IGG, KCCA leaders discus corruption loopholes in city

The Inspectorate of Government has met with the leadership of the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to discuss areas that have fuelled corruption . 

During their discussion, Ms Minsa Kabanda, the minister of KCCA, councillors, and Ms Beti Kamya, the Inspector General of Government (IGG), identified, among others, enforcers, markets, planning officers, procurement, and budget processes as the biggest areas of corruption in the city. 

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Minister Kamya said  the budgeting processes, which is always filled with non-priority areas, and the procurement processes, which inflate prices of commodities, need to be streamlined in order to fight corruption within the authority. 

“There are many areas we have identified within the system as  loopholes that lead to corruption and that is why we have come together to look for ways to fight [the vice],” Ms Kamya said. 

More than thrice, Kampala has been named most corrupt district in Uganda contributing more than 30 percent of cases over the years. 

A 2018 report titled ‘Bi-annual Inspectorate of Government Performance report to Parliament’, also named Kampala and Wakiso as districts with the most corruption cases. 

This was the second time Kampala was being named, registering 175 complaints, which translates into an estimate of 15.7 percent

In the 2017 report, the district registered 334 complaints translating into 21.4 percent.

Extortion

During yesterday’s meeting, city councillors named markets as the place where errant KCCA officials have found a field to extort money from traders. 

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For instance, Ms Kabanda said at Kasubi market, traders are asked for Shs30,000 for cleaning the market on top of the usual Shs72,000 market fee and they are kicked out of business if they fail to pay. 

“A lot of this money collected has never been seen in the accountability processes. Look at a market like Wandegeya, where is the money that is collected from this place? The traders are being extorted and this must be fought,” she said.  

Ms Zahara Luyirika, the speaker of KCCA, said a number of resolutions and proposals have never been considered despite being forwarded to the line minister. 

“We know that there are people that are untouchable and even when we make resolutions as a council, none of them is implemented,” she said. 

Goodwill of the executive

In response, Ms Kamya said: “I know that within the system, there are big fish [high ranking officials] who are involved and they are hard to get because they steal and leave no trace. This is the reason we have come up with the lifestyle audit to investigate those people who have built big mansions, take their families for holidays in Dubai yet this doesn’t match what they actually earn.”

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However, councillors questioned the goodwill of the public and the Executive arm of government.   

Mr Mosh Ssendi, an LC5 councillor for Makindye East III, said: “We need to know how the lifestyle audit will work because the President also quashed it. It is the small people being arrested yet the real thieves are the big people in this government.”

Last month, Ms Kamya proposed a lifestyle audit as a means of arresting and prosecuting  corrupt high ranking officials. 

However,  during the commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day at Kololo Independence Grounds last year, President Museveni told Ms Kamya to go slow on the planned lifestyle audit.