When NRM considers confiscating property of corrupt officials

Recently, President Museveni surprised Ugandans at Kololo Independence Grounds while officiating the Anti-Corruption week ‘Citizens’ participation in fight against corruption’ when he announced that government is considering creating new anti-corruption laws enabling the confiscation of properties belonging to government officials found guilty of stealing public funds.

The new presidential initiative to fight corruption is supposed to curb corruption, especially in public service hindering service delivery in Uganda. According to President Museveni, “All property belonging to corrupt officials will be confiscated. But I will first get first-hand information before confiscation of the property and I will order organisations fighting corruption to avail me with more details of stolen money”.

The President also said he will engage the Speaker of Parliament and Chief Justice on how they can fight corruption in their institutions.
For most Ugandans, property confiscation in the new anti-corruption measures is long overdue.
However, some people are anxiously wondering 1) what time periods will the new measures cover? 2) Could the announcement from the President give corrupt government officials an early warning, thereby giving them ample time to re-register high value properties in the names of relatives, children and friends to avoid government confiscating their properties?

3) Would the new measures provide for confiscating properties that corrupt government officials have bought and hidden in different countries around the world? 4) Timing, why is government suddenly interested in enacting repercussion measures through Parliament and yet five years ago when the Anti-Corruption Bill 2013 wanted to furnish the NRM government with binding powers to confiscate corruption related properties belonging to public servants and politicians with unexplained wealth, unsurprisingly the motion at the time was frustrated and unsuccessful in Parliament without NRM commitment or support?

In February 2018, British Parliament passed a new law known as the ‘Unexplained Wealth Order’ (UWO) provided under the Criminal Finance Act. The UWO allows British authorities to freeze and recover property if individuals are unable to explain how they acquired assets in excess of £50,000.

Previously, British authorities had minimal powers to act unless foreign individuals had been convicted in their countries of origin.
Transparency International estimates that corrupt foreign politicians launder almost £90 billion every year through the United Kingdom.
According to security minister, Ben Wallace, the full force of the British government will hunt corrupt public servants and politicians using Britain to hide unexplained wealth in properties: “We will come for you, for your assets and we will make the environment that you live in difficult, especially if you are an MP in countries where your salary is not commensurate with ownership of properties worth millions in British pound sterling and you cannot prove your source of wealth.

We will seize that asset, dispose of it and use the proceeds to fund our law enforcement”. In August 2018 when British Prime Minister Theresa May visited Kenya, a new agreement was signed with the Kenyan government to return stolen and corrupt funds that have been moved out of Kenya and hidden in British banks and properties in the UK.

According to Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin, “All stolen funds found will be returned to Kenya including more than £3.5 million seized which will then be exclusively used for development projects, in education and health sectors.”
In Uganda, where corruption is rampant and the elite protected by government, even if the properties of the corrupt were confiscated, sold to recover and refund stolen public funds, it is questionable and debatable if the NRM government will be able to avoid corruption and direct the recovered public funds to development initiatives.