Joblessness Awaits IGG Beti Kamya As M7 Interest in her Diminishes

IGG Beti Kamya’s tenure is ending next month (September), which means she is just days away from becoming ineligible to sit at IPS building along Parliamentary Avenue.

She is eligible for contract renewal just like her two deputies but there are clear indications that her retention chances are minimal. Like any other person, Kamya has some big people trying to leverage their positions and proximity to the President to push for her retention. One of these is a powerful lady Minister from Busoga who happens to be her friend and good ally.

The last word, as always, remains with Gen Museveni himself and knowledgeable sources say that the big man from Rwakitura isn’t exactly very enthused about Beti Kamya.

“One of the things that can save her is the fact that Mzee generally is in the mood of letting people stay on as he seeks re-election as President. And it’s only those with glaring sins and extreme under performance cases that have to be thrown under the bus between now and 2026. Otherwise, he is generally in favour of status quo retention, which actually is one of the few cards Beti Kamya remains with,” says a well briefed insider.

During her tenure as IGG, the President has continued getting reports of investigators accepting fatty envelopes from people they are supposed to be investigating and yet as their overall boss, Kamya hasn’t been very decisive cracking the whip on such rogue-minded insiders.

In some cases, those accepting such sweeteners have been senior people at the Inspectorate and in some cases, those brokering or giving them the groceries subsequently intimate the same to the President either directly or through emissaries.

On Wednesday, the Inspectorate launched what was supposed to be a very big report of great consequence. And this was about recruitment corruption in local governments where District Service Commission chairpersons were established to have solicited, collected and pocketed a total of over Shs70bn from those seeking public service jobs in the districts and cities upcountry. It was a detailed and well-illustrated report compiled by Makerere-based Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).

Attended by all stakeholders, the launching event was at Kampala’s Hotel Africana where Gen Museveni had been invited and expected to preside over as guest of honour. The man from Rwakitura was nowhere to be seen. He was instead represented by Prime Minister Robinah Nabanja who read out his written speech whose contents were not that much complementary of the work Beti Kamya has done thus far.

We agree the President is a busy person who can’t or doesn’t have to personally attend every public function. And that is where prioritization becomes important. Instead, Gen Museveni, whose physical presence would have built momentum and re-energised the broader fight against corruption, travelled to Bushenyi to meet and interact with tea growers and processors (of all people).

That meeting tea growers and processors turned out to be a more important engagement and bigger priority for the President, who is preparing for a campaigning season during which the blunted war against corruption will predictably be a major talking point, is indicative of the extent to which Beti Kamya, whose institution is constitutional and is mandated to lead the war on corruption, has fallen out of the H.E’s favour.

This can’t be taken to be merely an isolated incident. Here is a simple illustration of how unwanted Beti Kamya has become infront of the President. In June, First Lady Janet Museveni’s birth day was belatedly celebrated at the UWESO School in Migera, Nakasongola district. One of the organizers invited Beti Kamya and she indeed was one of the few non-family members who were privileged to attend.

Both Yoweri and Janet Museveni spoke, making lengthy speeches. Mrs. Museveni’s speech dwelt a lot on the war against corruption which she implied had become blunted and thereby allowing the corrupt to thrive. She declared she feels personal obligation to get involved, lead and re-energize the fight against corruption the way she impacted the anti-HIV Aids efforts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

She spoke a lot about powerful officials who continue to steal public funds and erect opulent country homes in their home districts. She never referred to the IGG Beti Kamya, who was present, but it was clear she was angry that posterity was being cheated by the country’s collective failure to decisively crack the whip on the corrupt who she said weren’t hard to detect and take note of.

Gen Museveni gave his speech too but remarkably; he never made any mention of the IGG who was conspicuously present. He supported the First Lady’s vow to get involved in the fight against corruption more directly but never made any reference to Beti Kamya even when Janet’s preceding speech made the IG office a relevant reference for subsequent speakers.

Instead, Gen Museveni heaped praises on one of Beti Kamya’s deputies who was present and had even been part of the organizers for the event. Museveni illustrated the ways in which the deputy had made it easy for him to make consequential interventions against perceived wrongdoers in government. It was such a bad session for her that the outgoing IGG must have left the Migera event flat-footed, feeling alone, abandoned and frightened