President Museveni is leading whistleblower - IGG

Aug 09, 2013

The deputy IGG reveals that President Yoweri Museveni tops the list of whistleblowers in the country.

By Gloria Nakajubi

The deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG), George Bamugemereire has revealed that President Yoweri Museveni tops the list of whistleblowers in the country.

“When we consider the number of cases up for investigations in our office, our President is the leading informant as he has brought to our notice over 80% of them,” said Bamugemereire.

He noted that government’s efforts to fight corruption should not be underestimated as a number of interventions have been developed to curb the vice which has led to the prosecution of some senior government officials.

The deputy IGG was responding to remarks made by former minister-turned-activist, Miria Matembe on the high rate of corruption in the country.

Matembe said government has not expressed political will to fight corruption since a number of people implicated in corruption scandals still hold top government jobs.

In a critical attack on the president, Matembe said: “This government keeps recycling ministers in the system, yet they have been implicated in corruption scandals where billions of shillings of tax payers’ money have been lost.”

The vocal activist added that government was continuously witch-hunting those who speak out against corruption, yet shielding the perpetrators of the vice.

She made bold reference to her own experience, saying she was dropped from cabinet because "I spoke the truth".

In sharp contrast to Matembe's critical remarks, Bamugemereire emphasised government’s will to fight the vice, saying President Museveni had excelled in exposing suspected corrupt officials.

“Whistleblowing is one of the strategies that the inspectorate [of government] is turning to because corruption can no longer be detected by an outsider. Unless someone from within exposes the vice, it can go unnoticed for years,” he explained.

He added that his office is coming up with interventions to protect whistleblowers, especially from victimisation at their places of work.

He made the remarks during the ongoing 10th Advocates Africa conference at Speke Resort in Munyonyo that has attracted judges and lawyers from over 20 African countries.

The advocates were cautioned against using legal tactics to manipulate the loopholes in the Constitution for their own interests.

“As Christian lawyers, you should desist from the temptation of twisting and manipulating the law to defeat justice because this doesn’t portray a servant appointed to serve society,” said activist Matembe, who attended the conference.

She urged the advocates to have confidence as they stand for the truth and defend what is constitutionally right.

The participants, however, argued that there is a lack of role models, especially for the young lawyers to look up to as all institutions are struggling with the same vices.

“What is happening in Church and other Christian institutions is a mirror of what we are fighting against in the secular system. We, therefore, need to cleanse our own systems first," said one of the lawyers.

Advocates Africa is a network of national Christian lawyers’ Associations across Africa which is part of the worldwide partnership of Christian lawyers under the leadership of Advocates International.

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