Speaker Anita Among interfacing with the IGG on Thursday.
Speaker Among has warned the Inspectorate General of Government (IGG) not to target lifestyles of public servants based on complaints filed by haters, arguing that some public servants are hardworking not corrupt.
The Speaker made the remarks while receiving the July-December 2021 Bi-Annual Inspectorate of Government Performance Report to Parliament, where she tasked the Inspectorate to update the public on how much money has been recovered since the launch of the Lifestyle audit in December 2021.
Among remarked, “I remember when the President said don’t edit the lifestyle, indeed don’t audit lifestyle, audit what has been lost. When you see Anita driving a posh car, don’t look at it and think maybe she has stolen, look at the audit reports and whatever you get and you take an action on that, not just hearsay that people are saying this one is corrupt no. they may not be corrupt, some people are generally hardworking.”
Beti Kamya, Inspector General of Government in her response said that when President Museveni launched the lifestyle audit, there was need for the Inspectorate to put in place a legal framework within which to operate and the legal department at the institution is in the final stages of establishing this legal framework.
“The public has responded very positively. We have received requests from the public to audit government officials who are known to live lifestyles that are suspicious in a short time. There are, like you said some people are hardworking, we are looking at people who can’t explain their sources of income,” said Kamya.
However the Speaker fired back, warning the Inspectorate against launching baseless lifestyle audits where no audit queries from the Auditor General have been raised noting, “Of course when you are getting complaints from the public, you will also get from haters. Some will say why is Anita driving this kind of car, why is she sleeping in this kind of house, so you need to be careful as you do this.”
Kamya replied saying the lifestyle audits are conducted objectively and attempts by members of the public demanding to look at declarations of some individuals have been thwarted.
According to the report by the Inspectorate, between July-December 2021, there were 1,534 complaints recorded and of this, 542 cases were investigated were concluded.
The report also noted that cases under investigations are to a tune of Shs589Bn and US$268 Million about Shs1.019Trn.
Some of the recoveries were made from officials from Ministry of Agriculture where Shs9Bn was recovered, Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) to a tune of Shs1Bn and another Uganda Law Reform Commission where Shs4Bn was recovered.
