UNPATRIOTIC! Minister Mayanja reveals why MDAs like NEMA, NFA are dying

The controversial State Minister (Lands) Dr. Sam Mayanja now says the government of Gen (Rtd) Yoweri Museveni has partly been infiltrated by “night dancers” who are out to use their public office positions to “cannibalize the country” as opposed to amplifying service delivery as is well stipulated under the NDP III and the 2021-2026 NRM Manifesto. Mayanja, who recently demanded total shutting down of his own Ministry to allow the identification and weeding out of saboteurs out to frustrate Gen Museveni’s agenda to transform Uganda, used his weekly radio program which airs 7-8pm every Sunday on 100.5 Bukedde FM to elaborate on his new shocking discovery.

Mayanja, who says his Bukedde program has over 10m listeners across the country, said efforts of his like-minded leaders in government to clean up things and obliterate constraints to service delivery, were being betrayed, frustrated and let down by a category of public officials whose cannibalistic mischief he likened to that of night dancers. He called them abasezi in Luganda and illustrated why he believes they are widespread in many MDAs of the government.

He anchored his argument on the provisions of Article 237(2)(b) of the Constitution which he said mandates the GoU to protect and preserve public resources such as wetlands, rivers, lakes, natural forests and national game parks on behalf of the people. Mayanja (who has been at the forefront of disputing the billions some of the kiwaani city tycoons have been hijacking and in return extract billions from government as compensation to facilitate public infrastructure projects) said that even when they are supposed to be knowledgeable that the same is public land, these parasitic public officials have continued facilitating issuance of private titles relating to the same.

Calling them parasites, Dr. Mayanja said that these are collective resources for the entire people of Uganda and can’t be privately owned by the kiwaani tycoons who have deceptively been leveraging them to extort billions from the GoU. He then proceeded to enumerate GoU MDAs which have successfully been infiltrated by night dancers/ the basezis. He enumerated these to include NFA whose leaders or managers he said had continued to indifferently look on as the sham Kampala tycoons fraudulently lay claim on forest reserves whenever a huge government project is anticipated. That instead of raising a red flag, NFA had in most cases maintained conspicuous silence as opposed to stepping forward to vigorously contradict such claims. That in some cases, night dancers in NFA actually write letters giving no objection to such tycoons’ claims on public land it’s mandated to safeguard. He described NFA as an entity that is full of officials “who [by choice] are living in the darkness of their mind.”

He gave the example of Dr. Grace Nambatya, the renowned herbalist based in the MoH, who recently spoke to him and revealed the indirect cost the country is already paying and will continue to pay because of the NFA bosses’ decision to sleep on the job. That one of the natural plants or herbs Dr. Nambatya uses to organically make herbal medicine used in the prevention of prostate cancer among elderly men had become depleted in the Ugandan forests and she these days has to travel to and get the same from DRC, a thing that has made that aspect of her herbal medicine more costly.

Mayanja then turned on NEMA, charged with protecting the environment, especially wetlands whose encroachers he is single-handedly continuing to battle. He made reference to Nambigirwa wetland off which he said the kiwaani tycoons have continued to get titled land into their names resulting in issuance of private titles without the entity stepping forward to object. “It’s intriguing that the NEMA certificate of no objection has become one the land grabbers keep getting as a matter of course,” Mayanja observed.

As a way forward out of the service delivery dilemma he articulated, Dr. Mayanja proposed deliberate militarization of NEMA, NFA, surveying services and the office of government valuer among others. He suggested that these are very important institutions for the country whose posterity must be prioritized. He said because of the decisiveness and discipline with which they approach public service roles, soldiers are best suited to revive the glory, efficiency and service delivery excellence at these institutions.

He referenced a number of soldiers whose stellar performance he said turned round things at the institutions where they were deployed. His examples included Gen Aronda Nyakayirima who amplified the national ID project via what became NIRA and Gen Katumba Wamala who he said turned things around at the Works & Transport Ministry and even the Uganda Police Force before. He also referred to Gen James Mugira who continues to move mountains at National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) which is the trading arm through which the mighty UPDF does business. He also referred to Nakaseke Deputy RDC Maj John Kaddu (brother to assassinated NRA war hero Adrian Lutamaguzi who Obote’s men tortured to death but never revealed that rebel leader YK Museveni was hiding in the ceiling of his house that very evening) who he said was doing wonders in that part of Luwero triangle partly because he is leveraging on his training and expertise as a soldier.

Saying the UPDF had equally exhibited high levels of discipline and efficiency while manning lockdown-era roadblocks, Dr. Mayanja argued that in any case some of these land-related disciplines like surveying used to be a preserve of army officers (mostly captains and Lt. Colonels) during colonial days in Uganda. And that they did exceptionally well. Speaking as the line Minister for Lands, Mayanja said the surveyors had let down the common man by facilitating the kiwaani tycoons to survey and get titles in relation to land that is government’s because it comprises natural forests, wetlands and others.

He said that such indifferent surveyors are doing all this knowingly and wondered why their regulatory body doesn’t crack the whip on such criminal-minded surveyors. “How do you facilitate the processes leading to issuance of private land titles in relation to land you can clearly see is a wetland? How do you facilitate private people to have titles claiming ownership of land that you clearly see is part of Lake Victoria, rivers or even wetlands? This is criminal connivance against the people of Uganda which must be punished,” Mayanja asserted. He demanded deregistration and criminal prosecution of such surveyors. “How can a title be cancelled because of your deliberate mistakes and you continue being a surveyor?”

Mayanja equally had no kind words for the officers working in the office of chief government valuer who he cursed for issuing valuation reports recommending payment of billions in relation to what they clearly see is government land. He said even the Bamugemereire inquiry into land matters (whose report he has been reviewing on behalf of Cabinet) had exposed the extent of rot among government valuers. “Those ones are night dancers par excellence,” Mayanja roared and recommended a forensic inquiry into that office to unearth the curiously very generous compensation claims they have been authenticating against the GoU. “These ones, just like the surveyors, are under my docket but I must admit the cleanup war isn’t going to be easy. They tried gagging me the other day when I went out to pacify the Wakiso office and they kept referring to the standing orders in order to keep my hands tied,” Mayanja said.

The Minister also strayed into the judiciary saying the bench equally has some night dancers who connive to help the kiwaani tycoons sanitize their dirty land-grabbing deals through curious court orders, injunctions and directives aimed at constraining any administrative sanctioning of the wrongdoers. He said that some of his fellow lawyers, including those serving as registrars at his Ministry Zonal Offices, are equally culpable and must be sanctioned and excommunicated by the Law Council which is mandated to sanction misconduct. He also implored members of the public to join him in his fight to make such conduct risky as opposed to remaining docile and merely looking on yet his war is ideally their war and not his personally. Mayanja, who was cautious not to antagonize his boss Judith Nabakooba in any way, also ran through the acrimonious history of the Naguru-Nakawa prime land (sandwiched between upper Naguru, Kololo and the Lugogo shopping complex) measuring 83 acres.

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