MPs won’t scare me, says IGG Mwondha

Oct 06, 2008

THE Inspector General of Government (IGG) has said she will not be intimidated by the Parliament as long as the NRM government is still in power.

By Pascal Kwesiga

THE Inspector General of Government (IGG) has said she will not be intimidated by the Parliament as long as the NRM government is still in power.

Justice Faith Mwondha said some parliamentarians were seeking to undermine the functions of the inspectorate because ‘we are getting hot on them’.

“Those who want to frustrate the institution should wait for Museveni to leave power and remove it, but when will that be and who is that one coming?” the IGG asked on Saturday.

She was speaking at a workshop for student leaders at the Kolping Hotel in Hoima town.

Mwondha said President Yoweri Museveni was committed to fighting corruption but his efforts were being frustrated by the same people he is working with.

These people, she said, were concentrating on fighting the anti-corruption institution.

“The people fighting will not overpower us because I have realised the President is willing to fight corruption,” she said.

The workshop, under the theme “Corruption: an evil we must all fight,” was attended by student leaders from universities and tertiary institutions in western Uganda. Mwondha also accused some MPs of lacking adequate knowledge on the Constitution.

“There are people who go to Parliament with different views to weaken the institution so that they can steal your money. I think these people have failed to interprete the Constitution,” she said.

Mwonda added: “The Constitution allows me to investigate, arrest and prosecute any one implicated in corruption.

She said she was not under the jurisdiction of MPs ‘who are elected by a few individuals’.

“I was elected by the President who is elected by everybody. I am only responsible to the Parliament but not answerable to them,” she explained.

Mwonda told the students that she had powers to prosecute cases of any nature without being frustrated by any one.

Asked by a student whether she was not afraid of losing her job because of her fight against corruption, Mwondha said: “My work depends on the truth. I am only carrying out a divine assignment from God,” she said.

She noted that there were people availing the directorate’s information to people under investigation ‘to undermine the work of the institution’.

Mwondha expressed concern that some politicians were using her office to fight each other in an attempt to engage her in political battles.

“People are coming to my office telling me lies against their foes so that they can engage me in their political wars,” Mwondha said.

She warned the students against prostitution.

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