


CJ Bart Katureebe – “Protest Note against the Suffocation of the Work of the Legislature by some Elements in the Civil Service” – ‘His defence of the #PresidentialHandshake’ (13.01.2017)







“Do not malign the good people. You know i will defend them because I am the one who gave them the money. You are abusing them, I do not want to hear that anymore.” – President Yoweri Museveni (Daily Monitor, 19.01.2017)
We know by now that you are corrupt and keep your cronies satisfied with crony capitalism and loyal services rendered through paychecks instead of good governance and accountability. Since that has not mattered since 1986. What matters is loyalty to you first and then the knowledge that. That pays off!
They could be similar to Mother Theresa, Jesus and all the other good people, but it is the principal that they get a payout for serving their nation and their republic. That because the Republic won a case against a Petroleum and Oil Drilling Company, which justify the means of transactions to various accounts of different civil servants and leaders in government institutions. It is not abusing them; it is questioning the reason for the increased salary as an effort of awarding without practical procedure. That is what counts Mr. President.
I know it is a hard concept for you to grasp as you see the public coffers and taxes as free fund to salvage as much wealth as possible while you are breathing and leave behind as much property for the next generation of the clan of Museveni to live happily until oblivion. Therefore, a few extra shillings is a small bargain in the end.
I understand why you do not want to hear more about it, it makes you look like a fool. As a fool who allocated funds without proper procedure and spent unwise tax-money that in effect. It seems like a chaotic situation, where you are orders a cash-bonanza. A cash bonanza of free government funds ending up in the pockets of loyal cronies. These funds could been used on government institutions or payed ordinary civil servants salaries. Instead, they are inappropriately gave away to the fellow loyalist in disregard of the public. So I understand why you don’t want hear about that anymore, just like you are happy that people have forgotten about CHOGM monies and other sagas of theft from your administration. Because there are enough tales of maladministration and corrupt behaviour when your been in-charge of steering the wheels. It is well-known and common practice. What was not known before this was that the knowledge of “Presidential Handshake” as a common thing? Certainly, what was we could not know was that you sanctioned these handshakes and gave them away as a rewarding system to keep men and woman loyal to you?
So now matter who you gave this money too. The issue is not the people who got the money. They are “innocent” to a certain degree, but your act of doling the monies away with no regard of the citizens. That is the insulting part of your handshake. That the people have so little value compared to your highly paid elite. If you cannot see that issue, you cannot see anything, because that blinds your efforts and acts of accountability. Which is not something you have flexed since coming into power in the 1980s. Accountability and Transparency is two things you hate… we know it and so do you know very well. Peace.

A letter dated from the 12th January 2017 from the Ministry of Public Service is estimating the current salaries and then the new salaries of certain civil servants. These are interesting as the first one mentioned in this letter where the salary of the Chief Justice Bart Mugunda Katureebe who had a salary of 11,560,150 UGX per month in 2016. But from now on he will get the double salary of 20,000,000 UGX per month. Certainly it is service rendered for the positive judgement and also accepting the rigged election results. This means by a full year wage as CJ will earn UGX 260m.
The other lucky guy who gets new pieces of gold every month is his underling, the Deputy Court Justice Stephen Kavuma went from a decent 10,532,581 UGX per month to the gracefully 18,000,000 UGX per month; which is very close to the double salary for his acts against defiance and proven loyalty to the regime. DCJ would then earn in a year’s salary UGX 116m.
Then you have one who walks in the shadow who also got a decent pay rise John Mitala, the Head of Public Service goes from earning 4,952,059 UGX in 2016 to earn the loads of 17,600,000 UGX. Mr Mitala surely has worked his loads of paper to be so well compensated the year after the elections. He gets his new salary increase which can be calculated up to a triple of what the current one is, that means that his current new yearly salary will be about UGX 211m.
Under the well paid Mitala, there is the Deputy Head of Public Service Vincent Opio-Lukone who also deserves recognition it seems by the regime. His meagre monthly salary until now has been UGX 4,099,486. So the government will give him better conditions for his hard work and labour so they raise the salary up to UGX 15,500,000 per month. That means the Deputy Head of Public Service earns per year UGX 186m.
So when all of these men has gotten their pay rise and the key civil servants under the State Minister and Minister of Public Service, the Permanent Secretary Catherine Bitarakwate Musingwiire deserves a rise from the meagre monthly pay UGX 3,768,835. So the Secretary gets a salary to the levels of UGX 15,400,000 per month. Yearly salary will that will be UGX 184m!
So we can see that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and President Museveni can afford to pay handsome wages to loyal cronies as the “Presidential Handshake” make him dole out more funds on his allies. The regime does what it can to pay for loyalty. This is happening while the government are getting more in debt and troubles with interests on those loans. That is certainly a evil spiral of bad spending government funds. Peace.











On the 9th December Court Justice Stephen Kavuma Court Order with Constitutional Application number 07 in the Constitutional Court in Kampala today. What does this order say, that of such importance, this is from the man who during December 2016 was ordering for himself the ability to change his age, so he could work for four more years as Chief Justice. That is length he takes the law into his own and takes decisions.
But earlier in the year during 2016 the Chief Justice Kavuma wrote an Interim Order of 29th April 2016 where he banned the campaign of defiance. So that he is loyalist to the Movement and to the President is clear. There isn’t any indication that is stopping. Because of today the Chief Justice Kavuma ordered this:
“1. An interim order is hereby issued restraining Parliament, any person or authority from investigating, questioning and inquiring into the impugned bonus payments and or staying all proceedings of whatever nature, if any, which may be pending before any forum whatsoever arising from impugned payments, until the main application of No. 06 of 2017 has been determined” (Constitutional Court, 09.01.2017).
We are today seeing a special level of law and understanding of law as the Constitutional Court are banning and ordering the Attorney General John Muwanga who wanted to have an inquiry of the “Presidential Handshake”. The Presidential Handshake that are known in public because of the bonuses and kickbacks given to public servants and others loyal to the Movement. Parts of the ones who we’re parts of the Uganda Revenue Authority and others; which is the URA who won a case against the petroleum drilling companies Tullow Oil and Heritage who has licence to drill in the Lake Albert Basin. Certainly these billions of shillings are questionable as the Court Justice has to do this.
The Constitutional Court is then overriding the Attorney General and the Parliament, the Parliament that has Members of Parliament, who cannot and are not allowed to do their duty to make checks and balances of the use of public funds. This proves that the Government of Uganda doesn’t need accountability or transparency as even the investigations of the Presidential handshake is illegal. But if somebody wants more documents to be leaked; please to do so, we the people and voices for governance can undress these kingpins and the racket called the Movement regime.
The Presidential Handshake is a questionable act that is not following international standards as the URA proclaimed days after. But on the same day as the Court Justice wanted to silence the Republic and be loyal to Mzee, Chris Obore of the Parliament had this to say:
“The Speaker and the Prime Minister discussed parliament business. When the matter of the now controversial oil bonus payments christened “presidential handshake” came up, the Speaker said the motion prepared by some Members of Parliament would be tabled. She advised the Minister concerned to prepare to provide MPs with explanations” (Chris Obore – ‘Press Release” 09.01.2017).

So Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and PM Ruhakana Rugunda will not listen to the courts, they will have the Parliamentary Session on the Motion filed, even as the Court Order has been set. The same acts happen on the same day and proves that there is different understand on the laws and orders. As when Chief Justice Kavuma we’re banning defiance the Interim Order we’re hold and kept. But now with the Presidential Handshake, the Parliament will defy this and resist the court order. This is proving the power of the courts and also the mismanagement of Uganda. When these cannot work together and honour each other it proves the obstacles of procedures and protocols.
This shows how the need for transparency and accountability in the republic when the Parliament are not following and secondly not in the loop of the courts. The Parliament is creating the laws and the Courts are supposed to use them to sanctions and regulate society. This proves how President Museveni and his regime has built a fragile and fragmented organizations that following his orders, therefore the Presidential Handshake is now not only a question of the ones who was pocketed and gotten ill-gains from the Uganda Revenue Authority, but now it is a legal question for the MPs even to have an inquiry on the matter.
This story is not over, it will continue to walk and soon run, when it is closed or when it is all unravelled. The Presidential Handshake is not over, we’re just waiting for Museveni to shake somebody else hands and give a few more heavy envelopes. Peace.

It’s not easy to give words of advice to the men and woman who are in the line of fire. But we cannot let the Movement and their spin-control run the mill. They are stealing and thieving with massive speed and impunity. They are trying to avoid the weakness of the economy, trying to find new ways of revamping the economy without too much state debt and without loving donor direct aid. They still have the military and equipment served from loyal allies in the United States, if that will happen under Trump and it has happen under Bush/Obama is not easy to know; certainly U.S. will still let other brigades do the dirt they don’t want to do themselves.
The ones who toll with the problems are Dr. Kizza Besigye and his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), they work for a peaceful transition in Uganda from the militarized politics of the President Museveni’s Movement. So with this in mind, after a year of issues, a year of tribulations, arrests, detained and charges of treason against the government; the political change is still in the wind. Besigye had deserved a better start and a fresher place as he is still monitored and still has Police following all movement done by the man. The same with his party who cannot hold meetings and public consultations without police taking stereo equipment, arrests or intimidation of citizens who shows up or just happen to be around.
Besigye had started the Campaign of Defiance under the Election Road Map for the General Election of 2016. So in 2015 it was started and has been put under fire from the Resistance Movement, an ironic problem for a draconian and tyrant regime who cannot really be democratic as they tries to silence or get rid of the worst opponents. Besigye is only kept because of known place and international scrutiny of they try to attack him too much.

First Step – Defy with actions:
Besigye should continue and with more force, use more than just words and get the FDC to actually take a stronger stand against the ones that supports the regime. The Mafia regime or junta government, which he has described the Movement so many times. If FDC wants to be fair and wants to defy the Movement, they should suspend themselves first from Parliament. It is risky, but would be a grandeur position to take away the Shadow Government and the legitimacy of the current government.

Second Step – Defy with dialogue with other opposition:
Secondly the FDC should be in talks with Democratic Party and other smaller parties that are not involved directly in the Movement regime, as they can try to weaken and strengthen the other voices. As Besigye have already done with his friendship with Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and Gen. David Sejusa. FDC needs to be connected with people of stature like Norbert Mao and others, who are real opposition to Museveni. Not talk to Jimmy Akena or others who just uses their parties as fronts of beacon of democracy, instead of actually challenging the Movement.

Third Step – Defy the Courts like IGP Kayihura:
Just as IGP Kale Kayihura defied his own court-orders, the same should Besigye himself start to do in 2017, to show that he doesn’t respect the unlawful character of the regime; as the peaceful acts of showing up for treason charge that continue running into oblivion. Time to just say it is a kangaroo court and is only doing it to silence his voice. Therefore not showing up and instead continue to travel around the country to meet and greet party officials and locals to prove the value of building institution over being a sole candidate in Museveni and the NRM.
Times is a wasting, it’s hard to do stuff when you’re behind bars or at court, it’s hard to always move when the Police Force and other Security Organizations follow your every step.

Fourth Step – Hurt the pocket of the Government:
Certainly the Defiance needs to be hurting the regime. Try to stop the foreign exchange rates, the taxation and the revenue of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), even the business that is inter-connected with the Movement. As much as it should stop the state owned businesses that is being used by the Movement. Museveni would hate that he couldn’t misuse the profits of needed businesses, the ones that are owned by investors who are supplying him funds to pay Special Force Command and other militarized outfits that keeps him as the Executive.
If the Besigye and his folks stood behind and hurt the pocket and legitimacy, not in words only, but also actions that could move the regime and also create a vacuum that Museveni and his movement couldn’t control. The ripple effect and the true hurt would be shown. Especially with the knowledge, that the Election already hurt the economy with massive effect. So if they continue pounding on it took out the cash out of the Museveni owned banks and stopped profits to companies that the Museveni clan partly own. Than the Movement and family would feel the pinch.
Defying the state institutions and the government procedures, stop respecting the Police and Courts, stop listening to the draconian laws and also stop the funding of taxes and funds to directly keep the Movement alive. Something that would really hurt Museveni and his elite; this would really make it hard for the Movement to continue to use Police Force and use the state to gain wealth.
Besigye can continue to talk peaceful transition and I respect that. This sort of acts is not easy. They are hard and costly. Many will be arrested, many more detained, more torture and more innocent dying, but there been so much over 30 years that the defiance campaign has to take it to the next level. Show disrespect, let the government lose its value and show the world that the ones behind Besigye don’t see Museveni as their President. Museveni is just a citizen, not an Executive, as he wasn’t really elected to be so; he coup d’état again when he got sworn-in on the 12th May of 2016.
Time for acts, not talk, time for really defying the government and use the power of the people. Time to use the popularity and risk being harassed, as if you don’t than the Police will continue as they do; business as usual and also target the FDC as much as possible without it costing much for the illegitimate government it is. The illegal detained and the illegal arrests cannot be sustained, as much as the house arrests and unlawful behaviour of the Police towards the FDC is unbearable. This is not militant; it is fighting for a just cause. The real freedom and liberty, not to talk about a real legitimate government who represent the citizens of Uganda! Not a government representing Museveni and only his vision. Peace.