The Monitor (Kampala)
July 11, 2003
Posted to the web July 11, 2003
Mercy Nalugo
Kampala
Members of Parliament from Teso have said that ministers are lying about the war in the sub-region.
The MPs told journalists yesterday at Parliament that ministers Mike Mukula and Grace Akello are "misinforming" the world on the situation in Teso.
The MPs also accused the Army spokesman, Maj. Shaban Bantariza, of the same sin.
Mr Mukula, the MP for Soroti Municipality, is also the minister of state for Health, while Ms Akello is the woman MP for Katakwi and minister of state for Entandikwa.
MPs Elijah Okupa (Kasilo County), Alice Alaso (Soroti), Johnson Malinga (Kapelebyong) and Isaiah Imumet (Usuk) accused the ministers and Bantariza of telling "lies".
"The situation is not under control as reported by Movement cadres. LRA rebels are still in Teso and all the schools have closed, people are sleeping on the streets in Soroti town," Alaso said.
According to Malinga, Mukula and Akello do not attend security meetings and are "not reporting the facts on the ground".
He said that the army is always slow to act whenever the rebels strike.
Imumet compared Akello to the former Iraqi information minister, Mohammad Saed al-Sahaf.
Sahaf would insist that the Iraqi army was winning the war even as American troops were 50 metres away from him in Baghdad.
