Section of cabinet is up in arms against the manner in which their colleague was handled by the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire.
Lands Minister, Betty Amongi appeared before the commission early last week and according to the public outcry, Amongi was humiliated when Justice Bamugemereire referred to her as young lady given that fact that she is a minister and kept on shouting her down whenever she tried to answer questions.
Bamugemerereire is known for her nonsense approach to witnesses and has seen many troubling with unease in front of cameras.
According to a Whatsup group for ministers, it is said that the matter could come for discussion tomorrow during the weekly meeting. Cabinet meets every Monday. A source told Eagle Online that “It is somewhat, embarrassing for whole minister to be looked down upon by another leader and more so a judge. If we can’t respect ourselves then who will do it for us” a cabinet member said on condition of anonymity.
After establishing herself as a competent and credible judge, Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemereire was given a task to head a commission of inquiry into land matters in Uganda, which was expected to last six months but has been extended trice and consuming about Shs13 billion.
The six-man team appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act is tasked to, among other issues, ‘inquire into the effectiveness of law, policies and processes of land acquisition; land administration; land management and land registration in Uganda’.
Tomorrow the commission is expected to grill Presidential Private Secretary Molly Kamukama in regards to Land Fund.
Previously, Lady Justice Bamugemereire chaired KCCA Tribunal in 2013 which was tasked to probe fights at City Hall between Executive Director Jennifer Musisi and Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, and she also chaired the Commission of Inquiry into the scams at the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA).
If it is true that cabinet is set to debate what transpired at the commission, then the ministers will be joining a growing queue of citizens that are agitated about the manner in which they are handled while appearing before the commission.
However, it should be noted that those very ‘powerful’ individuals in government are the ones who are heavily cited in the dubious land deals
