The IGG has power to investigate a minister

Jul 30, 2008

I wish to respond to Peter Mulira’s commentary titled: “The IGG has no power to investigate a minister” which was published in The New Vision of July 24. Mulira misrepresented the nature, role and powers of the Inspectorate.

I wish to respond to Peter Mulira’s commentary titled: “The IGG has no power to investigate a minister” which was published in The New Vision of July 24. Mulira misrepresented the nature, role and powers of the Inspectorate.

Mulira states: “It is settled practice that the powers of the Ombudsman, as the IGG is called elsewhere, are limited to investigation, reporting and recommending and do not include the decision to prosecute.” This shows that Mulira has not understood the nature of the Inspectorate of Government as a creature of the Constitution. He equates it to the ombudsman in other jurisdictions, which is wrong.

According to Article 225(1)(b) of the Constitution, the Inspectorate is an anti-corruption agency with the duty “to eliminate and foster the elimination of corruption, abuse of authority and of public office.

The Inspectorate is a Leadership Code Tribunal with a function “to supervise the enforcement of the Leadership Code of Conduct” (Article 225(1)(d) and Article 234).

According to (Article 225 (1) (a) (c) and (e), the Inspectorate is also an Ombudsman with the functions “to promote and foster strict adherence to the rule of law and principles of natural justice, to promote fair, efficient and good governance in public offices, to investigate any act, omission, advice, decision or recommendation by a public officer or any other authority to which this article applies, taken, made, given or done in exercise of administrative functions.

Therefore, the Inspectorate is not just an Ombudsman but a lot more, and even as Ombudsman, the jurisdiction of the Inspectorate is not limited to public officers only but extends to “other authority.”

Power to prosecute
The powers of the Inspectorate to prosecute is not derived from a conventional understanding of the functions of an Ombudsman. It is specifically provided for under Article 230(1) of the Constitution, which states: “The Inspectorate of Government shall have power to investigate, cause investigation, arrest, cause arrest, prosecute or cause prosecution in respect of cases involving corruption, abuse of authority or of public office.”

The power to order or direct that certain things be done or not done is also specifically provided for under Article 230(2), which states: “The IGG may, during the course of his or her duties or as a consequence of his or her findings, make such orders and give such directions as are necessary and appropriate in the circumstances.”

Jurisdiction of the Inspectorate
Article 226 provides: “The jurisdiction of the Inspectorate of Government shall cover officers or leaders whether employed in public service or not, and also such institutions, organisations, or enterprises as Parliament may prescribe by law.”

Under Section 9 of the Inspectorate of Government Act, Parliament has prescribed that: “The jurisdiction of the Inspectorate shall cover officers and leaders serving in a government department undertaking or service, a statutory corporation or authority, the Cabinet, Parliament, a court of law, the Police Force, the UPDF and the Local Defence Force.” Ministers are certainly officers or leaders serving in the Cabinet and, therefore, subject to the jurisdiction of the Inspectorate.

Limitation to the jurisdiction of the Inspectorate
The Inspectorate does not enjoy unlimited powers. The powers are limited under Section 19 (1) (a)(e) of the Act, which forbids the Inspectorate to question or review the decision of any court of law or of any judicial officer in the exercise of his or her judicial powers, the decision of any tribunal established by law in the exercise of its functions, any civil matter which is before court at the commencement of the Inspectorate’s investigations, any matter relating to the exercise of the prerogative of mercy or any matter the review or investigation of which has been certified by the President as likely to be prejudicial to the security, defence or international relations of Uganda, or involve the disclosure of proceedings and deliberations of the Cabinet relating to matters of a secret or confidential nature and would be injurious to the public interest.

Additionally, under Section 3(2)(d), the Inspectorate is empowered “to investigate and report on any allegations of highhanded, outrageous, in-famous or disgraceful conduct or any other behaviour or conduct on the part of a leader.”

Leaders are specified under the Second Schedule to the Act, and they include the President, Vice-President; Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Attorney General, Minister, Minister of State and Deputy Minister.

From the above, it is clear that the Inspectorate has powers not only to investigate any act, omission, advice, decision or recommendation of ministers taken in exercise of their administrative functions, but also to investigate their conduct when such conduct is alleged to be highhanded, outrageous, infamous or disgraceful.`

The writer is the Deputy IGG

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});