President Yoweri Museveni’s brother was sworn in on Friday as Uganda’s Finance Minister, prompting complaints about the man’s history of financial scandal.
Salim Saleh was among 69 new ministers appointed by Museveni, who was re-elected in February for a third term as head of this east African nation.
Wafula Oguttu, spokesperson for the main opposition party, said Saleh shouldn’t handle taxpayer money because he had been accused of looting funds from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Saleh was exonerated, but many Ugandans believe the inquiry was biased.
”He is known for mismanaging public funds and it is not wise to give him a ministry which deals with public funds because he is likely to cause financial loss,” Oguttu said.
Museveni says his brother, who once served as a presidential adviser, is qualified.
Museveni was once hailed as a reformer in a country that suffered under the brutal dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s. But he has upset the West by intervening in Congo’s civil war, boosting military spending and reneging on a 2001 promise to retire from politics. The West has cut aid to the government in reaction to his moves to consolidate power and quash dissent. — Sapa-AP