We can exclusively report that the March 2009 appointment of President Museveni’s wife, Janet Kataha, to the post of Minister of State for Karamoja was never about politics. And some of the attacks against the appointment have been done by state agents to confuse Ugandans and foreign donors alike. According a source close to Mr. Museveni’s state house and familiar with the Uganda Geological Surveys and Mines department, Uganda’s strongman appointed his wife for purely economic reasons; to secure direct family involvement in the exploitation of the huge Karamoja gold deposits. On March 9, 2009 Museveni explained his wife’s ministerial appointment to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) with: “Since many of our elite ministers did not want to work in Karamoja, I asked Janet to help me develop one of the backward areas of our country.”
Our source, who requested anonymity to protect her family’s lives, wrote in an email that: “On January 17, 2009 Uganda’s first family was excited that the latest mineral survey report showed so much more gold potential in Karamoja than initially thought. The first step was to order Tuhumwire to remove Karamoja from the mineral report. [Writer’s note: Joshua Tuhumwire, who of the same ethnicity as Mr. and Mrs. Museveni, is the commissioner for geological surveys and mines]. After heated discussions, the family agreed that one of them had to be minister for Karamoja if they were to control that gold without much suspicion. Appointing the first lady minister for Karamoja was seen as the perfect solution because (1) it reduced the tension in the family and (2) as, MP her appointment would help keep Ugandans and donors focused on the political angle.”
Our source’s email further says that it was expected that, in the position of presidential advisor on defense matters, Mr. Museveni’s half-brother Salim Saleh will oversee implementation of secret arrangements to put a security blanket over the Kaboong area, which the biggest prospects for gold deposits. Her email also points out that, “When the first lady visited Karamoja the place which received her highest attention was Kaboong, clear sign that she is 100% confident that Ugandan’s are not bright enough to see below the covers.”
The president’s family has been involved in Karamoja gold mining since the early 1990’s. According the Uganda parliament records (Ansard), in 1995 Mr. Museveni told Ugandan national assembly that: “In Karamoja, six occurrences of gold have been identified and a Uganda registered company, Branch Energy Uganda Limited is going to spend US$7 million during the next two years on prospecting and development. Another company, Anglo-Sudan Corporation is prospecting for gold in the Mityana/Mubende area.” What Mr. Museveni did not mention, which became public information by 1996, is that Branch Energy Uganda Limited was owned by his half-brother Salim Saleh Akandwanaho, in partnership with infamous Branch Energy of South Africa.
Uganda’s subsequent invasion of Congo, a much bigger source of gold and other minerals, and negative publicity about the Branch Energy companies seem to have convinced the Museveni family and their kinsmen to cut back their gold prospecting and mining in Karamoja. Today, the Uganda ruling class does not have access to Congo gold but the mineral trading and shipment network the developed remains intact.
