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By Amlan Tumusime, Fred Kayizzi & Apollo Mubiru
The
State Minister for Karamoja affairs, Col. Tom Butime, has resigned, citing
what he calls personal reasons.
Col. Butime, the Mwenge North MP in
Kyenjojo district, resigned on Tuesday.
Butime, speaking on phone
yesterday, said, Its true I have resigned my ministerial post and I have
already officially communicated to the President about it.
He added:
I handed in my resignation letter to the Presidents Principle Private
Secretary, Amelia Kyambade, on Tuesday and I hope the President has
already received it.
Pressed to explain further his abrupt action,
Butime said, Taking me to Karamoja was a disservice to my people of
Mwenge North who elected me. But there are other reasons which I cannot
tell you on telephone.
He also said, I would rather remain a mere
Member of Parliament and make an effective representation of my people who
elected me instead of going to Karamoja.
Sources said Butime had not
appeared in his office since he was sworn-in on June 2, 2006.
He has
reportedly also been absent from Cabinet meetings. He had reportedly not
officially communicated to his appointing authority his failure to
immediately assume his new responsibility.
Butime, a former Minister
of State for Regional Co-operation, in the old Cabinet, was among the
ministers retained in the new Cabinet announced by President Museveni.
Two FM Radio Stations, including Kyenjojo FM where Butime hails from,
yesterday broadcast his resignation during their 1:00pm news
bulletin.
The radios, which also included Kagadi FM station in
Kibaale district, quoted Butime as saying he was no longer a minister in
Museveni's government.
Last week, about 100 local leaders in Kyenjojo
district held a heated meeting and called upon Butime to either resign his
ministerial post or quit the Parliamentary seat.
They argued that they
would not allow Butime to remain MP and serve also as minister for
Karamoja.
The meeting was also attended by the Kyenjojo Woman MP,
Joyce Kwebiha and the District Council speaker, Silver Kasoro.
Sources
said on Tuesday, when Butime handed in his resignation letter to Kyambade,
the Kyenjojo district chairman, William Kaija, also handed another letter
to Kyambade (above) seeking audience with Museveni.
Kaija confirmed
the reports and said, Its true we want to meet the President and talk
about Mzee Butimes issue and other issues affecting the district.
Butime, who was last year promoted to the rank of a Colonel from a
Major and retired, has been the first minister to voluntarily resign from
the Cabinet since 1995.
Earlier last year, Prof. Edward Rugumayo
declined to take up an ambassadorial appointment after he was dropped as
tourism minister in a reshuffle. Butime is one of the NRM historicals who
was active in the five-year armed struggle which brought NRM to power in
1986.
Butime, who holds a masters degree in journalism, has served in
various portfolios as a minister.
He first held the portfolio of state
minister for foreign affairs until he was elevated to minister of lands,
housing and urban development.
He was the minister for internal
affairs and then was shuffled to the ministry of disaster preparedness and
refugees.
He was state minister for international affairs and held the
portfolio of the acting foreign affairs after the death of James
Wapakhabulo.
In the 2004 reshuffle, he was named the state minister
for communications, the portfolio he has held until the President
appointed him the State Minister for Karamoja Affairs in Office of the
Prime Minister. Butime was vetted by the appointments committee and took
oath in the presence of the President but a source at the Prime Ministers
Office said he had never reported to work.
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