Musaazi Namiti
On social media, some Iteso listed names of individuals from Teso that President Museveni has appointed to serve in key positions following the announcement last Monday that Dr Michael Atingi-Ego had been named governor of the Bank of Uganda (BoU).
The names included Ms Jessica Alupo, the Vice President, and the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt Gen Sam Okiding. It should be recalled that Brig Gen Charles Oluka, who died last month and was the head of the Internal Security Organisation, hailed from Teso. The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, also comes from Teso, but she is elected, not appointed. However, those who have followed her working relationship with Mr Museveni closely will tell you she enjoys his support.
In fact, Mr Museveni did not publicly reproach her when her name dominated the headlines last year over corruption allegations for which the UK and US governments sanctioned her.
On the whole, Ugandans get excited about these appointments and attach a lot of importance to them. When Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile died in 2022, leaders from Kigezi Sub-region, where the former BoU governor hailed from, asked the President to fill the vacancy by appointing one of their own. They had their own shortlist with the following names: Mr David Bahati, the State minister for Trade; Mr Richard Byarugaba, BoU’s executive director of finance; and Augustus Nuwagaba, an international consultant with vast experience in economic transformation. From the look of things, Mr Museveni has not disappointed the Kigezi leaders since he named Mr Nuwagaba deputy governor.
That said, the regional/tribal excitement about these appointments counts for little. The beneficiaries are individuals the President appoints and those close to them, not their regions as a whole. Teso, for example, according to figures from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, is plagued by abject poverty and is not too far behind Karamoja, the poorest sub-region. Last November, this newspaper reported that in Bukedea, the district Ms Among represents in Parliament, the poverty rate stands at 37 percent, higher than the national average of 35 percent.
The regions that have benefited most from having their women and men in key government positions or in agencies/departments owned by the government are western and southwestern Uganda. According to the Equal Opportunities Commission's Annual State of Equal Opportunities in Uganda Financial Year 2022/23, the western region, which makes up 25 percent of the country's working population, accounted for 36 percent of public sector jobs. The report revealed that within the western region's 36 percent share of public sector jobs, Ankole sub-region had the highest proportion at 17 percent, followed by Kigezi at 10 percent.
These regions’ standards of living are high, and the level of poverty is considerably much lower. What’s more, it is widely believed that during the festive season towards the year end, many SUVs you see on Masaka Road leaving Kampala will be heading to the districts in the two regions.
Otherwise, regions such as Buganda, from which most of Mr Museveni’s finance ministers have come — they include Prof Ponsiano Mulema (first finance minister), Jehoash Mayanja Nkangi, Gerald Ssendaula, Syda Bbumba and Maria Kiwanuka — have had only byoya bya nswa, Luganda for nothing. There is also precious little the three Baganda former vice presidents — Dr Samson Babimululu Kisekka, Gilbert 'Mahogany' Baalibaseka Bukenya and Edward Ssekandi — did to make Buganda richer.
So, to answer the question asked in the headline of this article, yes, a few lucky Iteso have managed to secure great jobs. But — by and large — the average man or woman from Teso is going to be a peasant or labourer earning starvation wages.
The writer, Musaazi Namiti, is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the
Africa desk
