The President must walk the stern talk

President Museveni’s April 3 letter to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja on the Karamoja iron sheets scandal is one that must have resonated with many Ugandans.
In a country where many a times corruption at the top tier end of the political pyramid is rewarded, the President termed it as “subversion” and directed that the culprits return the iron sheets and face the full wrath of the law.
Already, the Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Ms Mary Gorreti Kitutu, is facing prosecution. She spent the Easter weekend on remand in Luzira Prison. And with the President promising to take political action once Police have concluded investigations, there is some glimmer of hope that not all is lost in terms of political will to fight the debilitating monster called corruption.
However, the letter is just another mere piece of paper. What is of utmost importance is action.
It is a travesty that up to this point Ms Kitutu holds on as a Cabinet minister.
The kind of stance the President has demonstrated in a letter should have first come into action – the minister should have been interdicted or, at the very least, stood down as soon as she confessed wrongdoing and apologised.
But the minister, and her many other colleagues implicated in the shameless diversion of the Karamoja iron sheets remain in office. In a country where politicians have no shame, they cannot be expected to resign of their own volition. Even coaxing an admittance of wrongdoing or an apology has always been a tall order.
The appointing authority has the mandate to interdict these ministers until the investigations are complete. There is always enough time to reinstate those found not guilty. In instructing police to investigate the ministers while they remain in office, the President leaves a sense of legal faux pas.
This is a legal matter as much as it is a moral issue that both Parliament and the ruling NRM-O party can take up. For instance, at the height of Jacob Zuma’s investigation for corruption, South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, stuck by its rule that anyone charged with corruption or other crimes must step down while they are being investigated.   Both Parliament and NRM could benchmark the South African way of dealing with political heads facing criminal or corruption-related investigations. However, Ugandans will for now be content in the President’s stern talk and the promises therein. The President’s words gave the nation reassurance that, as the Fountain of Honour, he is willing to clean up the dust in his own Cabinet. The President must now go ahead to walk the stern talk in his missive by putting shame to the face of those who have lost it completely.