Many politicians when they cross the Nile begin aping manners that are contrary to their communities, we must be well guided by our morals, customs and cultures if we are to be the torchbearers of our various communities.
It is always said that a politician or any MP is a true representative of their societies and when you are arrested for corruption and the entire society members shout out don’t stone him and conversely welcome you as a hero then by implication, all Ugandan citizens are collectively corrupt.
Somebody needs to undertake a study on this hypothesis. In other countries suspects or convicts of public funds are escorted to their home villages by prison or other enforcement authorities like police to explain to the community that such suspects in white-collar crimes are now reformed and the public should not harm them.
Societal anger is always high and people can harm those accused of embezzling public funds, since the suspects may be taken to have deviated from what the society standards for and the community may come in full force to take the law into their hands.
However, in Uganda and other countries around Africa, the response is always different, as instead, the villagers will warmly welcome the convicts or suspects making them look like heroes instead of villains. This may by implication encourage those who had even resisted corrupt behaviours to also steal in order to receive heroic welcomes in their villages.
Many media platforms including DailyExpress have incessantly flushed various celebratory parties about members of Parliament who had been locked up for corrupt practices being welcomed like heroes and heroines who have won Olympic medals for Uganda. On a closer look, you realize that these are prison convicts heading home after temporary reprieve by courts and should be shunned instead of being praised.
I equally take cognizance of the fact that all accused persons in criminal law are innocent until proven otherwise on the authority of Art 28(3)(a) but in the circumstances, I also know that one is” not clean “until “cleansed” by the very courts .in the interim, therefore, one remains “half clean” and “half dirty “until courts of law pronounce themselves on the criminal status of the same .under the Francophone legal system the situation is even worse since all accused persons are pressured guilty until proven otherwise.
Uganda as a country loses lots of shillings through corruption, unverified statistics put the tune lost midway to about 30% of the total. In order to combat white-collar crimes as a country we must stand up against any corrupt individual and even splint off from such individuals the way one would run away from the infamous Bududa landslides.
However, the situation in the villages is different as local citizens who are not interested in matters of law look at their MPs with criminal cases hanging on their heads as innocent men who are being persecuted for their political beliefs on the floor of Parliament.
Madam Mariam Wangadya the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) needs elevation to even prime Ministership. She has stood out as a person who can combat graft in public service, and I now place her alongside other heroines on anti-graft crusade in Uganda like Miriam Matembe, Prof Florence Wakoko, Winnie Byanyima, Ketty Lamoro, Lydia Musungu and Sarah Bugoosi Kibooli.
I expect voters to hit very hard, come 2026 over unbefitting public behaviors by some members of Parliament, among the questions that voters should be asking some of their MPs who were arrested recently should be whether we sent you to legislate or steal public resources.
How about questions like have you ever debated in our favor while on the floor of Parliament inculding questions like; What an embarrassment you are to our community to me are in order?
The media houses such as the DailyExpress platform must and should continuously sensitize Ugandans on the dangers of corruption, inculding highlighting the various punitive measures put in place by the state if we are to combat such criminal behaviors which are increasingly becoming rampant as Permanent secretaries are not immune, MPs, parish chiefs and CAOs have now fallen to the ills of capitalism.
The writer is a researcher from Mbale and is a legal scholar.
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