We need systematic approach to graft war
A team from State House on Thursday raided the Lands office in Wakiso District, in the process hounding officials and confiscating vital records from the office.
It has since been made public that the objective of the raid was to nip in the bud corruption that is allegedly blossoming in that office. The raid was led by Lt Col Edith Nakalema, who President Museveni recently charged with the duty to battle corruption.
For starters, nearly all Ugandans will agree that the pilfering of resources meant for the provision of public goods needs to be nipped in the bud. It has been so many years of public officials expropriating for their private use resources meant to improve the welfare of Ugandans in general, leaving the masses in misery.
And, it is important to note, there is a plethora of agencies whose duty it is to fight graft – Inspectorate of Government; Auditor General; Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Directorate of the police; Directorate of Integrity in the Prime Minister’s Office, with a state minister, etc.
Over the years, despite the plethora of agencies to fight corruption and huge amounts of money committed to the cause, corruption has seemed to increase or at least remain alarmingly high. This has led to frustration in many quarters, and perhaps even among those at the highest levels of decision making.
Because of the apparent frustration with the ostensible failure to contain corruption, President Museveni has in the recent months made declarations about the anti-graft war that have raised debate. It started in June when during his State of the Nation Address, Mr Museveni announced that he would form a committee led by Mr James Tweheyo to combat corruption. A debate then ensued about how that committee would work vis-a-vis the Inspectorate of Government. But Ugandans waited for the Tweheyo committee to start work in vain.
Now, recently, the President announced that he had formed a team led by Lt Col Nakalema to fight corruption and it wasted no time to announce its arrival by storming the Lands office in Wakiso already referenced.
The key issue, however, is that the modus operandi of this committee and its legal framework have not been discussed. It operates in an arena where there are legally established agencies to which billions of money is appropriated to fight corruption.
Before long, these agencies will be engaged in fights with the committee over roles. It is our considered view that before such a committee came into being, there ought to have been a thorough discussion of what needs to be done to streamline the graft fight.
