IGG rallies LC5 chairpersons on war against corruption

The theme of the meeting was “Taking ownership of the war to eliminate corruption”.

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Ms Kamya tasked the officials to continue investigating,  arresting and prosecuting  the corrupt.

“But more importantly, we intend to focus more on prevention than cure strategy and to achieve this, we intend to co-opt all Ugandans into the war against corruption. We intend to rebrand the war from being an Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, among other anti-corruption agencies to a citizens’ war,” Ms Kamya said.

She tasked Ugandans to give corruption a face so that everybody can recognise and despise it.

The IGG told the district leaders to popularise the lifestyle audit to catch corrupt officials whose expenditure is higher than their net salary.

“If we cannot prove their guilt in court, we can prove that they have wealth beyond their known sources of income. Therefore, the lifestyle audit strategy shifts the burden from the prosecutor to the owner of wealth to prove that they got it all legally and if they can’t prove then it will be confiscated, auctioned and the proceeds put back to the Consolidated Fund where they belong,” she said.

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A study conducted by an Austrian research company in 2020 with support from the Government of Uganda found that Uganda loses at least Shs20 trillion to corruption annually.

The IGG said if the country could save at least 50 percent of the Shs20 trillion every year and divide it among the estimated 10,000 parishes in Uganda, then each parish would receive at least Shs1 billion every year.

The chairperson of Uganda Local Government Association (ULGA), who is also the Kabarole District chairperson, Mr Richard Rwabuhinga, pledged support towards fighting graft in the country.

He, however, decried the inadequate funding towards district chairpersons to track corrupt officials.

Mr Rwabuhinga said districts are being frustrated by top technocrats at ministries who influence their procurement processes yet districts have their own procurement and disposal departments.

This, Mr Rwabuhinga said, has stalled many government projects.

“We are having a problem where money is sent to local governments but some people on top stop us from either advertising for jobs or rolling out a particular programme, saying we are not competent enough. This practice is killing service delivery in districts across the country,” he said.

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The Kisoro District chairperson, Mr Abel Bizimana, tasked the IGG to investigate the Inspectorate’s officials whom he claimed frustrate investigations through connivance with the corrupt officials.

“People are scared of whistleblowing because they are not sure of support from your own officers,” he said.

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