Gen Kahinda Otafiire has labelled fellow ministers, Kiryowa Kiwanuka and Bright Rwamirama, as hypocrites and bad-hearted people.
His stinging comments come in the midst of a raging dispute between him and the government over ownership of a portion of a piece of land in Njeru, where the government has a stock farm.
For more than 10 years, Otafiire has maintained that he legally acquired the land but critics, including the two ministers, accuse him of grabbing the land which they say belongs to the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRIC).
Speaking last week on CBS FM news segment “Nze nga Bwendaba” hosted by senior producer and veteran journalist Alex Nsubuga, the minister of Internal Affairs said his colleagues had gone to great lengths to soil his name over the matter.
He said: “The interesting thing is that some of these people want the land to be administered by the Administrator General. Are they saying the government died? So you can see that this scheme was executed by stupid people. They walk with their brain but use their feet to think. What kind of leaders are these?”
Kiwanuka, the attorney general, told Bbeg Media in a brief telephone interview that if Otafiire is deeply aggrieved in any way, he should go to court.
He declined to respond to personal attacks directed at him, saying, “I don’t discuss personalities. I discuss issues.”
Below is a full transcript of Otafiire’s interview with Alex Nsubuga
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Nsubuga: Government has decided to have the Njeru land titles canceled, is it true?
Otafiire: It is not the government that decides. It is the courts. That land has 32 land titles, and some people have been saying I took it all. So where did these 32 titles come from?
There is someone who went to court saying that we got that land illegally. The person who took us to court has no locus standi.
But reports show that even the cabinet decided that the land titles be cancelled.
Cabinet has no power to cancel the titles. I don’t know where you went to school, you [Nsubuga]. I don’t understand your reasoning.
But we have been told that the matter was taken to the president, and he ordered that the titles be cancelled
The president can’t direct that. The person who took us to court, saying we acquired the land illegally, went and met the president saying the land should be managed by an administrator. But the president did not order anything. The one who went to court sued the Commissioner of Lands, not us, who have interests in the land. But the government has no power to decide on a matter that is still in court.
The shocking thing is that Kiryowa Kiwanuka’s law firm has been in court representing four of the 32 people who have an interest in the land.
But why is it you whose name is being mentioned? Where are the other owners?
There is hypocrisy in this society. The whole world thinks it is only me who has an interest in the land. Why don’t they say that I bought like other people? That is the hypocrisy I am talking about.
Its minister Bright Rwamirama who has been saying this [that you took over government land].
It is Rwamirama and Kiryowa Kiwanuka. They went everywhere in Parliament, cabinet saying Otafiire took over government land. They don’t say that I bought like other people. They want to spoil my reputation by saying, ‘Otafiire stole government land.’
But those are your colleagues.
Yes, but they are hypocrites. They have envy and a bad heart. Imagine among the 32 people who brought the land, Kiwanuka’s law firm is representing four.
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Ehh, you want to say your colleagues habour ill motives against you?
Did I give birth to them? You can’t be a minister, and yet you are a hypocrite. A whole minister lying with a straight face.
But Kiryowa Kiwanuka is the attorney general of the government. Why call him a liar?
Yes, but he is a liar. Shame on him.
So what are you going to do now?
I am going to take them to court for soiling my name.
But they said you deployed the army on the land, which destroyed property.
Do I have an army?
So who has been deploying the soldiers?
I don’t know.
In the middle of all this, Bright Rwamirama and Kiwanuka, what advice do you give them?
They are hypocrites. They went to school to learn how to lie.
So why are they envious of you?
Go and ask them. I don’t know. But we are in problems. If these people can do such a thing to me what about the ordinary people? Maybe they should go to court for justice, like we have done.
Do you expect justice from the courts?
If I didn’t, I would not go there
But you know one of the people you are dealing with is the attorney general [who may have control over the courts]
Is the attorney general above the law? You forgot that I was minister of Justice. [Nsubuga] you were intelligent. I don’t know what happened to you…But the interesting thing is that some of these people want the land to be administered by the Administrator General. Are they saying the government died? So you can see that this scheme was executed by stupid people. They walk with their brain but use their feet to think. What kind of leaders are these?
This is how you have described fellow ministers?
Ministers namuna gani?
