The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Deputy Inspector General of Government Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria has opened up on her struggles to find jobs of her choice in the country despite applying for numerous positions.
Speaking to Uganda Radio Network in an interview over the weekend from Gulu University, Achan noted that since graduating from Makerere in 2000, she hasn’t appeared on any shortlist for any job she applied to.
While Achan couldn’t specifically link her struggles to finding a job of her choice to her current ombudsman role, she said her interest has always been sitting on the bench. She revealed that her recent attempt was for the position of Justice of Appeal, but she was not shortlisted.
Dr. Achan noted that all the positions she had acquired in the government were through head hunting, owing to her first job as a Research Assistant in a legal firm in Kampala shortly after her graduation. On the eve of her graduation from Makerere University, Achan recalled how the lecturer who supervised her research paper connected her to his wife, where she got her first job.
“He called me to his office and said, Patricia, you are an outstanding Researcher. go to my wife, she has a job for you,” she recalled. Within three months, she had worked harder than expected, securing enough to sponsor herself at the Uganda Law Development Centre, where she obtained a Diploma in Legal Practice a year later. She moved to work with the Uganda Human Rights Commission as a legal consultant, a position she held for only 6 months before her contract expired.
But after her legal contract with the Uganda Human Rights Commission expired, she volunteered with the Commission for a while before securing another job as a Human Rights Officer. “When they reviewed my performance as a volunteer, I was supposed to be a Research Assistant too, but everyone wanted me to work with them,” she shared. They posted me to the Gulu office,” she added.
While in Gulu, Achan was called to work with the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity, where she drafted several reforms before being transferred to the Ministry of Works and Transport. She later joined the Ministry of Works and Transport. As the policy and legal advisor with the Ministry of Works and Transport, Achan significantly contributed to reviving the defunct Uganda Airlines.
“I instituted a 12-member committee to guide the comeback of Uganda Airline until we reached the purchase agreement when we dissolved the committee. Although the Board wanted me to become the Executive Director to manage the Airline, I declined,” she noted.
But it did not take her long to depart for another job, this time directly from President Museveni, who appointed her as the Deputy Inspector General of Government until today.
“I received a phone call from President Dr. Patricia, I am going to give you another job to help me fight corruption. Two months later, I heard I was appointed, but there was nothing to show because there wasn’t such an appointment later,” she recalls.
Adding that, “I met the Justice Minister General Kahinda Otafiire and asked him. “Minister, I heard that the President has appointed me. Is it true? Otafiire just asked me, You mean you haven’t picked your appointment after two months? He laughed and said, Go and pick your appointment,” she noted.
Fighting Corruption: The Willing Seller, the Willing Recipient
Throughout her struggles in fighting corruption, Achan, however, faces off with challenges on what she describes as a willing seller and a willing recipient’ affecting investigations into corruption cases. She revealed that, in most instances, the whistleblowers have turned out to be part of the corruption cases, but once the deal collapses, they run to report such cases.
“We would investigate and discover that the whistleblower was once part of the deal. It’s very challenging to investigate because you have a willing seller and a willing recipient, but what helps me is integrity. Imagine if an investigator isn’t integral,” she observed. Uganda reportedly loses about Shillings 9 trillion annually to corruption, but according to Achan, in the last two quarters, about 17 billion shillings have been recovered from corrupt people.
She, however, argues that for the country to fight corruption, the country must put students on the forefront to embrace the value of integrity so that when they become adults and get to public offices, they will be leaders of impact based on the principle of accountability.
“Corruption occurs when values degenerate; a human being is capable of doing bad things once we lose values. But we need to involve the learner to fight corruption. These children will become enemies of the state if we leave them behind,” she further argues.
The Gulu University Vice Chancellor, Prof. George Openjuru Laddah, commended her as a distinctive figure in fighting corruption in the country but urged schools to inculcate values in learners early, as they attend primary and secondary schools. “When they join Universities, it’s easy to broaden their thinking if they have acquired these values as early as possible, but I see many of these students making an impact on our University through leadership skills and being accountable for their actions,” Prof Openjuru noted.
A fourth-year law student at Gulu University, Jenifer Adong, urges that without addressing mindset change, fighting corruption will prove challenging. “It’s the minds that we need to address; without that, we can’t end corruption,” Adong noted.
She further noted that those involved in corruption are interconnected, and yet they wield powers in both the private sector and public offices and challenged the youths to redefine their purposes and take on governance to participate in key decision-making.
But to Achan, fighting corruption requires both professional and political integrity with honesty that young people must embrace, urging them to prepare to navigate through challenges to redeem the image of the Country from corruption.
Accomplished lawyer
Dr. Achan is an accomplished lawyer with extensive experience in human rights law, legislative drafting, regulatory affairs, corporate law, and governance. Her contributions to Uganda’s legal frameworks span over 20 years, during which she has worked with the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Directorate of Ethics and Integrity, and the Ministry of Works and Transport.
She is credited with developing human rights manuals for the Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons Services, and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces to ensure adherence to human rights standards.Among her other remarkable contributions are her involvement in drafting the Anti-Corruption Laws, the development of the Leadership Code Act, and the initiation of a citizen manual aimed at fighting corruption.
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