Netters, This fish is rotten through and through, from the head to the tailfin. Justice Ssebutinde can dig up all she wants but there is absolutely nothing that can be done to end the kleptocracy in Uganda without the departure or removal of Museveni from the center of power.
Even in the really blessed event that Museveni's political demise comes sooner than we can foresee, an entire generation has grown up thinking that this is what private enterprise means. So a new government may not do much better, as long as there is no public outrage. As a South African friend of mine cynically observed, "corrupt politicans now in power are struggling hard to remain there while those in the opposition are fighting equally hard for the opportunity to be corrupt." Another point. Newspapers in Uganda have for the most part shied away from exposing corruption involving prominent businessmen for two reasons: 1. Fear of something dire happening to a journalist/editor who dares follow such news because businessmen like Karim are widely believed to be part of a mafia with nearly half the senior police officers and key army officers on their payroll 2. Fear of loss of advertising revenue. I remember how an editorial I wrote for The Crusader in 1996, pointing out that a mafia of businessmen/military men was taking root in the country caused quite unexpected shockwaves. Suddhir Ruparelia, took exception to the editorial and for a while stopped advertising with us. So what this means in a country with a very narrow industrial/service sector is that, to survive financially newspapers have to ignore the clear linkage between shakers and movers in government and their Siamese twins in the business world. And believe me, the two are so vitally welded together that touching one earns the wrath of the other. Not surprisingly, the only times newspapers dare cover anything close to this relationship is when a judicial inquiry or a parliamentary debate makes public what has been bubbling under for long in newsrooms. But even then, it's never touch and go. In the Suddhir case I referred to, parliament was debating the linkages in business (and white collar crime) between Maj Gens Jim Muhwezi and Salim Saleh on the one hand and Suddhir's empire on the other. So, I wasn't even doing anything particularly courageous by pointing out in the editorial that this whole thing amounted to a mafia. The Crusader and myself caught a lot of fire from that writ, some from strange quarters and in even stranger ways. vukoni ---- Original message ---- >Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 19:36:17 +0000 >From: "J Ssemakula" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: ugnet_: Fwd: Re: [UNAANET] Karim Paid Sh55m To Rwakakooko >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
