BALAAM UNDER PRESSURE! Death Threats, Powerful Phone Calls Haunt Corruption Crackdown

Pepper Intelligence Unit

Touted as, perhaps, President Yoweri Museveni’s last chance to smash the head of the corruption serpent that has crippled his forty-year rule, Local Government Minister, Balaam Barugahara’s countrywide field-based operations face a prospect of hitting a technical dead-end as various hurdles stand in his way.

Having kicked off with gusto in July by raiding Bulambuli, Jinja, Mbale, Namayingo, and later crossing to Masaka, the later heading to Mbarara, Isingiro, Sheema, Mitooma, Buhweju; then recently Kayunga, Pallisa, all at random, Barugahara has exhibited remarkable staying power in delivering on a very sensitive assignment that may make or end all claims to confronting the vice.

Ugandans are celebrating while culprits and their allies are cursing. As of last week, Balaam had an estimated 200 corruption suspects booked, awaiting court proceedings. By the time he has been to all local governments in the country, he should have thousands of them, but will that mark the end of corruption in all its forms?

Phone calls from Kampala

Barugahara is under immense pressure from fellow ministers and bigwigs in Kampala who want him to spare their allies caught in the dragnet. In every single place where he has been, the minister receives phone calls and emissaries asking for favour. Ministers have their political allies in the local governments who helped them in the recent elections.

There are also generals and security chiefs seeking to shield their people from prosecution and public embarrassment. This has given Balaam much headache to an extent he had to be admitted to hospital.

He has been seen in some operations with a cannula on the arm. Failure to honour requests by these big shots will cause him problems while doing them a favour as requested will cause the public to see him as being one with the corrupt hyenas.

In fact, it is alleged that the minister has received direct phones and messages threatening him to go slow or face death.

Slow court process

Given the speed with which the minister swung into action and with which he passes interim decisions on the culpability of officials named at the public rallies, Ugandans expect to see Okello-style trials which will hand down sentences to the vultures that have stolen PDM money and denied them vital services from government.

However, the judiciary is chronically short of manpower and resources to do an effective job and in time. Just the other day during the caucus meeting of the NRM at State House, Entebbe, the president was asking about the fate of the Okello trial. After his conviction, nobody knew what had become of the appeal as reported, until when the president was told that the judiciary lacked money to conduct the trial. The big man was noticeably disappointed, yet this is just one case.

What will happen if thousands of corruption suspects are netted and there is no money to fund their trials? Wouldn’t he collapse? There is a probability of most culprits getting off the hook and turning the guns on government to compensate them. Holding field trials is an option being explored but that also requires colossal sums and there is no confidence as to the consistency and integrity of the process once it’s “decentralised”. There is a big problem here yet public expectations are high.

Corruption within the judiciary

While grappling with manpower and logistical challenges in the judiciary, the public is also saying that justice and accountability cannot be achieved when the judiciary itself is corrupt. The loaded culprits can easily secure favourable rulings when the very evil being fought is on the ground is alive in the corridors of the temple of justice.

Corruption at the centre

Another question that is creating doubt in the mind of the public is whether Balaam’s operations are genuine without first dealing with the corrupt power centres in Kampala. Who will confront those ones? Anyone who has sought services in a Kampala office knows how frustrating it can be; having to go in circles until you squeeze your pocket and offer something.

Ugandans processing payments, settlements, jobs and business opportunities have testimonies to give. Much of the corruption in the districts starts at the centre, where some bosses set off a chain of extortion and kickbacks from projects they supervise.

One of these days, a local culprit will gain courage and name the lords of corruption and the nation will be left in shock at the audacity of the people close to Mzee (President Museveni) and among the elite of the elites in Kampala. It’s said that most corrupt leaders in the districts are influenced by what they see happening in Kampala, thinking that “if the bosses can do it, why can’t we?” Before a swoop is conducted in Kampala’s MDAs, Ugandans are skeptical that Balaam is just sent to divert their attention from the bedrock of corruption. Can districts be corrupt if they know that their supervisors in Kampala are not corrupt?

As the operations continue, they have directly targeted local government officials, exposing “ghost” workers, bloated school enrollments, and substandard or stalled public infrastructure (such as the heavily scrutinized Shs500 million Bulambuli Town Council bridge), an administrative block worth Shs17billion in Jinja which Balaam declared wastage of taxpayers money, muddy roads due to use of substandard materials in Bulambuli that led to the arrest of the district engineer and two CAOs that were arrested over abuse of office and accountability issues.

The operation’s methods have sparked fierce debate. While many citizens celebrate the exposure of stolen funds, local leaders and professional bodies like the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) have criticized the operations as political theatrics, arguing they undermine due process and humiliate technical staff.

On the other hand, Red Pepper has received complaints from local government units on slow or lack of response from the center when cases of corruption are reported.

“When we file reports or complaints on corruption cases including the sale of jobs and extortion in PDM, we don’t get responses or assurance on what next. What follows is lack of support to deal with the culprits who then gang up against us. It is not like we are not working or that we don’t see these things. We report these things but there is no action,” one leader from Western region told Red Pepper. The leader said only people from “the center who are not resident in the districts and who have extra cover” can deal decisively with graft without fearing reprisal.

Can Balaam alone end corruption that costs Uganda a reported Shs10trillion every year?