By Ben Ssebuguzi
I thank Hon. Ibrahim Ssemujju, former Kira Municipality Member of Parliament, for his sensitivity to national matters and for putting government to account for public expenditure. Putting government to account ensures that public officials act in the best interest of the citizens rather than their own private interests.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has always stressed that fighting the loss of public funds requires a collective, citizen-led approach, famously stating that individual inaction will result in collective failure.
However, when you study and analyse Hon. Ssemujju’s submission on television, where he listed a number of Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia’s properties rented by government, he does not specify that it is illegal for government to rent properties of indigenous investors, especially when government is experiencing shortages.
Neither does Hon. Ssemujju specify in the PPDA Act that it is illegal for one to have more than one transaction with government. Instead, he uses pejorative language laced with intense emotional appeals and grievance narratives, which makes the public start to see investors as bad people, yet they pay taxes and employ thousands of youths.
Dr. Sudhir is a known local investor who started humbly with only $25,000 saved from odd jobs as a taxi driver in the UK and used the opportunities brought by the NRA liberation to heavily invest in real estate in Uganda. This enabled government to hire his services in order to serve citizens better. His support to government has helped grow our economy and enabled government to steadily build its own official buildings such as the Uganda Police Headquarters and facilities under the Justice, Law and Order Sector.
It is not a new experience that government rents properties from private individuals and institutions. It is common knowledge that the Kingdom of Buganda also rents many of its properties to government, from which it earns colossal sums of money. Why does it become mischievous when it comes to Dr. Sudhir?
Recently, Dr. Sudhir donated Shs50 million to the Teso Kingdom, on top of the free eye camp in Bukedea where over 3,000 eye surgeries were conducted, thereby giving back to communities through the Ruparelia Foundation. I implore Hon. Ssemujju to investigate whether public servants select Dr. Sudhir’s properties on merit through competitive bidding as required by the PPDA law, rather than most times exciting the masses.
In conclusion, when citizens, the media and institutions demand transparency and responsibility from their leaders, it transforms how a country functions. But on the other hand, speaking negatively about someone like Sudhir, who has stood with us since the 1990s when government did not have enough resources, is very painful and amounts to a betrayal of trust.
Hon. Ssemujju might not have bad motives, but sometimes he incites the public to overlook investors, yet they are our lifelines.
Long live General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni | Long live Hajjat Hadijah Uzeiye Namyalo, SPA/PA and Manager of the Office of the National Chairman (ONC).
The writer is the Head of Research, Office of the National Chairman (ONC).
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