The Inspectorate of Government (IG) is committed to mobilising citizens to own the war against corruption in order to eliminate the vice from Uganda, Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya has said.

“To achieve this, the IG has purposed to co-opt all Ugandans in the war to combat corruption by enhancing public awareness about the cost and pain of corruption to stimulate the wananchi to despise, detest and reject it,” she said.

Addressing journalists at Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday, Kamya said this approach is intended to incite the population against public officers whose actions of corruption are manifested through lifestyles not commensurate with their known income.

“Through sensitisation, citizens should be able to relate their personal experience due to inadequate service delivery directly linked to corruption by understanding that drug shortages in hospitals, poor infrastructure and poverty among others happen because some officials embezzle public resources which would have improved their livelihood,” she said.

She made the remarks during the commemoration of the African Anti-Corruption Day which is celebrated annually on July 11. This year, the commemoration in Uganda was held under the theme: Strategies and Mechanisms to Reduce the Cost of Corruption in Uganda.

Kamya said the African Union designated July 11, as the African Anti-Corruption Day to reflect on the efforts put in place by its 48 member states to deal with the scourge of corruption.

According to the 2021 IGG report, Uganda loses close to shillings 10 trillion every year in both direct (overt) and indirect (covert) corruption per year, which translates to 23% of the annual government budget.  

Investigations

The IGG revealed that 375 corruption cases were investigated and completed in local governments from July to December 2022. She said the IGG has completed six high-profile cases and 108 corruption cases in government ministries, departments and agencies.

Prosecution and arrests

Kamya disclosed that in the financial year 2022/23, IG prosecuted and concluded 30 cases of which 16 resulted in convictions at the rate of 53%.

Declaration of assets

Kamya disclosed that under the enforcement of the Leadership Code of Conduct, the IG in the period July to December 2022 verified deflations of 46 leaders, out of which 43 leaders’ income assets and liabilities were found to be commensurate with their sources of income while three were prosecuted by the Leadership Code Tribunal.

Asset recovery

Kamya also disclosed that the Inspectorate of Government recommended a recovery of an accumulative amount of shilling 33.2 billion as of December 2022. 

However, sh2.3b was recovered and deposited into the IG Asset Recovery Account.