Corruption is everybody’s war
Oct 05, 2009
THE President on three occasions last week vowed to take action against government officials stealing public funds. But fighting the vice should not be left to the President alone.
THE President on three occasions last week vowed to take action against government officials stealing public funds.
“Now I have time and I have come into the middle of these high-class thieves,†he told ministers and permanent secretaries at a retreat on Thursday.
“Soon you will hear about the casualties. I have already set up systems here and there, traps, to catch them.â€
A day later, he lamented about the disappearance of funds meant to help farmers increase their yield.
“This year sh135b will be spent on NAADS. About 50% of that is stolen on the way. But we will make those thieves vomit what they have stolen,†he told Makerere lecturers and students. The same evening, at the President’s Export Award, he announced he would set up a complaints desk where corrupt officials can be reported.
“You should not be blackmailed. (Somebody telling you:) Come again, come again, just looking for a bribe,†he told investors.
The President’s tough words are a great encouragement for those frustrated with the theft of public funds that has been going on shamelessly and with impunity.
But fighting the vice should not be left to the President alone. All of us have a constitutional and moral obligation to ensure that services reach the people and resources are distributed in a just and fair way.
The truth is that corruption affects all of us. All of us — traders, judges, teachers, lawyers, farmers, ministers and foreign investors — are victims of graft in one way or another.
We all suffer from bad roads, poor health services, counterfeit drugs, substandard construction work, fake surveyors and ‘come again’ officials.
We all become hostages of our unemployed youth when we deny them quality education and frustrate investors. We all have a stake in fighting and winning this war.
Let the Police, the NAADS probe team, the complaints desk and the Anti-Corruption Court do their part.
But let us all, at our level and in our capacity, do our part to denounce the thieves and rid our society of the cancer that is eating us.
“Now I have time and I have come into the middle of these high-class thieves,†he told ministers and permanent secretaries at a retreat on Thursday.
“Soon you will hear about the casualties. I have already set up systems here and there, traps, to catch them.â€
A day later, he lamented about the disappearance of funds meant to help farmers increase their yield.
“This year sh135b will be spent on NAADS. About 50% of that is stolen on the way. But we will make those thieves vomit what they have stolen,†he told Makerere lecturers and students. The same evening, at the President’s Export Award, he announced he would set up a complaints desk where corrupt officials can be reported.
“You should not be blackmailed. (Somebody telling you:) Come again, come again, just looking for a bribe,†he told investors.
The President’s tough words are a great encouragement for those frustrated with the theft of public funds that has been going on shamelessly and with impunity.
But fighting the vice should not be left to the President alone. All of us have a constitutional and moral obligation to ensure that services reach the people and resources are distributed in a just and fair way.
The truth is that corruption affects all of us. All of us — traders, judges, teachers, lawyers, farmers, ministers and foreign investors — are victims of graft in one way or another.
We all suffer from bad roads, poor health services, counterfeit drugs, substandard construction work, fake surveyors and ‘come again’ officials.
We all become hostages of our unemployed youth when we deny them quality education and frustrate investors. We all have a stake in fighting and winning this war.
Let the Police, the NAADS probe team, the complaints desk and the Anti-Corruption Court do their part.
But let us all, at our level and in our capacity, do our part to denounce the thieves and rid our society of the cancer that is eating us.