The Inspectorate of Government has earmarked to spend Shs2.3Bn on activities to wipe out corruption in Uganda, among which will include holding of national prayers and community barazas.
The expenditure was revealed by Rose Lily Akello, Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity while tabling a statement before Parliament ahead of the commemoration of International Day Against Corruption on 9th December 2022.
The Minister said, “The estimated cost of the Anti-Corruption Campaign is Shs1,909,397,500 The budget for the commemoration of International Anti-corruption day is Shs452,200,000, which has been provided by GOU to the Inspectorate of Government.”
According to the Minister, the anti-corruption campaign has five activities which include; Africa Anti-Corruption Day that was held on 11th July 2022,followed by National Inter-Denominational prayers Against Corruption that were held on 29th July 2022 at Kololo Independence Grounds.
Other activities include; The National Schools Anti-Corruption Challenge being conducted in coordination with the National Debate Council, to engage the youth in Anti-Corruption initiatives, as well as the Anti-Corruption Drives/Caravans that will be conducted in District Local Governments, to facilitate engagement with the citizens as well as the Media engagements include dissemination of short Anti-Corruption videos, Press briefings, Radio and TV talk shows and Social Media engagements.
The Minister also revealed that in 2022, Inspectorate of Government investigated 26 High Profile cases, and directed the recovery of Shs18.2Bn from Public Officers who misused public funds and so far, only Shs7Bn has so far been recovered, and paid into the IG Asset Recovery Account
Further, the Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted 261 corruption cases, of which 168 were concluded and 110 of them resulted in convictions, and through these prosecutions, Government recovered Shs10Bn and US$16,000, as well as malaria drugs valued at Shs28 million.
The Criminal Investigations Directorate of the Uganda Police Force registered a total of 318 cases, of which 56 were submitted to the DPP and 23 were sanctioned for prosecution, resulting into a recovery of Shs615 Million, while State House Anti-Corruption Unit recovered a total amount of Shs41.6 billion, of which Shs9.6Bn was from inflated Covid-19 relief food prices.
The Leadership code Tribunal has concluded ten cases through Alternative Dispute Resolution, and imposed fines totaling to Shs10.9 million on the Respondents, out of which Shs5.9 million has been paid to the Consolidated Fund.
Government also revealed that the national celebrations will be held in Ibanda district, after the western Uganda district emerged the best in service delivery and the celebrations will be held under the them; Anti-Corruption Campaign is Citizens must Own the War to Eliminate Corruption- It is Their war and the theme is intended to make the war against corruption a people’s war rather than a Government war.
According to the Fourth National Integrity Survey 2019 conducted by Inspectorate of Government, Uganda loses Shs20Trn annually to corruption related practices.
In the 2021 report, Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International ranked Uganda 144th position, scoring 27 out of 100 from the 180 nations profiled. At the regional level, South Sudan emerged as the most corrupt nation, ranking 180, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi all ranked 169. It is only Kenya 128 and Rwanda 52 that rank higher than Uganda in corruption, although rankings of the two nations.
