Over 6,000 public workers refused to declare wealth, says IGG

Only 25, 420 public leaders declared their wealth in accordance with the constitution, the Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya said on Tuesday.

Within March’s 31 days, about 31, 642 public officers were directed by Kamya to conform with the Leadership Code (amendment) Act, 2021 which obligates all public officers to occasionally reveal their assets, incomes and liabilities to the IGG.

“6, 222 leaders did not, and we are going to summon them as we investigate why they have not complied,” Kamya said, adding that non-adherents were mostly “those from distant local governments.”

The Inspectorate also highlighted that just over 1,450 leaders in 50 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) have fully declared their wealth.

Furthering concern, the ombudsman expressed bother that several others were yet to follow suit amidst endemic corruption costing Uganda over Shs10 trillion annually.

“The biggest challenge was lack of an updated database for government leaders,” Kamya told journalists before committing that her office would “work with government to ensure the creation of a single station or portal with information about all state employees or agencies.”

Kamya also disclosed that computer illiteracy amongst government officials was a major obstacle to the asset declaration campaign, implying low compliance in some public institutions.

“We therefore urge the ICT ministry to work with the local governments to build the capacity of all state employees to ensure that they are computer literate,” Kamya appealed at the Media Centre in Kampala.

When pressed on the relevance of wealth declaration, Kamya said: “It is one of the tools used to ensure that leaders behave in a manner expected of them especially through responsible use of resources in their custody not to enrich themselves through illicit means.”

The Inspectorate said the exercise has been concluded and will now refer cases of under or non-declaration to the Leadership Code Tribunal."

Meantime, staff in about 13 MDAs have partially declared their wealth as the information below indicates:

Government institutions that declared 100% 

Institutions that declared below 50%