{UAH} HOW MUSEVENI MILKS UGANDANS TO FUND HIS LIFE PRESIDENCY SCHEME

HOW MUSEVENI MILKS UGANDANS TO FUND HIS LIFE PRESIDENCY SCHEME

No doubt Museveni is the State of Uganda and vice versa thus there is nothing like his purported NRM-O party or opposition parties but a Museveni life presidency project funded by all Ugandans. It is no longer a secret that Museveni's personal control of the security forces and the Treasury is the foundation of his life presidency scheme.

 Legally challenged 
The Political Parties and Organisations Act requires political parties to periodically declare their assets and liabilities to the Electoral Commission (EC) and to declare their source of funds and other assets. Further, they are required to have their audited books of accounts verified by the EC. The said financial statements are supposed to be signed by the party Chairman, Secretary General and Treasurer. The same law stipulates that where a political party or organisation fails to comply with the above requirement 21 days after the notice from the EC to do so, the EC may apply to the High Court for an order to deregister that political party or organisation.
It is on the basis of that law that in 2014 a private citizen Francis Atugonza approached the Electoral Commission seeking to be given access to the audited accounts of Museveni's NRM-O party. The EC could not comply just because the NRM-O does not  have a budget, no books of accounts and does not submit audited books of accounts. Mr Atugonza had seek remedy from court whereby last week the Chief Magistrate's Court ordered the EC to avail him with information pertaining to records of contributions, donations, or pledges made funders or promoters of the NRM-O. The order further required the EC to avail statements of funds and the names of the persons that had contributed funds and properties belonging to NRM-O and annual audited accounts for the last three years.
It is a fact that Museveni's NRM-O has not furnished the EC with its audited accounts for quite a number of years. This is because Museveni simply uses public resources to fund his purported political party activities. In reality, NRM-O political party does not exist but its Museveni's life presidency scheme that is interwoven with the state of Uganda thus funded by the national treasury. The EC can not take action against the NRM-O because it is part and parcel of the structures of the life presidency scheme. Even the Chief Magistrates Court issued this order just because Museveni has not full attained the required degree of subduing the Judiciary thus the existence of some pockets of  'counter revolutionary' judicial officers.

Museveni is the major funder
Apart from the 264 NRM Members of Parliament (MPs) that are said to make monthly contributions of 100,00 shillings (about US40$), the NRM-O has never attempted to disclose its source of huge and excessive funding of its activities. The party has no budget and no business entity to generateINCOME since its own Danze Enterprises was run down immediately it was initiated in the mid 90s. In November 2005 NRM's James Kakooza disclosed that each party member had contributed 100,000 shillings to rise 10b shillings of which 6b shillings had been budgeted for the Nov 2005 delegated conference. The then Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi who chaired the organising committee for the delegates conference told The Monitor that whoever was questioning the source of theMONEY "should mind their business". However, in September 2011 the then party spokesperson Karooro Okurut said that Museveni contributes 40% of his monthly emoluments to party funding. She added that the LC 5 Chairmen, MPs, friends and other party members also contribute to the party funding. He singled out the 110,000 shillings monthly contribution from each of the 264 NRM MPs 
that amounts to 29million shillings per month.

'Cash conduit' projects 
It is a tradition for the Museveni regime to come up with poverty alleviation projectsTARGETINGmainly the youth and women but in actual sense such projects are a conduit for syphoning off public resources. A living example is during the 2006 and 2011general elections when the so called Presidential Initiative on Markets became a political fund for Museveni's election campaigns. Through Micro Finance Service Centre Ltd (MSC) - a government institution that manages micro credit funds, his brother Gen Saleh, then Finance Minister Syda Bbumna, Political Assistant Moses Byaruhanga and former Vice President Specioza Kazibwe used the funds for Museveni's election campaigns. Although meant to be revolving fund to help market vendors and small scale business people access credit, the fund was turned into non refundable political handouts. Maria Kiwanuka who replaced Syda Bumba as Finance Minister attempted to probe into this particular financial scam by suspending among others Dr Wandira Kazibwe who had been the Board Chairperson. No wonder, the same Maria Kiwanuka has just been 'awarded' by being dropped for being independent minded. Therefore, all those projects designed to alleviate poverty are nothing but a conduit for siphoning off public resources for Museveni's party activities.

Supplementary budgets
The Museveni regime has been abusing the supplementary window by asking for huge sums of in supplementary budgets to that exceed what is allowed by law. The major beneficiaries of these supplementary budgets has been the Ministry of Defence, Police and State House whose classified budget votes are not subjected to audit under the pretext of national security. The case in point is the current efforts by the army to seek a parliamentaryAPPROVAL of 486billion shillings ostensibly for the purchase of classified military equipments. In mid 2014 the Ministry of Defence negotiated with a bank in Russia through RosoboroneMuseveni who is the state.

Foreign military adventures
This has been another avenue of rising funds for Museveni's life presidency scheme. From the military invasion of the Congo in the late 90s where creation of ghost soldiers was one of the means of swindling publicMONEY to the military adventures in CAR, Sudan and Somalia where diversion of resources and the inflated defence expenditure, the regime finds a smokescreen for accessing public resources for its political activities. In early 2014 the army sought and got parliamentary approval of billions of taxi payer'sMONEY ostensibly for the South Sudan military expedition. At the same time the government of South Sudan was claiming to be funding some components of the Uganda army's operational costs. For the Somalia peace mission, under both the UN and the AU peace keeping agreements, troop contributing countries are reimbursed if they deploy with their own equipment - both lethal and non lethal. This is under a provision in the agreement called Reimbursement of Contingent Own Equipment (RCOE). The regime has never disclosed how much they have been reimbursed on top of loss of equipments more especially the recent helicopter crashes in Kenya en-route to Somalia. The regime has even been forcefully deducting soldier's allowances in order to finance the life presidency scheme.

National Treasury
Museveni has unlimited access to the national treasury. The Uganda Revenue authority is under his personal control and direction. He issues out loans from the national treasury to individual party cohorts like Hassan Bassajabalaba - the chairman of the regime's Entrepreneur's League who was a 21 billion shilling soft loan from bank of Uganda. Explaining why the country had suffered unprecedented inflation after the 2011 general elections, the Governor of the Central Bank confirmed that he had been misled by the government into indirectly financing electioneering activities in 2011 an action which plunged the country's economy into chaos. He stated thus: "I can assure you that the central bank did not directly print money but where government expenditure is directed towards areas that are not completely transparent, I can not determine how much of the money I have created ended in political electioneering." He vowed never to bow to any pressure again but of course its because he belongs to the Mbabazi Camp. The Governor's brother Brigadier Sabiiti Mutebile is the army's Chief of Construction whose unit is implicated in the Standard Gauge railway saga. The Minister of Works Engineer Byandala had earmarked China Civil and Engineering Construction corporation (CCECC) who had quoted US $ 1.250 billion.  Museveni used Eng Byndala's deputy then Engineer Byabagambi to bring in China Harbour and Engineering corporation (CHEC) who had quoted US$ 1.7billion simply because it was to work with the army and even build a polytechnic school for the partnership in building a pioneering army's engineering brigade. No wonder, Engineer Byandala has been replaced by Engineer Byabagambi as the full Minister of Health. When the army's so called Engineering Brigade is put in place that is when Museveni will have a free day in swindling from national coffers the real madness will come to light. Major infrastructure development projects will be undertaken by the army and the quality will be disaster. Already, the army is in NAADs mismanaging billions of tax payer's money meant for agriculture improvement. NAADs will evolve into the army's production wing and together with the Engineering Brigade which is in the offing, they will be the core handlers of the national service activities. Once all public service positions will be filled by cadres of the life presidency project through National Service, the swindling of public resources will be institutionalised. Museveni is currently itching to get rid of the incorruptible Auditor General John Muwanga and together with the Governor of the Central Bank, the cleanup will be complete.

Institutionalised corruption
Museveni and his regime have no political will to fight corruption because it is through corruption that party faithfuls secure resources for their personal wealth that make them loyal to the life president project but at the same time they contribute part of it to the part funding. Most of the NRM party leaders hold big public offices which they use to national budgetary allocations to their respective offices to subsidise party work. Corruption is also used to lure fence sitters into the life presidency scheme. Museveni moves some of his most trusted cohorts in response to where he intends to direct most public resources so tha they can channel it to the life presidency scheme funding.

Investors
The corrupt regime has been getting kick backs and direct financial contributions from the so called foreign investors more especially those of Asians origin. They have in some instances acted as fronts for some of the privileged few in winning huge business concessions. They enjoy tax holidays and free public land to the disadvantage of the locals.

The list of public avenues from which Museveni derives funding for his life presidency scheme is endless.

INFORMATION IS POWER

Posted by Uganda - A Change of Guards! a

Viele GruBe

Robukui

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