In this story, we pick some of the little sins that could have led to the inglorious end of some of the ministers.

Nantaba

Nantaba arrived in cabinet in 2012 brimming with energy. She immediately kicked off her fight against land grabbers in her native constituency of Kayunga, which quickly spread to other areas –putting her on a direct collision path with some high-ranking government officials. Her outspokenness proved she was not lacking in confidence and optimism. But 2019 provided the tipping point. She simply talked herself out of a job.

One incident in March 2019 turned her into a rogue minister. From then onwards, she spoke bluntly and was not afraid to attack her own government. She signaled that perhaps she no longer felt constrained by the formalities of a government job.

From March 24, 2019, when a police officer shot and killed 40-year-old Ronald Ssebulime, accused of trailing, with intent to kill her, Nantaba told bits and pieces of her side of the story with reckless abandon.

Ssebulime was summarily executed in broad daylight and Nantaba insisted in several media interviews that the man was killed by police to shut him up though some claim he was a victim of mistaken identity. Nantaba has, however, not lived long enough in cabinet to reveal all the sordid details and probably paint a full portrait of who the real mafia is in this country and how it operates.

In an October 23 one-page missive emailed to The Observer, Nantaba claimed a very respected army general in the country who she couldn’t dare name publicly and some Special Forces Command soldiers were bankrolling her political nemesis in Kayunga, Moses Karangwa, to kill her.

She claimed Karangwa has powerful people, military generals who are backing his land grabs not only in Kayunga but in the whole country.

“There are some Special Forces Command [SFC] officers; one called Charity and the other Akampurira who for a long time have been storming my home. One time they invaded my home with soldiers and guns. One soldier in plainclothes told my inquisitive neighbour, who asked to know what soldiers wanted from me with all those guns, – that I was also going to die like [Andrew Felix] Kaweesi [the former Assistant Inspector General of Police] killed near his home in 2017].”

She also claimed that at the urging of some general, a policeman tried to shoot her in October 2015, at night at Kayunga police station. She also claimed she was sprayed with poison.

“I was hospitalized in Kenya for two months without people in the country knowing because they stopped the media from broadcasting the story. The time I spent as state minister for lands, I fought many big people…”

“What surprised me most is that every time I tried to help those Karangwa had evicted from their land, I would receive a phone call from a general who this country fears a lot and who no one can dare talk about publicly who advised me to tell the president to put money in the Land Fund to pay for the land Karangwa had grabbed… Some of this land included that of Luyombya.”

“About 1,000 families had been evicted from that land. I informed the president about the general’s proposal and that is how I discovered that taxpayers’ money is used to compensate for grabbed land. I didn’t support this move and I asked the president to reject the suggestion. Some of my bodyguards were used to stop me from holding meetings about land, which had been grabbed from people.”

She claimed she also learnt of a security plot to plant narcotics in her travel bag “so I could be arrested on my way out of the country. One officer at the airport actually urged me to travel only with a handbag to avoid falling in trouble.”

Nantaba, who has spent some time secluded at her home for fear of being killed, also pinned police in a separate interview with The Observer, a month earlier. She said there were so many issues that have not been answered by police.

“There are very many murder cases of high-profile people and the question of who is killing these people is still lingering around.

“It is now six months down the road but we do not have a police report on the murder of Ssebulime.”

She said, “We have murderers in high positions that can use anyone to execute their plans. I imagine there is someone in a high position who is using police to kill because it is silent about the person who directed them to kill Ssebulime. Why are they silent?”

Asked who wants to kill her, she said, “I have suspects who I do know. I have had my battles that have exposed me to well-positioned people who are so dangerous.” She said she had given the names to the president.

She said she had survived five murder attempts. “The other four I have always been advised to keep quiet so that I don’t damage government’s image but I thank God the fifth one came out in public. My only hope is in God because the president is surrounded by mafias who blind him with false stories and cannot allow him to see the truth.”

It was only a matter of time for the axe to swing.

Bakkabulindi 

Walking into the sports section of the ministry of Education on Monday morning, the mood was somber, dampened probably by the sacking of Bakkabulindi at the weekend, ending the sports minister’s 14-year uninterrupted grip on the ministry.

Bakkabulindi has been the minister of State for Sports since 2005. In the latter years of his reign, Bakkabulindi has superintended a bounce in some Ugandan sports like athletics, boxing, basketball and football. But that bounce was blemished by the dark events at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. A Cranes players’ strike in the critical knock-out stages of the tournament put a dark stain on the nation’s reputation.

To correct the situation, the president trusted other people other than Bakkabulindi to restore order in the Cranes camp. He sent MP Anita Amongi to persuade the players in Egypt to abandon the strike.

In addition, funding from State House to The Cranes had also started circumventing Bakkabulindi’s office and the National Council of Sports. It was going directly to the players. Fufa president Moses Magogo’s lobbying tactics through MP Anita Amongi had reportedly led him straight to State House, side-stepping Bakkabulindi.

This angered Bakkabulindi, though publicly he never said a thing.

Interviewed yesterday for this story, Bakkabulindi told The Observer, that his removal from the position of Sports minister caught him by surprise: “Of course like anyone, you do not know when the president is going to appoint you or even change you. But then, you expect it can happen anytime.”

He however, said it was an honour to serve as sports minister. He thanked the president for the opportunity. He said he was happy to see sports grow in the country.

“When I was first appointed, sports used to receive Shs 400m a year. Now, sport receives Shs 27 billion. That has been as a result of the good relationship I have had with the president, to convince him, to add us more. I feel I have played my part,” Bakkabulindi said.

In a nutshell, Bakkabulindi is happy with the success Ugandan sport has achieved in the last 15 years. He feels a lot needs to be done to improve infrastructure. And for what it is worth, his successor will have to do better on resolving sports administrative wrangles and indecisiveness.

Muloni 

Interviewed yesterday, one employee at the ministry of Energy and Mineral Development said Muloni, the outgoing minister, had a good working relationship with most of the project staff in the ministry.

She replaced Hilary Onek in 2011. The employee, however, said Muloni divided opinion when she weighed in on technical issues. Muloni, an electrical engineer, loved her own opinions and they took precedence over any others; the employee said. That put her on a collision path with her technical people.

The employee, however, said Muloni was a hard worker who put a lot of emphasis on completion of projects. Muloni weathered many storms in her eight-year stewardship of the Energy ministry but stumbled this year.

She just didn’t know how to handle a confrontation with a whistleblower like speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga. The speaker said recently that Shs 24bn meant for the construction of the Isimba Dam bridge had been “eaten” by government officials, a claim Muloni roundly dismissed as false, setting up a direct confrontation with parliament.

A week or so ago, Muloni was grilled by MPs on the floor for what they called contempt of parliament. During plenary, Kadaga said she had evidence against senior government officials who stole the money meant for the bridge over River Nile connecting Kayunga and Kamuli districts.

However, while speaking at the Uganda Media Centre, Ms Muloni dismissed the speaker’s claims, saying: “If you have a case, the government here has all institutions that can handle all those issues”.

Angered by the minister’s statement, the speaker, during her communication at the start of the sitting, presented what she called evidence on the subject matter, sparking a heated debate in the House.

“I have heard what the government has said and I want to give them the following information because I think they don’t have it or they are ignoring it,” Kadaga said, adding that she had reported the matter to the president in March.

She said government needs to explain who was behind plans to kick the contractors, China Water and Electric, out of the country even before the commissioning of the Isimba dam, a project that was supposed to go hand-in-hand with the construction of the bridge.

The Speaker also revealed that under High court suit number 383 of 2019, a number of people led by Vincent Nsubuga and Bernard Ssajabi sued the contractor and the Attorney General in a case that led to court to restrict transactions from three bank accounts of China Water and Electric.

“I want the government to establish who was behind the fictitious cases filed against China Water and Electric, and the Attorney General. The purpose of that suit was actually to close the work of China Water and Electric,” she said.

MPs charged at the minister, saying she needs to be investigated because she might have had a hand in the mess around the construction of the bridge which has delayed despite the funds being disbursed by the ministry of Finance.

They also accused Muloni of breaching Rule 221 of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure by going ahead to portray the speaker as a liar from the Uganda Media Centre before briefing Parliament where the matter was initially reported.

Muloni, who has no constituency she represents at the moment, could have overspent her political capital at this juncture. A protracted investigation of her handling of the Isimba dam project would simply have put a huge stain on the ruling NRM government, which is struggling so hard to show it is serious about fighting corruption going into the election year.

Abdul Nadduli

Called for interview yesterday about his sacking, the former Luweero district chairman, who was appointed to cabinet in 2016, sounded a little low on telephone. “Aaaaaaah, sinaba kufulumyawo press release yonna ogira olinda…aaaaah,” [I have not yet released any press statement, be patient,” Nadduli said before hanging up.

Interviewed yesterday, sources close to the Appointments committee of parliament, which vetted the former minister, said much as he was given the nod of approval on humanitarian grounds, Nadduli didn’t have the requisite requirements for being a minister.

Nadduli’s press conferences were a joy to attend. He sent his cheery audiences in bouts of laughter with his flawed English expressions. It was clear Nadduli had been appointed to appease a certain constituency but couldn’t be relied on to deliver an emphatic victory in Luweero in 2021 having lost his own chairmanship.

Alex Onzima 

It’s hard to particularly point out what exactly led to the ouster of this former Forum for Democratic Change member. But people close to him say Onzima is a free spirit. He speaks his mind and that doesn’t easily endear him to his superiors.

When he was a minister in the Local Government, he ferociously opposed the president’s push for the creation of new administrative units. However, since he took over the docket of Minister in the Office of the Vice President in 2016, Onzima went off grid. But those in the know say, he was rarely at his office. It’s also said that he had a frosty working relationship with Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi. He couldn’t be reached for comment. 

Mukwaya 

Mukwaya too was an ex-official member of cabinet, meaning she had no constituency and was easily expendable. The president needed someone fresh with new political capital. Going into 2021, Mukwaya’s replacement Frank Tumwebaze, the former ICT minister fitted the bill.

Interviewed yesterday, ministry of Gender staff said the outgoing minister was a tough cadre who did not allow free interaction of employees at the ministry.

“It’s like she instructed all her immediate staff and support staff like the personal assistant, secretaries, bodyguards not to freely interact with other people. Even when we meet outside the ministry at workshops, they don’t mix with others,” a source at the ministry said yesterday.

Another source said workers were always visibly timid and scared around the minister. “When you are at the ministry, it is easy to know madam is around or not. When you see people uneasy…you don’t need to ask why,” a source said.

“The mood is always bad….you know. You can be tough to people around you but there are some people generally who never perform well under rude bosses. I don’t think many employees at the ministry will miss her,” the person added.
Another employee described the former minister’s staff as super staff who had mastered their boss’ behaviour and deeds.

“Like their boss [Mukwaya], they are always tough and proud. You only see and meet yourselves at the ministry but nothing goes beyond hi. Sometimes they pass by without greeting but when you meet them at workshops, they greet you. There were two ministers, Janat and her deputy Peace Mutuuzo but their support staff didn’t mingle,” the source said.

Sources said Mukwaya was sacked while she was abroad on official duties. They said she didn’t resign as some people claimed.

“The only person who ever resigned was the assistant commissioner in-charge of Culture, Madam Eunice who resigned after finding greener pastures at KCCA [Kampala Capital City Authority]. Nobody should ever deceive you that she had resigned by the time of her sacking…” a source said.

John Vianney Nsimbe, Aaron Gad Orena, Baker Batte Lule & Josephine Namuloki