Betty Nambooze; a story of contrasting images

Mukono Municipality MP, Betty Nambooze Bakireke is in a quandary after a section of her constituents filed a petition with the Inspector General of Government (IGG) calling for an investigation into the circumstances under which she received more than Shs 666 million from Parliament for her treatment in the US two years ago.

In June 2022, the National Unity Platform (NUP) legislator was flown to New York, USA, for treatment upon the recommendation of medics at Lubaga Hospital in Kampala where she had been hospitalized for at least three weeks.

 

To the US, she was accompanied by her husband, Henry Bakireke and daughters, Leticia Nalubbo and Valeria Tendo who all together required the Ugandan taxpayer to bear the burden of her treatment and upkeep.

 

In their petition to the IGG, the Mukono voters who referred to themselves as “The 12 disciples of Greater Mukono” accuse Nambooze of duping the authorities at Parliament by falsely claiming that she needed urgent medical care in the US.

 

The group alleges that her entire health crisis was a fabrication and “one of the most sophisticated scams” by a politician.

 

It is reported that upon arrival in the US, Nambooze leased an apartment building in one of New York’s upscale neighbourhoods where she stayed with her family for the entire duration of her stay in America. Her children recently vacated the building after she failed to renew her tenancy agreement.

 

ANTI-GAY LAW

 

The shrewd politician recently shocked the country when she harshly spoke against the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP, Mathias Mpuuga, with whom she shares a long history both in the service of Buganda Kingdom, and opposition politics.

 

We have since learnt that this was part of her agreement with the NUP leadership that she wants to get her off the list of MPs who could be possible targets for US travel bans for voting in favour of the anti-homosexuality bill.

 

“She fears that the US will not renew her visa and hopes that the NUP leadership can help her to get the visa,” a source said.

For many who have closely worked with her, Nambooze mastered the craft of deceptive politics marked with intricate webs of intrigues.

 

“Nambooze is not a clean person,” former Rubaga South MP, Moses Kasibante said during a TV talk show.

Kasibante, who shared an office with Nambooze during his two terms at Parliament, said, wherever MPs received suspicious money, Nambooze always found a reason not to move in concert with her opposition colleagues.

 

In 2014, MPs were given Shs 110 million each to clear debts. Three years later, in 2017, they received another Shs 29 million ostensibly to consult their constituents on the removal of the constitutional presidential age limits.

 

On all these occasions, the opposition caucus resolved that Opposition MPs reject the money, but only a handful complied.

 

UNTRUTHFUL

 

“When we discovered that the money that had been deposited into our bank accounts hadn’t been sanctioned by the Parliamentary Commission, we resolved as the opposition to refund it. While the meeting was attended by about 57 MPs, only 14 complied – the 15th person, Hon Nambooze, was later discovered to have deceived us,” Kasibante said.

 

Nambooze at the time claimed to have written a cheque to transfer the money from her account back to the Parliamentary Commission account. It was on this basis that her colleagues presented her as a witness in the Constitutional petition that challenged the “age-limit” Bill.

 

They were in for a big shocker as the Justices of the Constitutional Court that heard the case found her to be “untruthful” in regard to the issue of returning the Shs 29 million.

In his dissenting judgment on the age-limit case – which was praised by the opposition, the late Justice Kenneth Kakuru described Nambooze as follows; “A few Members of Parliament on their own volition returned the money. I must mention here that they were only 14 members according to the evidence of Jane Kibirige, the Clerk to Parliament [at the time]. This list did not include Mrs. Betty Nambooze Bakireke. She was not truthful when she stated in her testimony in Court that she did return the money. All she did was to write a cheque which was never cashed. She knew very well at the time she came to Court to testify that, that money had never left her account. She did not appear at all as a truthful witness.”

 

This, according to Kasibante, was an indictment on Nambooze.