By TV10 Investigative Desk
President Yoweri Museveni’s former Senior Press Secretary to the president Joseph Tamale Mirundi has narrated how the mafias play his boss in his own government including forging his signature and making transfers he has no clue about.
Mirundi recently narrated that one day, the President was shocked to see Dr. Steven Paul Kagoda the former ministry of Works and Transport among the top Ministry of Education and Sports officials he summoned for a high level meeting at State House Entebbe.
As usual, before the start of the meeting, the old man with a hut always first identifies all people in attendance. But surprisingly on this occasion, before he even cleared his throat, he was shocked to see Kagoda, a minister he deployed in the works ministry attending a meeting for the education ministry.
Mirundi quoted a seemingly surprised Museveni asking, “Kagoda, why are you here, this is a delegation from the ministry of education, now you posted yourself in the ministry of education?”
Mirundi revealed that Kagoda told Museveni that he had made a reshuffle and transferred him to the Ministry of Education. Museveni was shocked and asked him to prove because to the best of his knowledge, he had never made any reshuffle.
Mirundi who was by then still working at State House narrated that a furious Museveni ordered his assistants to give him his phone. He made a phone call to Dr. Rose Nassali Lukwago who was the then the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education and Sports and asked her why she was not in his meeting.
Dr. Nassali told him that,” Your excellency you fired me from that office sir.” Museveni lost his temper and ordered Nassali to bring to him the letter written by him when firing her before the end of the day.
He said that Museveni was very shocked to see the letter bearing his known signature. He immediately started investigating the matter but at the end of his investigation, he did nothing to the culprits because he knew very well the people who were fighting within his government and their intentions.
However, Mirundi revealed that the confusion took three days and within those days, government lost billions of money to mafias who were seeing Nassali and Kagoda as stumbling blocks to their missions.
He explain that this is the very reason why Museveni was very furious when Ramathan Ggoobi the Permanent Secretary and Secretery to Treasury suspended Ministry of Trade and Cooperative permanent Secretary Geraldine Busuulwa Ssali on fabricated allegation of corruption in her ministry.
Mirundi claims that Museveni summoned Ggoobi together with senior Trade minister Francis Mwebesa and David Bahati to State House Entebbe and grilled Ggoobi to explain to him where he got powers to suspend government officials he did not appoint.
“The president was very furious and asked Ggoobi whether he was now the president of Uganda. He warned him never again to attempt to touch permanent Secretaries he appointed, because he was aware that there were people who were using Ggoobi,” Mirundi said.
He gave another scenario when former State Minister for Works Joy Kabatsi misled him while still working as the President’s spokesperson to sign a press release to be published in the media showing that the president had directed that controversial businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba be compensated billions of shillings.
He said that very early in the morning when he was driving to office, he received Museveni’s phone call asking him where he was.
He told him that he was on his way to work.
A furious Museveni asked him to tell him where and when they met and he directed him that his government should compensate Basajjabalaba.
The already scared Mirundi reported that Kabatsi was the one who told him. “He repeated Kabatsi’s name three times and I realized that my boss was very furious,” Mirundi said.
He added that after repeating Kabatsi’s name three times, Museveni ended the call, but a few minutes, he called him again asking him where he had reached.
When he told him where he was, he directed him to rush to State House Entebbe because he wanted to talk to him directly. Mirundi recounted that he was very sure that he was going to punish him.
He narrated that when he reached State House, Museveni grilled him and wondered why he was allowed to be duped yet he always allows him to attend his meetings including private ones.
He directed him that from that day on, he is the one to give him instructions when it comes to serious issues, especially concerning money and the military.
“Museveni is a very understanding man when you are also open to him, those people always get problems with him because they try to lie to him but for me, I was open to him that’s why even now he still loves me,” Mirundi boasted.
He added that he realized later that Museveni was misled to fire him from State House that is why he directed all those people who misled him to apologise to him even though he vowed never to forgive them and promised to fight them until his death.
Recently, Museveni promised to talk to the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka over people who are using his name.
He wants them heavily punished because their actions cost the country heavily.
