Why the attacks on Jim Muhwezi are somewhat unfair and show a lack of knowledge by journalists, activists, MPs, political commentators and citizens alike.
I think we need to ask an important question: is the public and their MPs just afraid of questioning the Big Boss himself and so have decided to attack his minister instead, using his previous corruption scandals as proof?
I’ll not belabor this point. I’ll just let the two presidential letters attached below speak for themselves.
While the public is bent on blaming the current Security Minister for the alleged number plates issue, the timeline of events reveals that actually, this issue is from far back in 2018 and has the Presidential hand allover it.
It’s also, as we’ve labored to explain, looked at by the state as a security issue more than it is a number plate issue.
In a November 2019, President
@KagutaMuseveni wrote to then Prime Minister
@RuhakanaR and set in motion the events that are now hitting the public space in rather controversial style. (See frames 1 and 2)
At the time,
@jkmuhwezi was in the political wilderness.
He only got into the security ministry docket on June 8th 2021.
He took over from now deceased General Elly Tumwine who, it must be said, was at the helm of this ITMS system.
He worked in tandem with the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen. Jeje Odongo, before Gen. Otafiire took over in June 2021.
(Note: There’s a potential corruption story there but we are still gathering more details before we share.)
Anyway, in a July 2022 letter, President
@KagutaMuseveni wrote to General Muhwezi, essentially reiterating the same demands he put on his then Prime Minister and followed it up with constant public speeches berating
@PoliceUg and other security agencies for not doing enough to stem the rising criminality; especially gun crime on boda bodas.
Mr Jim Muhwezi went to work and oversaw the rollout of the system; which according to police has seen a reduction in crime and has improved the speed at which the state apprehends criminals.
This was revealed last week by
@igp_ug1 in a meeting with the members of the Mwine Mpaka committee.
A joint committee report from the defense, internal affairs and infrastructure committees actually reviewed this project and pointed out areas where it is working and areas where it needs improvement.
We are happy to share this entire report.
The scandal surrounding this project is reminiscent of a similar scandal around vehicle inspection (SGS) that resulted in the government losing more than 109 Billion shillings when pressure generated within parliament and amplified in the press resulted in the cancellation of that contract and ultimate loss by the taxpayer. We continue to see motor vehicles in terrible mechanical condition killing our people and no one has replaced the SGS.
While we don’t condone excessive charges to the public, it might be important to ask whether we aren’t risking throwing away the baby with the bathwater like we did with SGS and are now crying about accident deaths in the thousands. Are there ways the project issues pointed out can be fixed instead of us losing a blanket amount in contract termination penalties?
Also, the statement that the Attorney General is reported to have made about this contract yesterday is either wrong or misreported.
Anyway, we are gonna share as many documents pertaining to this project as our sources can gather. We are still digging
Temuva ku mukutu 👍🏾
#ITMSSpotlight
I think y’all are being unfair to Mr Jim Muhwezi this time.
By the time the project was conceptualized, the Minister of Security at the time was Gen. Elly Tumwine (MHRIEP)