The Ugandan government of dictator Museveni is a mess of corruption which is failing to address thievery and looting of state funds by officials holding the highest positions of power, Prof Plo Lumumba, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Kenya iterated during the recent induction of Ugandan Members of Parliament.

Slap on the Wrist
Now, you’d expect such a ceremony to be a chance to laud the leadership capabilities of such respected seniors, but Lumumba instead took the chance to highlight the gross corruption known to exist within Museveni’s inner circle.

He insisted that the cabinet should seek to emulate other governments- citing Ian Khama’s Botswana and Paul Kagame’s Rwanda in rooting out corruption.
There’s a problem with that, though- Kagame’s authoritarian technique is to either kill off opposition, or have officials branded as corrupt and thrown in prison under a flawed legal system.

The Big Secret That Isn’t
Back to the point: Museveni’s regime is regarded by Ugandans, neighbouring countries, foreign governments and the international community of watchdog groups and NGOs as corrupt.
It’s not a secret.
And yet all of these countries continue to engage with, or, more shockingly, invest in a relationship with the very same regime. That’s a little mad. Knowing that the money is being filtered through the central bank and into the hands of officials, and still handing over millions and millions? Crazy.
Museveni has boldly committed to rooting out corruption- in the past he as made stirring speeches about it- and yet nothing has happened. The only people accused of it are those who have fallen out of favour with the dictator- Kagame-style.

The Right Kind of Corruption
Perhaps the best way to understand Museveni’s warped corruption-based economy is to look at the words of the man himself. In 2010- possibly feeling pangs of guilt about his own corruption he said this:
“In 1986 we inherited a very small resource envelope for the country—the country was collecting Shs 5 billion from tax, today we are collecting Shs 5,000 billion but much of it is [stolen] by corrupt civil servants and politicians,”
The President added: “These thieves also build the country, but in a disorganised way; they swindle money and build houses; yes, they are also contributing to the development of the country but in a disorganised way.”
So corruption can be used to develop a country?
Lumumba said in an interview following his rebuke of Members of Parliament that essentially Museveni needed to lead the battle, and create infrastructures which prevent corruption. Whilst Lumumba acknowledged the extreme levels of corruption, he stopped short of accusing Museveni himself.

Museveni, We’ll Look the Other Way
And that’s where the problem lies. As long as Uganda looks to the corrupt leader to root out corruption, it’s not going to happen. Instead, expect the arrests of critics and the opposition as they, rightly, decry the looting en-masse by Museveni’s cronies of  state funds.
The buddy system in government- it works for Kagame- and it works for Yoweri Museveni

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