NRM wont acquit ex-ministers
Mr Bahati (R) with the party caucus spokesperson Everlyn Anite during a press briefing at Parliament yesterday. The members said former ministers named in the ID scam should be punished if found guilty. PHOTO BY geoffrey sseruyange.
What you need to know:
NRM members say the former ministers named in the national ID scam should face the law should they be found guilty.
National Resistance Movement rank-and-file yesterday rebuffed attempts by the party’s leadership to have them support the exoneration of three ex-ministers who have been implicated by a House report in the stalled billion-shilling National Identity Card project.
During a caucus meeting, most of the members reportedly said siding with the trio would have cemented the view that the party protects its members who are accused of corruption, which would cost it future elections.
The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs recently recommended that Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, Alintuma Nsambu and Prof. Khiddu Makubuya, all members of NRM, should be held personally responsible for messing up the project.
“The party wanted us to stand by people who are accused of corruption. To hell with them, enough is enough,” Ms Robinah Nabbanja, the Woman MP of Kibaale District, told the Daily Monitor last evening.
Mr Barnabas Tinkasiimire, the MP for Buyaga West, observed that the party was losing by-elections because of its soft handling of people accused of corruption.
But on sensing the hostility of most of the members to the idea of defending the trio, the party bosses reportedly changed tune and said the former ministers should be subjected to due process of the law.
“We need to go with the conclusion of the committee report that the project is a good one and it should be given support so that it is concluded,” Mr Daudi Migereko, the party’s acting chief whip, said.
“This shows that the National Resistance Movement does not condone corruption,” added Mr David Bahati, the treasurer of the caucus.
He said should the Inspectorate of Government, Police, Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the court processes prove the three former ministers are guilty they should be punished. “If the investigations prove that the ministers were involved [in mismanaging the project], they would be punished. This shows the NRM does not do things for convenience,” Mr Bahati said yesterday at Parliament.
Trip facilitation
Just this week, the government owned up to having facilitated the trip by Mr Nsambu to Germany to do due diligence on the firm that was awarded the contract. The party has in the past stood by minister Hilary Onek and the Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi when the Western Youth MP, Mr Gerald Karuhanga, last year alleged that the ministers had received bribes from foreign oil companies.
During the caucus meeting, Vice President Edward Ssekandi read a message from President Museveni explaining the circumstances under which the government flouted its procurement rules by settling on only one company to execute the project.
Through the speech, the President extolled the objectives of the National Identity Card – to ensure the voter register was not padded with fictitious names. The President has in the past blamed the Electoral Commission under former chairperson Aziz Kasujja of using a bloated voter register for the 1996 Election.
