Before I proceed, I should take cognisance of the fact that a few of you reading this article have watched SpiderMan: Brand New Day now in cinema.
It follows that I should explain who Spider-Man is, before we get into the thick of my argument. Now, for those who have somehow escaped the Marvel universe, Spider-Man is a superhero character who goes out of his way to save his city from imminent and rampant danger/crime.
This comes at the expense of his own personal and individual loved ones. But he keeps showing up because protecting people is what he does. New Yorkers love him. He is every child’s hero.
In almost equal measure, or worse, Uganda has suffered for far too long with corruption, which has infested virtually every aspect of society. It is everywhere. Hospitals, schools, and roads that wash away before the contractor has even left the district; jobs that are advertised after they have already been given away.
Even those who have benefited from this system now seem frightened by what it has become. So, when someone suddenly emerges, exposing theft, recording officials, our Ugandans say, “Finally, someone inside has decided enough is enough.”
They want to believe Spider-Man has finally arrived. I am sorry to disappoint them. Balaam Barugahara is not Spider-Man. If anything, he belongs to the very universe that created the villains in the first place. That may sound harsh, but hear me out.
This article is not really about Balaam. Frankly speaking, I could never have expected him to solve corruption or Uganda’s deeper national questions. That would be unfair to him. Perhaps, I should register my bias.
I have always believed in the reverse of the biblical principle that to whom little has been given, little should be expected. Beyond the inspiring story of a young man who hustled his way from the streets into business success, I do not think Balaam knows much about governing a country. He is not a student of institutions.
He is simply one of the many political products that Uganda has produced over the years. So, my concern is not Balaam the individual. It is Balaam the symbol. He represents something much bigger.
He represents the NRM’s attempt to reinvent itself as Ugandans begin asking uncomfortable questions. That is why I have struggled to celebrate these recent corruption “exposés.” Not because corruption should not be exposed. Please expose every thief.
Arrest every official who has stolen public money. Recover every coin possible. But let us not pretend we do not know this script. Almost everything being exposed today has already been exposed before.
Opposition politicians, journalists, and civil society organisations have exposed it. The Auditor General himself has done the same. The difference is not the information. The difference is who is holding the camera.
Many people have already made the conclusion that had opposition MPs marched into those same district offices doing exactly what Balaam is doing today, they would not be celebrated. Instead, they would be accused of causing chaos, and they would be arrested.
So, why is this happening now? My view is that, the purpose is not necessarily to eliminate corruption. The purpose is to create just enough hope that people begin trusting the very people who built the system. It is like fattening a goat before market day.
The goat eats well. It even begins to think life has improved. It does not realise that the feeding has nothing to do with kindness. That is my fear. Not that some district officials will be arrested. Good. Let them answer for every shilling they stole.
My fear is that desperate Ugandans will mistake selective accountability for genuine reform. Corruption in Uganda is not an accident. It is not a few bad people making bad decisions. It has become part of how power is organised.
Sometimes I wonder whether the NRM can genuinely fight corruption without fighting itself. Think about it. If corruption is deeply woven into the political system, then eliminating it would require dismantling the very networks that have kept that system alive for decades.
In other words, they would have to arrest themselves out of power. Is that honestly going to happen? I doubt it. And that is why I refuse to be overly excited every time cameras are switched on, and a few officials are paraded before the public.
As Godber Tumushabe would say: we are experiencing complete structural brokenness. You do not repair structural brokenness with a few dramatic anticorruption rallies. You repair it by changing the structure.
That may come through a completely new national consensus. It may come through new leadership, altogether. I honestly do not know. What I know is this. Spider-Man does not emerge from the gang that has spent years terrorising the neighbourhood. So, with all due respect, Sorry Ugandans. Balaam Barugahara is not Spider-Man.
lawelfrayer253@gmail.com
Researcher with Agora Center for Research.
U are right really,the only best way to cease corruption in Uganda is to change the government with it’s longest leading political party.
It cannot fight corruption when it’s most corrupt cadres are the ones sent to fight it
Thank Joshua!
Only a fool/useful idiot will applauds Balaam and his deputy, Hon Mere’s theatrics.
In other words, it is like the absurdity of the English proverb of “closing the gate after the horses have bolted!”
Unless of course our 86-years-old PROBLEM OF AFRICA, Gen Tibuhaburwa is on his way to Damascus!
Who in his/her right state of mind can believe that the entrenched 45 years and counting from Feb 1981) of PLUNDER, can just go away through the kajjanja of the Balaam of this country and his Donkey?
E.g.: including robbing the Bank of Uganda Currency Centre in Kabale and the UCB Hoima/Masindi Branches; looting and eating peasants/people’s cassava, chicken, goats cattle, etc. in Luweero and Greater Northern Uganda (recent phoney Shs.5 million cattle compensation per household), do these people still have any conscience?
NYET!
Otherwise, where did the 2026 Gen Election campaign rhetoric “Protect the Gain/Loot” come from?
From nowhere, where did Hon Namere’s “Stainless Steel Shine” come from?
Joshua, there is a wise saying: ‘Mbulira gwo’yita naye nkubulire empisa zo’—tell me who you walk with, and I will tell you your character. Let’s put aside Museveni and the NRM for a second: Balaam is a product of the PLU, which directly stems from the NRM. This is the exact same corrupt system that manufactured Muhoozi as the leader of the PLU. Muhoozi didn’t become the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) based on merit; his appointment was born purely out of corruption and nepotism, making him corrupt to the core.
As you correctly pointed out, Museveni and the NRM cannot survive without corruption, tribalism, nepotism, and patronage. It is a classic case of garbage in, garbage out. For over 40 years, Museveni has engineered a governance system built entirely on these vices. Therefore, Balaam is just the garbage produced by Muhoozi’s PLU. In fact, Namboze hit the nail on the head when she called Balaam a ‘useful idiot’.
True what they say: a problem cannot be solved by the same consciousness that created it in the first place. That said, even when a system is rotten to the core, self-redemption remains a possibility. In more ways than we can recount, we have seen this happen elsewhere—because, as the law of change would have it, everything changes except the law of change itself.
From your submission, however, you seem to have lost hope altogether. But then again, on the road to Damascus, Saul became Paul. Stranger things have happened.
There may well be procedural and constitutional misnomers in the manner of Balaam’s excursion. But, for all its imperfections, it has also helped expose an uncomfortable truth: even in a badly botched system, there may still be a few people who have not completely surrendered to the rot.
The fight against corruption is an intricate and insidious one. Corruption is rather like a snake—you may think you have tamed it, only to discover that it still has enough venom to strike the very person trying to tame it. Italy provides a vivid, even lurid, illustration of this through its long and complicated encounters with the mafia.
So, if you have your doubts about Balaam, fair enough. Let us withhold the final verdict and rejoice if, at the end of his excursion, the mission is accomplished. After all, even Damascus had its surprises.