Mr. Vukoni,
If you have editorial handy, please post it here.
----Original Message Follows----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: Re: ugnet_: Fwd: Re: [UNAANET] Karim Paid Sh55m To Rwakakooko
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 17:30:54 -0500
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]
>
