Adding leg-service to lip-service will not end rampant corruption

I suppose the organisers of the anti-corruption walk on Wednesday will be thumping their chest in triumphant self-congratulation. Measured by the number of people who walked and participation of the President, the walk can be said to have been a success.
But on deeper reflection, it will only be a success if corruption is stopped on its tracks and my fear is that that will not happen. I am 99.9 per cent convinced that among those that were walking with the President, there were many corrupt people who have already returned to their favourite pastime after the march.
We all know that corruption in Uganda keeps growing because we pay lip-service to the fight, to the institutions and to people charged with its elimination. So adding leg-service to lip-service is not a solution.
We also know that there are many corrupt people in the Executive, in the Legislature, Judiciary, the investigative branches, the legal fraternity, the NGOs, international organisations, and in the private sector. But there are also non-corrupt people in all those entities or institutions. These are the people should have led the led the fight.
There are people who know what will get rid of corruption in this country. They also know that it is not through talking about it or walking against it that will end it.
Corruption persists because it pays. Corruption prevails because the corrupt are seen to survive. Therefore, unless you stop people from benefitting from corruption and also stop the corrupt from surviving on the vice, corruption will never end and one wonders why it has not been done. Strengthen the laws and apply the laws. The corrupt should not be left to enjoy the proceeds of their vice. Lock them up and throw the keys away in the lake.
The government should confiscate all individuals’ ill-gotten wealth. That way, corrupt persons will be seen to be endangered hence their corruption will not be seen to be paying.
H G K Nyakoojo,
Buziga, Kampala.