Of course we have to talk about Kenya - I’ve (this is Uri speaking) been living in Nairobi all throughout the events of the last month. I’d say it's been a canon event for me, but that’s a conversation I’ll explore further another day. The demands of Kenyans are not too different from the quiet sentiments of Ugandans; fed up with incompetence, arrogance, corruption and impunity. It is quite sad that we live in a world where it’s almost normal to open up Twitter, and see people shot in the head. But such is the price of change, it seems. Power belongs to the people, and the people SHALL exercise that power as they see fit. Ruto doesn’t seem to be listening though. I write this a couple of hours after he announces the first batch of new cabinet ministers, many of whom have been recycled. At the same time, the Judiciary has suspended a decision by the police to stop protests from happening in Nairobi. The tension in the air is palpable, and they will not believe!

Raila’s reputation, and the optics for his AU bid, are suddenly in the pits- Raila Odinga appeared on TV last week with President Ruto, agreeing to “dialogue” with the government on the demands of the people’s movement. Thing is, no one seems to have picked him as the people’s representative. Kenyans feel that he should just stay out of the whole thing, and are calling his integrity into question.(I’m being polite; he’s been getting cooked on X) As for his AU aspirations, there’s even a petition circulating to have his bid rejected. It's not looking good, brev.

Uganda Oil debacle; Uganda made a whole point about bypassing the Kenyan middleman and directly importing its own fuel to lower prices at the pump. Now they have the most expensive fuel in the region, on the first shipment! Uganda is blaming Kenya for unfairly raising their fees, but the paper trail in Mombasa shows there is something more fishy at play.

Kagame wins, again - If someone is popular enough to win an election by 99%, why have the election in the first place?👀Anyway, the thing we found most striking with Rwanda’s election was diaspora voter turnout. Guys were lined up bright and early on Sunday in Kampala, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. This tweep summed it up nicely;

#March2Parliament - Inspired by their Kenyan neighbors, Ugandan citizens decided to up the pressure on demands for the establishment to address monstrous corruption, by having a peaceful protest at parliament and around the country on July 23rd. Right now, the bulk of the heat from public anger is directed towards Speaker Among and calls for her to resign, but there is a deep seated anger among Ugandans, as with so many peoples around the world, in a country that does not work for them, and the collective resources of the masses are controlled by a corrupt few.

UN Experts report on DRC - It seems people can’t help but have a (meddling?) hand in the DRC. It's been months since the DRC called for a UN peacekeeping mission, plus the EAC joint forces to pack up and go, and conflict in the eastern part of the country rages on. Turns out, according to the UN anyway, that M23, one of the key rebel groups in the region, have money, soldiers and equipment being fed to them by Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. President Kagame was quick to dismiss the findings of the reports, questioning the legitimacy of UN’s so-called “experts.” Who do we believe?👀

Uri🕵🏾

Uri🕵🏾

 Look what my neighbor sent me, can you imagine Kenyan police is deploying SWAT teams to deal with protests in Nairobi!

Malcolm👨🏽‍⚖️

 It always surprises me as to just how much machinery the police have. Even here in Uganda. And you only get to see the full extent of that machinery when it is being applied on citizens😅

Malcolm👨🏽‍⚖️

Malcolm👨🏽‍⚖️

They even deployed bomb squad personnel during yesterday’s peaceful anti corruption protests

Uri🕵🏾

And I was just seeing a memo moving around on the increment of salaries for the police. It's so ironic the riot gear that police officers use is more expensive than their salaries, especialy for lower ranked officers. The government can afford to spend tremendously on tear gas but paying officers better is where they draw the line

Malcolm👨🏽‍⚖️

How much are you willing to bet that part of that spending is being eaten? 

Uri🕵🏾

I don’t even have to bet! I have evidence!

Uri🕵🏾

Came across these guys called Corruption Tracker who specifically uncover corruption in the arms trade, and they have done quite abit of work in East Africa

Malcolm👨🏽‍⚖️

Can we talk to them?🥹

Uri🕵🏾

Way ahead of you

Uri🕵🏾

Jack, Ruth; thanks for joining this chat. I was just telling Malcolm about the work you do on highlighting the corruption that’s rampant in the arms trade.

Jack

Thanks for the add, Uri! 

Jack

Interesting that you say that. The reality is that corruption and the arms trade are not these two separate forces that meet from time to time. Instead, the arms trade, and policy around, it is negotiated with an assumption of corruption; It’s factored into the final price

Ruth

Quite literally! It’s only in arms trade deals that you will come across a concept like  “offsets” being considered for decision-making; whereby the seller(an arms maker) has to engage in a separate investment(in the buying country) that is different from the main transaction of buying weapons. The idea is that this investment is supposed to balance the buying country’s economy, to balance out the often huge amounts of money spent on weapons purchases. But in reality, it's often a “Kitu Kidogo” mechanism to make sure that the seller gets his bid selected, and the representatives from the buying country can happily line their pockets. 

Jack

Kick-backs are the order of the day. Take the example of the useless helicopters that were purchased in an arms deal by Uganda. The intermediary, Emmanuel Kato, allegedy paid at least $800,000 to Salim Saleh to see the deal through, to purchase 4 combat helicopters at $4.7million. (Mind you, that price was already highly inflated) 2 of the helicopters were deemed unfit for combat and remain grounded at Entebbe International Airport today. The other two, never left Belarus, where they were being purchased from. 

Uri🕵🏾

So the government paid all that money for literally nothing😭

Uri🕵🏾

Even exposing corruption has alternate agendas😂😂

Ruth

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, to be honest. So yeah, if you heard about arms deals with offset agreements and one-man intermediaries; Definitely a red flag. 🚩🚩

Ruth

As you would expect though, to actually prove that there is corruption is very difficult. It can take decades for these cases to surface. It is when intermediaries feel that they did not get a fair share of the pie that they blow the whistle on shady deals.

Malcolm👨🏽‍⚖️

Demanding more scrutiny in how the military spends money is important, but I feel like it is difficult to convince people that high military spending is not a good thing. Especially in places like Kenya and Uganda that have been victims of terrorist attacks. That fear is still very high among the public, and the government  can ride that fear to justify high spending and the secrecy around it. The simple explanation they can give is “We are fighting terrorists”

Ruth

I hear you. While it can be argued that arming up against genuine threats is meant to keep them in check, the arms trade actually ends up fueling these very same threats!

Uri🕵🏾

True. I mean look at this report from the UN on what’s going on in the Congo. If It is anything to go by, it's a clear cut example of war for business - UG and Rwanda being directly involved with the rebel group that they say threaten their sovereignty and security.

Malcolm👨🏽‍⚖️

Plus with what we’ve seen over the last few weeks with the military being deployed on citizens, it's a slippery slope towards a strong military that massively oppresses the people. Seeing Kenya get Major Non Nato Ally status, and the perks that come with that when it comes to the arms trade, is something to be skeptical about.

Jack

This whole idea that “If only we had more weapons, we would be on top of all security questions...” is a very simplistic view on things. The more weapons you use doesn’t mean you are more secure, but rather you are more paranoid.