Senior members of Cabinet including the Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi have been named as having benefitted from corrupt Oil deals involving billions of shillings.
Mbabazi was named together with Foreign Affairs minister, Sam Kutesa and Internal Affairs minister Hillary Onek as having benefitted financially from secret Oil deals. Onek was minister of Energy before he was transferred to his current Internal Affairs portfolio. The Ministers’ names came up on Monday during a heated special session of parliament called to debate the Oil sector.
Youth MP for Western Uganda, Gerald Karuhanga overshadowed the whole debate when he exposed details of bank accounts and huge amounts of money, in dollars and Euros, which were transferred to Kutesa and Onek through their account numbers in foreign banks by Tullow Oil to get favors in the Oil dealings in Uganda. Karuhanga said Kutesa was bribed with 17.5 million Euros, an equivalent of about 68 billion shillings while Onek was reportedly given money in five different installments totaling to 5.6 million Euros, an equivalent of about 21.8 billion shillings.
Mbabazi was named as having benefitted financially when he facilitated, as Security minister, a meeting between Tullow Oil and Eni, an Italian Oil Company, to get Oil deals in Uganda.
With the debate getting more heated and stormy and the house in uproar, Kutesa stood up on a point of order challenging Karuhanga that he was making defamatory statements against him but Karuhanga maintained his stand when he said he does not fear dying for fighting corruption. He told off Kutesa that he would repeat the same accusations against the ministers outside the parliamentary debate.
Kitgum woman MP, Beatrice Anywar and Joseph Sewungu, the Kalungu West legislator, gave two different rosaries to Karuhanga when the youth MP said he never fears to die for exposing the rot. He said he would never betray the country by keeping quiet and vowed to remain firm and steadfast and provide more evidence against the ministers accused of corruption.
MPs from both the NRM and opposition called on the ministers named to step aside and avoid inviting a censure motion against them.
The house also heard how Ninah Mbabazi, a daughter to Prime Minister, together with her husband, a son to former minister Mathew Rukikaire, has been benefitting from operating an Oil parking yard in Kampala, hundreds of kilometers from the Oil wells in Bunyoro. But Mbabazi has already denied that her daughter owns such a business. He said he would defend himself on Tuesday when the debate returns for a second day.
Ajuri MP, Hamson Obua described the debate as a moment of truth and political liberation. He suggested that the ministers named should be prosecuted because they were denying suffering Ugandans medicine and salary for civil servants. His colleague from Dokolo, Felix Okot-Ogong, accused the named ministers of trying to turn Uganda into their private properties.
Betty Amongi, the MP for Oyam South, called on the NRM party to throw out Mbabazi and Kutesa from any future elective offices. She said if the NRM does not discard the two, she would in future mobilize Ugandans against them.
Amongi said it was not a coincidence that since her coming to parliament ten years ago, it was always the same names of Mbabazi and Kutesa that keep coming up in accusations of corruption.
The debate continues on Tuesday morning.
