IGG Beti Kamya
More than 250 Million Shillings was recovered by different anti-corruption agencies from government corrupt officials since 2020, this is according to a report by the Minister of Ethics and Integrity.
Speaking just three days before International Anticorruption Day which is marked every December 9, Akello Rose Lilly, the Minister of Ethics and Integrity said although the struggle to defeat corruption in Uganda is still far from being won, nonetheless, there is reason to celebrate the achievements of the different anticorruption agencies.
Akello said that since July 2020, a lot of money has been recovered from different corrupt government officials. The Auditor General according to the minister’s statement, recovered at least 179 billion Shillings after carrying out 6,763 financial compliance audits, 23 value-for-money audits, 101 specialized engineering audits, and 85 forensic special audits.
The Auditor General is followed by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit which recovered 35.5 billion Shillings from different inflated government expenditures. The Inspectorate of Government recovered 30 billion Shillings after investigating 26 high-profile cases.
Other anti-corruption agencies that recovered money include the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecution which recovered 10 Billion Shillings and $16,000, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations 615 million Shillings, the State House Health Monitoring Unit 2 Billion Shillings and the Leadership Code Tribunal which got 5.9 billion Shillings in fines from those who abused the leadership code.
Akello called upon the general public to join the fight against corruption because it is they who are most affected by it. She added that by demanding better service delivery, the citizens would have put pressure on those given public funds to use it for the purposes for which it was appropriated.
The Inspector General of Government Beti Namisango Kamya said according to their research, the country loses up to 10 Trillion Shillings a year in corruption. Asked why of all that money that is lost in corruption they are only able to recover just a fraction of it, Kamya said the thieves are smarter.
This year’s Anti-corruption celebrations are to be held in Ibanda District and Norbert Mao, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs will represent President Yoweri Museveni as the guest of honor.
-URN
