IGG recovers sh2.8b from local govt, 65 public officers dismissed

IGG|CORRUPTION|PUBLIC SERVICE 

KAMPALA - As a result of stringent measures put in place to curb corruption, the Inspectorate of Government has recovered over sh2.8b from corrupt local government officials in the financial year 2019/20.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG), George Bamugemereire, revealed that during the same period, 65 public officials were dismissed from public service over corruption.

He said 79 names of public officials have been submitted for dismissal and 658 have been recommended for administrative sanctions.

The inspectorate further investigated more 350 cases of abuse of office, 134 embezzlement cases, 110 cases of causing financial loss, and 75 forgeries.

"The number of cases has been increasing over time because of lack of internal systems in government sectors, where citizens can report their complaints. Rather than the Inspectorate being the last resort, we have become the citizens' first resort, which then triggers costly and cumbersome investigations," he said.

Bamugemereire made the revelation, Thursday while meeting the newly appointed executive director of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Dorothy Kisaka, who had visited the ombudsman in an effort to strengthen the working relationship between the two institutions.

He said key drivers of corruption in local government and other agencies are poor supervision and maladministration.

Poor supervision

 "Much of the corruption reported is down to poor supervision. Accounting officers sometimes easily release payments but are not sufficiently diligent to demand not just accountability in form of receipts but actual services delivered," he said.

He urged the new KCCA leadership to have mechanisms through which citizens can get complaints addressed quickly.

Kisaka appreciated the IGG's effort to eradicate corruption but noted that the task was not easy.

She said KCCA is a vast institution that requires a lot of collaboration with other institutions.

Kisaka appreciated the idea of streamlining the authority's internal systems in order to serve the people better and minimise complaints.

"I welcome the idea of rapid response channels. We have a crisis response unit that we want to strengthen with the rapid response unit. The city is vast and we want to use the citizens to point out what is happening where so that we act fast. KCCA should be able to respond quickly and take action," she said.

Kisaka noted that poor supervision fuels corruption if the leaders in the organisation do not provide good leadership.