Anti-corruption agencies fueling confusion- Museveni

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The creation of various anti-corruption agencies has fueled confusion instead of helping to end the vice, President Yoweri Museveni has revealed.

He disclosed this in a televised address from Entebbe State House on Wednesday afternoon. Museveni said government agencies have been infiltrated by bad elements making it hard to crackdown corrupt officials.

He says anti-corruption agencies are challenged by bad elements in government agencies that make it hard to investigate corruption cases.

According to Museveni, he established local councils to help the people but have not done their job.

He explained that they created political positions like the local council 3 and Gombolola chief such that the chief can handle administration matters while the politicians give a voice to the people but these haven’t helped.

Museveni says that he later established the Inspectorate of Government, an idea he borrowed from Mozambique in 1976 hoping that this would clean government agencies of corruption.

This he thought would reduce the load handled by the Criminal Investigations Directorate-CID. He said this was meant to help CID concentrate on cases outside government agencies but also hasn’t helped.

Museveni said the State House Anti-Corruption Unit led by Lt Col Edith Nakalema that he launched in 2018 has also not helped.

Museveni was speaking at the launch of the Anti-Corruption Media Campaign by the Nakalema-led State House Anti-Corruption Unit that is intended to enlist the support of citizens in the fight against corruption.

He asked the public to use the available technology to record and expose corruption.

Museveni says he will tell Nakalema about other ways to fight corruption. According to the 2019 Transparency International index, Uganda ranks 137 out of 180 countries in corruption, making the country one of the most corrupt in the world.

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