The ongoing arrests of legislators and technical staff of Parliament to curb corruption have raised the hopes of Ugandans, who have been crying for action against the perpetrators after a huge sum of taxpayers’ money was stolen.
The details show that both the opposition and NRM MPs have been conniving to defraud public funds.
The question remains whether all the arrested will be convicted? If the president is indeed serious as per his word, the majority of the legislators shall be arrested because it is evident that the parliament has been acting as a place for members to cut deals and get rich quick.
Ugandans have cried for a long time, and they are now waiting to see if the President walks the talk.
On several occasions, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been promising to crack down on corrupt officials but ends up doing nothing.
It is reported that over Ugx10 trillion ends up in the hands of corrupt officials every year, and the center of corruption is the parliament.
Ugandans have witnessed shocking incidences of Parliament Commissioners sitting in meetings and sharing billions amongst themselves, but nothing has been done to them despite the constant calls to the government to take action.
It is also unfair that the legislators, who happen to be the biggest earners in the country, are given Ugx200 million to buy cars, free fuel, clothing allowance, etc. The parliament has ideally become a bottomless pit for taxpayers.
It is possible that the President could be on just a mission to scare the corrupt by arresting the few to cause panic and just stop along the way as he has always done because if he decides to arrest all the legislators, the house may fail to obtain quorum and put the parliament business on hold.
However, given that the country is approaching the election period, it is also possible that the president will apprehend some of the corrupt officials to show the disgruntled Ugandans that he is serious about fighting corruption.
It is important that corrupt politicians be apprehended and banned from active politics so that the new entrants can fear stealing public funds and we can build a new, corrupt, free society.
Ugandans are waiting to see if, for the first time, the President is serious about the fight against corruption, a vice that has impoverished Ugandans with every penny being stolen and no service delivery. This puts the NRM government to the test.
The president needs to touch the big fish as well, because focusing on the small fish and leaving the usual suspects to do more of the same with impunity will not change anything.
The hope of Ugandans remains in the president since the agencies put in place to fight corruption seem to have given up. May the Ugandans win.
