Buganda political rights firebrand and Uganda MP for Lubaga North has warned of disaster if President Museveni’s government takes over the Kampala City administration. In a press statement she released on Sunday 5, 2009, Ms. Beti Kamya debunked the government’s claims that the city council should be replaced by a government minister because the city is too dirty for the Uganda’s national image.

Kamya challenges Mr. Museveni to provide a single piece of evidence that Uganda government is capable of maintaining any major institution. She cites the dilapidated national hospitals, schools and training colleges as a basis to question why taxpayers should have any hope that Mr. Museveni’s government will do a better job looking after Kampala than the city council.

As to why Kampala is in a mess Kamya says (in Luganda): “I believe that the primary reason why Kampala city is in a crisis is underfunding by government. For example, Kampala has a population of about 3M people but last year it received government aid of only 25 billion shillings (US$12.5M). By comparison, Bushenyi district [located in Museveni’s ethnic homeland of Ankore] has a population of 800,000 but it received 27 billion shilling (US$13.5M), which is more than Kampala’s.”

Kampala is the business and commercial capital of Uganda and is located in Kyadondo county of the Buganda kingdom. Kampala is the home of the official and private palaces of the Kabaka (king equivalent) of Buganda. And Mmengo, a suburb of the city, is the seat of the Kabaka’s government. The conference which wrote Uganda’s latest constitution in 1995 voted to designate Kampala as “outside Buganda”, a move which was strongly opposed by the natives of the city and an overwhelming majority of Buganda residents. To many Baganda the “majority rules” decision by the natives of other regions of Uganda has been regarded as forceful occupation. Since 1995, the democratically elected Kampala City Council has been dominated by Baganda, who get more votes.  Then just over a year ago Mr. Museveni declared the city council incompetent and ordered the drafting a new law which turns the administration of Kampala over to government and extends its size into Buganda native lands by more than twice. A move which many Baganda view as another sign that Mr. Museveni and his supporters are determined to destroy Buganda.

According to Transparency International, Uganda is one of most corrupt countries in the world. Over the weekend a top Western diplomat in Uganda said on a local broadcast program that the donors are frustrated by the fact that the aid they give is intended for the masses but ends in the hands of a few at the top. He gave notice that the some donors are re-evaluating its aid policy in Uganda, in light of the global economic and the high rate of corruption. At least 5 immediate members of Mr. Museveni’s family are also members of this administration. Notably, his wife Janet is Minister for Karamoja where Uganda’s main gold deposits are located, his half-brother Salim Saleh is Presidential Advisor on security and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba is commander of the army’s special forces.

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.