IGG Mulyagonja not yet in office

BY Anne Mugisa

The Inspector General of Government (IGG) Justice Irene Mulyagonja has not yet taken over office, almost three weeks after being cleared by Parliament.

The appointments committee okayed Mulyagonja on April 24, after she was named new IGG by President YoweriMuseveni about two weeks earlier.

The inspectorate’s spokesperson, Ali Munira, said she did not know when the IGG would report to office. “We are waiting for her. We are also just following what we hear in the media,” Munira said.

Mulyagonja, however, said she was still waiting for the instrument of her appointment to be signed by the President. She said the instrument was still being worked on by the Attorney General.

“It is a process. I am leaving one office and going into another, and there must be an instrument signed by the President. Be patient,” the judge said.

She also said she would not just get out of the office, being a judge. “You just cannot go and leave unwritten judgments.”

Asked whether it was not affecting the operations of the inspectorate, especially the pending cases, the Munira said public prosecutors under the Director of Public Prosecutions, were proceeding with the pending cases.

“Some of the cases are proceeding in court. I cannot give you the number and details, but in the last two weeks, we have had two convictions,” Munira said.

She also could not comment on the appointment of the second deputy IGG.

Currently, the inspectorate only has an IGG and one deputy IGG, Raphael Baku. The second deputy IGG, who is provided for by the law has not been appointed yet.

For two years, Baku acted as IGG, after the departure of Faith Mwondha who has since reverted to the judiciary as a judge of the High Court.

The absence of a substantive IGG and one of the two Deputies came to the fore recently when some litigants in the cases challenged the Inspectorate’s prosecutions, saying could not carry them out because it was not constituted.

The litigants who successfully challenged the IGG, were Sam Kutesa, John Nasasira and Mwesigwa Rukutana.