IGG opens shock corruption probe of Parliament 

Parliament’s function as the State organ which exercises oversight over all public agencies and offices has been turned on its head, with the Inspectorate of Government opening an inquiry into suspected corruption in the House.

A dramatic decision, the revelation of an unprecedented anti-graft probe on March 5 marked a watershed moment for an institution which has long taken the moral high ground as the conscience of the public. 

It was revealed at a time when sources say the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) is also conducting a parallel and much quieter investigation, reportedly looking into allegations of money laundering. Our efforts to verify these reports are pending after both the FIA – and Parliament – were contacted for comment and are yet to respond.

Yesterday, Mr Chris Obore,  the director for Public Affairs and Communication at Parliament,  expressed ignorance of the IGG’s investigation.

“I have not got any information to that effect,’’ he said.

Until now, Uganda’s present Parliament cast itself in the mould of vanguard in the at-times perilous fight against the unbridled theft and other abuse of taxpayer’s money. That position is now under scrutiny after the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Kamya revealed she will submit a report of her findings from the inquiry into claims of widespread abuse of office and unethical conduct to the President.

Speaking to journalists at her office, Ms Kamya said the wide-ranging nature of the reported abuses brought to the surface through the #Ugandparliamentexhibition on X (formerly Twitter) demanded immediate action. 

“The issues have obviously generated significant media and public interest. No one can ignore them,” Ms Kamya said, adding: “Out of which we received a number of whistleblower accounts of inner workings of Parliament”

Ms Kamya said “we also received petitions from the public urging us to get involved. Even our own mandate would move us to get involved”.

The government ombudsman told journalists that the probe will be guided by the 2002 Inspectorate of Government (IG) Act and the Constitution. 

She allayed fears that her investigation could be compromised by powerful forces at Parliament which, as an institution, enjoys the constitutional mandate as the sole body legally authorised to appropriate public resources to ministries, departments and agencies across government. 

It will be noted that the Inspectorate remains one of the perennially underfunded agencies despite repeated appeals for support from Parliament.

The Inspectorate’s budget over the last four financial years, excluding 2023/24, had stagnated at Shs53 billion, of which 75 percent was dedicated to recurrent expenditure, mainly on salaries and utilities. 

Under the outgoing national budget, that allocation was revised to Shs79 billion -- an amount which still fell short of requirements, Ms Kamya observed in her most recent appearance before the relevant House committee in October 2023. 

On the day she appeared, Ms Kamya made a fervent plea to MPs to allocate at least Shs100 billion to the Inspectorate for it to function effectively.  

Ms Kamya told MPs that the Inspectorate is severely understaffed and is struggling to provide for its basic logistical needs, including vehicles for operations.

In that resource-starved environment, Section 2 of the IG Act that establishes the office currently occupied by Ms Kamya provides that it “shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other authority, but shall be directly responsible to the President.”

The functions of the IGG under Section 7 of the Act, include taking necessary measures for the detection and prevention of corruption in public offices and, in particular to examine the practices and procedures of those offices in order to facilitate the discovery of corrupt practices.

Under that provision, the office also carries the authority to investigate the conduct of any public officer which may be connected with or conducive to—abuse of office or authority; economic malpractices by the officer; and any other functions that the President may prescribe.

Ms Kamya declined to reveal whether the probe is targeting anyone or office in particular at Parliament, saying all issues raised will be looked at in their own right.

“We cannot disclose any names but we have information to guide us into the investigation,” she added.

Whistleblower petitions
Sources in the IG’s office told Monitor that the whistleblower petitions received warranted splitting the probe into five parts to separately cover: abuse of office; financial mismanagement; unethical conduct in contravention of the Leadership Code Act (amended in 2021); unequal pay; and lavish spending and lifestyle.

The Speaker Anita Among-led Parliament was starting last week on Monday thrust into the spotlight through the #Ugandparliamentexhibition movement spearheaded by the activist group, Agora Discourse. The effort, which is ongoing, lifted the lid on several shocking claims of misconduct at Parliament. 

From illegal staff recruitment to reports of questionable expenditure of very large sums of cash, some of which border on possible criminal misconduct, the public has been treated to hair-raising accounts of scandalous behaviour which this newspaper could not independently verify by press time.

Agora posted unsigned documents detailing alleged allocations of questionable allowances to the House leadership for travel abroad on overlapping dates.

In an earlier interview with this newspaper, Parliament’s Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Mr Chris Obore, called the allegations “exaggerations” engineered by people, “who try to use every opportunity to posture but don’t conceptually appreciate leadership challenges.”

The unsigned documents which Agora says are excerpts from government’s Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS), which tracks public sector financial management and accounting, reveal the top leadership of the House was allocated per diem for trips which appear not to have taken place.

For instance, Ms Among is reported in the documents to have made 10 trips inside six months between July 2023 and January 2024. This claim has been contested by Mr Obore who this week told this newspaper that Ms Among is “not a fan of travel abroad”.

“The actual trips the Speaker took are not of interest to them but the aim is to alarm the public to hate the Speaker on the basis of distortions, falsehoods and forgeries,” he said. “We do not intend to compete with them in talking. The discerning members of the public will question their motives if they continue relying on messages [sent] to their inboxes to malign and taint others”. 

Findings
An analysis of the Hansard, which is a central part of the official record of parliamentary business, by this newspaper showed some information gaps that would require additional reviews to get an accurate account. 

The Agora documents, for instance, claim that Shs318.7m was allocated for the Speaker to participate in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) president’s meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

We could not find evidence of this event taking place around the time of the alleged allocation. Uganda was not represented in the second ordinary PAP session between May and June 2023, according to the body’s signed official report.

The revelations that mirror excessive spending by Parliament have drawn public condemnation as the vast majority of Ugandans continue to struggle to make ends meet, and with businesses struggling under the crippling weight of an unforgiving national tax regime amid an economic downturn.

The developments at Parliament are unfolding even as the Treasury contends with spiralling public debt which stands at Sh96 trillion ($25.3b), and a bloated cost of public administration.

What Article 93 says
Restriction on financial matters

Parliament shall not, unless the bill or the motion is introduced on behalf of the Government— (a) proceed upon a bill, including an amendment bill, that makes
provision for any of the following—

(i) the imposition of taxation or the alteration of taxation otherwise than by reduction;

(ii) the imposition of a charge on the Consolidated Fund or other public fund of Uganda or the alteration of any such charge otherwise than by reduction;

(iii) the payment, issue or withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund or other public fund of Uganda of any monies not charged on that fund or any increase in the amount of that payment, issue or withdrawal; or

(iv) the composition or remission of any debt due to the Government of Uganda; or (b) proceed upon a motion, including an amendment to a motion, the effect of which would be to make provision for any of the purposes specified in paragraph (a) of this article.