The family of Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi is astonished after President Museveni dropped his ally and confidant from Cabinet, Chimp Corps report.
President Museveni this week unveiled his new cabinet, bringing on board little known political figures and ex opposition members including Beti Kamya and Betty Amongi.
However, Muhwezi, who has been serving as Information Minister and played a key role in campaigns that saw Museveni re-elected, did not make it even to the position of State Minister.
Insiders say Muhwezi lost his MP seat due to concentration on fighting Amama Mbabazi and Dr Kizza Besigye who had posed a strong challenge to the head-of-state in the recently-concluded elections.
“Muhwezi never had enough time to campaign for himself. He was always executing Museveni’s assignments – a vacuum exploited by his rivals to defeat him in the Parliamentary elections,” said a close friend to the Muhwezi family.
In a message to her friends, Muhwezi’s wife, Susan Muhwezi said Rukungiri will never get a pro-people politician of Muhwezi’s caliber.
“All I can say Rujumbura and Rukungiri will never get a Jim in the next 50 years,” said Susan.
“Yes, people will come but it will not get one who generously put his personal resources, time and life to liberate, serve his people against all advices,” she added.
At least 35 ministers were dropped in the new reshuffle.
Many believe the president is creating room for the younger generation to run the show.
Majority of the dropped ministers lost MP elections in their constituencies.
A source told ChimpReports: “Muhwezi spent sleepless nights and drove hundreds of kilometers to secure Museveni’s win in this last election. He worked from behind the scenes to defeat the opposition. His sacking was a big shock to us.”
A former spymaster and NRA war hero, Muhwezi was appointed to the position of Information Minister in a cabinet reshuffle on 1 March 2015 after a long spell on Katebe (undeployed).
Profile
He was born in Rukungiri District on 23 August 1950. Jim Muhwezi holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws (LLB), from Makerere University, Uganda’s oldest and largest public university.
He also has received Senior Military Police and Security Intelligence Training from Tanzania and the former Soviet Union.
In July 2009, the Law Development Center in Kampala awarded him the Diploma in Legal Practice, the prerequisite to enrolling as an advocate in Uganda and for obtaining a license to practice law in the country.
Work experience
In the 1970s Jim Muhwezi worked as a policeman in the Uganda Police Force.
He was one of the combatants in the war (1981–1986) that ushered the National Resistance Movement into power.
After the war, he served as a member of the National Resistance Council (NRC) from 1986 until 1996.
During the same period, he concurrently served as the first Director General of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).
As head of ISO, Muhwezi is credited with cleaning up the reputation and image of the security police apparatus.
During his ten-year tenure at the agency, no allegations of torture were raised against the agency.
Between 1994 and 1995, he served as a member of the Constituent Assembly that drew up the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. From 1996 until 1998, Jim Muhwezi served as Minister of State in Charge of Primary Education. He was appointed Minister of Health in 2001, serving in that capacity until 2006.
Controversy
Muhwezi was censured by the Ugandan Parliament in 1998 for abuse of office.
He however kept his Cabinet post and his parliamentary seat. In June 2006, a Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice James Munage Ogoola, set up by the Ugandan Government to inquire into the misuse of funds of the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, found in its report that Jim Muhwezi and his two Ministers of State, Captain Mike Mukula and Dr. Alex Kamugisha, were responsible for misuse of public funds.
The Commission recommended prosecution, restitution and possible imprisonment if found guilty.
In a cabinet reshuffle one week before the Commission Report was made public, President Museveni removed all three ministers from his cabinet.
On Sunday 27 May 2007, Major General (Retired) Jim Muhwezi Katugugu, the former Minister of Health turned himself in to the police, was arrested, booked and sent to Luzira prison, on charges of abuse of office, theft and embezzlement of over Sh1b (approximately US$500,000) in donor funds for immunization.
Three days later, he appeared before a High Court Judge, made bail and was released. The case was dropped on 31 July 2012, and Muhwezi was acquitted.
Jim Muhwezi Katugugu is married to Susan Muhwezi, with whom he has seven children. He enjoys reading and playing golf.