IGG wants powers to confiscate property

By Anne Mugisa

The Inspector General of Government (IGG), Justice Irene Mulyagonja, wants powers to confiscate property of the corrupt.

She wants Parliament to enact the necessary law to enable the inspectorate carry out confiscations and other necessary orders for recovery.

Mulyagonja was speaking at a dinner she hosted at the Serena Hotel in Kampala for the members of the East African Association of Ombudsmen and IGGs.

The association was formed in 2007 to fight corruption in the region. The body, called the East African Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities, with headquarters in Uganda, has developed a joint operations manual to guide graft investigations.

The IGG asked the Constitutional Court to make pronouncements on Chapter 13 of the Constitution “about empowering our fight against corruption”.

Mulyagonja, who is the president of the association, said there is growing need for co-operation between the countries in fighting graft, which she said, was frustrating economic growth.

The World Bank country manager, Ahmadou Moustapha Ndiaye, said the fight against corruption is crucial for a country’s development because it increases investor confidence, improves service delivery and promotes economic and social prosperity.

The implication, he said, is that poverty would reduce and that is why anti-corruption is such a key issue for the development community in Uganda and the wider East African region.

Ndiaye added that the vice has become an international phenomenon and dealing with it requires greater focus on cooperation.

He said in June last year, the World Bank hosted a meeting of the International Corruption Hunters Alliance, which convened 200 leaders globally to discuss new technological tools and resources to fight global corruption.

Ndiaye said in many parts of the world, corruption is essentially a symptom of weak, ineffective or bad governance.

He said legal and regulatory frameworks have been put in place, but enforcement was lacking. 

Ndiaye said there is also weak enforcement in Uganda, adding that there is need to ensure that people, who steal public funds, are given deterrent penalties.

“In the fight against corruption, we must utilise all available information.

The East African Bribery Index provide us with useful data on the regional corruption situation, which sectors and institutions are vulnerable and the potential areas of regional collaboration.

The regional bribery index of 2012 indicated that Uganda registered the highest bribery levels index of 40.7% in the region. Burundi, which was the worst the previous year, this time posted a significant reduction and had an index of 18.8%. Kenya’s index was 29.5% and Tanzania had 39.1%, while Rwanda posted the lowest index of 2.5%.

Constitutional Court judge Faith Mwondha said fighting corruption was not easy, but everybody should fight it till Uganda and the region are free of the vice.