing they have been praying for isn’t taking root because Musisi continues to surround herself with a clique of loyalists led by Director Treasury Services Julius Kabugo (who is the defacto deputy ED) and Charles Ouma the Ag Director Legal Affairs whom she appointed to replace Okuo. “These two, working with a few others, have worked very hard to shield the ED and antagonize her with many other members of staff in the technical wing,” said a knowledgeable insider who is also a born again Christian that has been part of the prayer sessions aimed at cleansing Musisi of all the resentful feelings towards fellow KCCA managers. The coming on board of Beti Kamya has only made worse an already bad situation. The Kampala minister has become the patron and rallying point for all disgruntled KCCA managers. It’s to her that all the marginalized workers run to get a shoulder to cry on. Kamya has done a lot encouraging such afflicted staffers to hang in there arguing that their troubles will soon end as she sees no other way out apart from the much broken Musisi handing in the towel at some point. They are also hopeful that with Kamya’s patronage, they will soon have audience with the President to directly tell him why Musisi isn’t the best thing anymore for KCCA.
DESREE BARLOW’S ROLE:
Some of the disgruntled KCCA managers have been hunting for President’s private secretary Desree Barlow in the hope that she can constantly remind the big man about their plight and the need tom get Musisi out of the way. They argue this is good for her to save face and for cash-squeezed KCCA to remain afloat.
OTHER CRACKING BORN AGAIN LADIES: At the health ministry you have PS Diana Atwine and Minister Jane Ruth Aceng not being on the very best of terms yet they both profess the born again faith. They started well agreeing on the exit of Prof Anthony Mbonye whom they took to be their common enemy but since then, cracks have gradually emerged in their relationship. It’s no longer as cordial as it used to be and the recent doctors’ strike greatly exposed how clueless they are when it comes to managing public crises. These two ladies no doubt need prayers to ensure their wedge doesn’t widen because some of the technocrats are out to spread rumors to antagonize them even more. The other staunch born again lady who claims to be inspired by Janet Museveni is Christine Ondoa but her inefficiencies as a manager have clearly been exposed for all to see in the last 8 years. Museveni first made her minister of health in 2011 but she failed miserably as she daily fought with her PS Asuman Lukwago prompting Museveni to replace her with Ruhakana Rugunda but the intrigue she fermented at the Wandegeya-based Ministry has never healed up to this day even when Asuman Lukwago is long gone. Museveni sent her to Uganda Aids Commission as the Director General but he was disappointed when she failed to work with her boss Prof Nantulya who was the board chairman. Whenever they went to State House, the two would quarrel before Museveni until he became frustrated and fired both of them. Museveni felt Ondoa was very disrespectful and as of now he considers that she has a character problem. The new consensus is that some of these ladies are good for enforcement-related assignments, working under someone else, but not being the overall CEOs in organizations. As we talk, Ondoa is being advised by friends to return to Arua and work in the hospital since she can clearly not manage people due to poor interpersonal skills. Currently, Uganda Aids Commission is almost collapsing and the American donors are bitter with the vacuum (no chairman, no ED) yet whoever Museveni appoints they decline saying Ondoa killed that place. It’s no longer attractive. Even in the Judiciary, the ladies Museveni was very fond of thinking they are Children of God; they turned out to be disastrous and great disappointments. The devil must be strangling the Church of Christ, Museveni has repeatedly been told each time he asks “what has become of my born again ladies.” Could this be the reason why he has lately made public statements clearly very contemptuous of hypocrites who pretend to be very prayerful? Your guess is as good as ours.
THE GRACE AKULLO SAGA:
In the Uganda Police Force, CIID Director Grace Akullo is another self-professed Born Again lady that Museveni greatly trusted and was very proud of but ended up very disappointed. Still the problem was interpersonal skills whereby Akullo took herself to be incorruptible and proved incapable of harmoniously working with colleagues including her boss Gen Kale Kayihura. Museveni wondered why whoever he meets that has interacted with her would be making very unflattering comments about the babe from Lango. The very frustrated big man from Rwakitura, it’s said, is considering going back to his old ways of trusting people bred in traditional religions whereby Muslims, Catholic and Protestant bishops and top clerics will be recommending to him well groomed people to employ in top positions. This (and many other sensitive things we haven’t stated here) justifies our question as to whether the management credentials possessed by these holier than thou Born Again ladies have been exaggerated. It’s a question we must continuously ponder as a country. For comments, reach us on mulengeranews@gmail.com
