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Scorecard lists successes of govt anti-graft bodies
Speaker of Parliament Anita Among (right) receives the bi-annual performance report from the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Kamya, at Parliament on October 20, 2022. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
The achievements were made over a two-year period
As Uganda joins the rest of the world tomorrow to commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day, the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) and other government anti-corruption agencies yesterday released figures and statistics showing their performance in the fight against corruption over the last two years.
Inspectorate of Government (IGG)
The IGG said it investigated and concluded 27 cases of grand and syndicate corruption allegations in government. Additionally, 1,342 cases of corruption were investigated and concluded, with 174 being in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). A total of 1,168 were in local governments.
From the aforementioned investigations, the institution was able to recover Shs18.188b and send it to the Consolidated Fund.
The ombudsman’s performance report also showed that in the reporting period, the office caused the dismissal of 119 public officials due to corrupt tendencies, 14 were reprimanded, 10 were interdicted and 39 others were subjected to various administrative actions.
“The IGG prosecuted and concluded 104 corruption cases, resulting in 43 convictions, which represents a 41 percent conviction rate in the past two years,” reads in part the performance rate card of the IGG.
The Office of the Auditor General
The top audit institution in the country completed 1,930 audits in 2022, according to the performance rate card.
These included; 1,787 financial and compliance audits, three IT audits, 102 engineering audits, 23 forensic investigations and special audits, and 15 Value for money audits.
Also, the Office of the Auditor General with support from GIZ developed an IT platform, the Citizen’s Feedback Platform (CFP), which facilitates the collection and analysis of feedback from stakeholders.
State House Anti-Corruption Unit
The State House Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Brig Gen Henry Isoke in this year recovered Shs2.9b and saved Shs3.4b from potential loss. This was a result of their investigations into the diversion of iron sheets meant for Karamoja.
The Unit also reported that it made interventions in areas of education, recruitment, the Parish Development Model, land and environment corruption, and fraud against investors.
The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA)
The PPDA in the reporting period directed the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) to terminate the contract awarded to Polat Yol Yapi Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S for the upgrading of Muyembe-Nakapiripirit Road (92km). This was due to the contractor’s failure to complete the civil works despite receiving advance payment. As a result Unra was able to recover over Shs39.9b from the contractor.
PPDA directed the accounting officer of Masindi District to cancel four construction projects of latrines at four primary schools worth Shs170 million. PPDA also recommended the recovery of Shs1b by the accounting officer of the National Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank, along with errant staff. The institution also caused the payment of Shs57 million following an investigation against Hoima District. Also in the reporting period, the PPDA suspended at least 28 companies for breaching the procurement guidelines.
Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP)
During the financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23, the DPP’s office prosecuted and convicted 55 corrupt officials, and barred them from holding public offices for 10 years as per Section 46 of the Anti-Corruption Act.
Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA)
The entity successfully investigated and prosecuted culprits, leading to a possible recovery of Shs6.4b from 9 intelligence reports related to suspected corruption offenses.
The institution in the reporting period received 3,627 suspicious transactions reports, from which 186 intelligence reports were generated for further investigation.
