War on corruption needs special budget—Deputy IGG
Mar 14, 2024
"We need money to facilitate people to go upcountry. We have 16 regional offices but are they resourced enough? So, the war on corruption needs a special budget,” Achan said
Patricia Achan, Deputy Inspector General of Government during the Rush Hour morning show on Vision Group’s Urban TV in Kampala. (Photos by Moses Nsubuga)
Umar Kashaka
Journalist @New Vision
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The Deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG), Patricia Achan, has said the war on corruption needs a special budget.
“We are also struggling resource-wise much as we are recovering [money from corrupt officials]. We need money to facilitate people to go upcountry. We have 16 regional offices but are they resourced enough? So, the war on corruption needs a special budget,” she said.
She made the remarks on Thursday, March 14, during the Rush Hour morning show on Vision Group’s Urban TV in Kampala.
The Inspectorate of Government (IG) is an independent institution charged with the responsibility of fighting corruption, abuse of authority, and abuse of public office.
The latest report by the IG showed that Uganda loses sh10 trillion annually in corruption, mainly through non-declaration and under-declaration of taxes, employees getting paid yet they do not work, inflated payrolls, and botched procurement processes, among others.
The report, which was released in December 2022, also indicated that sh241b was recovered from corrupt officials and put back into the state coffers.
While releasing the report, the IGG, Beti Kamya, said if her office was well facilitated, she would be able to recover between sh100b and sh200b per year.
The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reports for 2020 and 2021 said that the corruption indices for Uganda had stagnated.
Uganda was ranked 142nd with a score of 27 (with 0 being highly corrupt and 100 highly clean) in 2020, as compared to 2021 where it ranks 144th with the same score, out of 180 countries.
However, Kamya noted that the IG would continue to focus on preventive measures to reduce the cost of corruption, especially indirect corruption hence improving the CPI.
“This will further be accompanied with deterrence approaches namely investigation, prosecution, and recovering proceeds of corruption. The IG will rebrand the fight against corruption by empowering and encouraging the citizens to despise and avoid corruption,” she said while appearing before the legal and parliamentary committee of Parliament on January 13, 2023.
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