Court of Appeal’s Hon. Lady Justice Catherine N. Bamugemereire who has fought large-scale corruption head-on was one of the forum speakers at the African Biblical Leadership Initiative (ABLI), which applies Biblical principles to empower and inspire leaders of all backgrounds to address specific challenges within their communities.
This year’s ABLI Forum, an initiative of Bible Society attacked hundreds of African Christian leaders and distinguished business figures in Yaoundé Cameroon on Sept 20th.
For all her success, Justice Bamugemereire in her speech said: “By the grace of God, people accept the fact that I am a Christian and we pray every day.”
She among other cases described how her commission uncovered misappropriated funds to a tune of $1.5bn dollars.
“Africa loses billions of dollars annually through corruption,” she said.
“I uncovered the fact that some unscrupulous Ugandans, including politicians and engineers, had misappropriated close to $1.5bn dollars over seven years. There was corruption, collusion and syndicated crime,” she said.
“These elite professionals had seen a blank cheque and had used it. Our “road experts” had syphoned off billions of Ugandan shillings to construct thousands of kilometres of paved roads. Instead, they had constructed a paltry 1,500 kilometres of poor-quality roads,” she added
Since September 2016, Bamugemereire has led a committee investigating several people so as to find a solution to land-related challenges in the country. The probe team was instituted by President Yoweri Museveni, after several notable incidences of land wrangles and delays in the land acquisition for government projects.
‘They illegally gave away government forests and wetlands. They deprived people along the road corridors of money, while others got millions… They did everything they could to get at the Commission’s report, they bribed people and hacked into our computers but I managed to keep it securely… Most of those people lost their jobs as a result of the investigation,” she told the congregants.
“When I submitted the [land] report to the president, he asked me if I served a higher power, because we had exhibited a rare courage and commitment. Before I could answer, he said, “I know, you serve your God.”
‘By the grace of God, people accept the fact that I am a Christian and we pray every day. I love to pray. There is power in prayer.’
Her favourite verse, she said, was Joshua 1:8 ‘This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may act carefully according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way successful, and you will be wise.’
Other speakers at the forum included Honourable Yacubu Gowon, a former Nigerian president, Dr Dela Adadevoh, the president of International Leadership Foundation, Professor Paul Williams, the Chief Executive of Bible Society since September 2016 among others.
marvin@ugchristiannews.com
