There’s no good or bad corruption; it is all illegal, CSOs tell Museveni

The country’s public debt has surged by 49.5% in the past two years to hit Shs 70.4trillion as at the end of June.30

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Four civil society organisations in Uganda have responded to President Yoweri Museveni’s remarks on corruption during the Anti-Corruption Day fete at Kololo on Dec.09, saying the words portray him as a person trying to perpetuate the vice instead of championing the fight to facilitate efficient service delivery to the citizens.

Executives at the Uganda Debt Network, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, Action Aid International Uganda and Transparency International Uganda said on Dec.12 that they condemn the president’s remarks at the time the country is striving to fight the escalating levels of corruption.

“There’s no good or bad corruption; it is all illegal,” Marlon Agaba, head of Programmes at the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, said. “We therefore condemn the (presidents) remarks especially to a leader of his caliber.”

Christine Byiringiro, the Programmes Manager at Uganda Debt Network said President Museveni’s remarks on a day meant to commemorate a corrupt free society and the world are demoralizing.

She said it is surprisingly that some of the corruption tendencies have been carried out behind the head of state yet stolen funds belong to the tax payers meant to extend essential social services to the population.

“It is time for the President (Museveni) and the other institutions charged with the responsibility to fight corruption to stand with the Inspector General of Government (IGG) to fight the vice,” she said.

On Thursday, President Museveni warned the Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya, who was launching the Lifestyle Audit Campaign, to “go slow” on corrupt officials lest she scares them to invest their loot abroad.

President Museveni said that the lifestyle audit is good, but Kamya has to be careful because government is still lucky that the corrupt officials invest their money in the country.

“We are still lucky that our corrupt people are corrupt here, they steal the money, and put it here, you see a 5 star hotel from corruption. Now if you only concentrate on the lifestyle, then they will take the money out and you will have no evidence here,” Museveni said.

Gerald Padde Auku, the Programs Officer at Transparency International Uganda said corruption denies the public of the much needed social services such as health and as such should not be tolerated at all costs.

“For instance, setting up hotels using funds meant to build well equipped hospitals could leave a section of the population to succumb to diseases that would have been prevented had there been well equipped health facilities,” he said. “There are very few Ugandans who could benefit from these so called hotels like in hospitals.”

Auku said it is time for the government to implement the available laws to curb corruption.

Lifestyle audit a costly exercise

Commenting on the newly launched lifestyle audit, Agaba said, it is time for the government to carry out studies on how the same methodology has performed in a number of countries including Kenya, South Africa and Namibia in fighting corruption.

He said the costs involved in lifestyle audits are very high and that the institutions charged with the responsibility to do so are so thin in human resource.

He added that the there are laws related to protection of privacy which may hinder carrying out lifestyle audits since the exercise needs a 360 degrees investigations.

“Also, institutions such as the Inspectorate of Government, Uganda Revenue Authority, Uganda Registration Services Bureau and state house corruption unit among others are not coordinated in the corruption fight,” he said.

Agaba said the current law on corruption should also be reviewed to allow for forfeiture recovery of assets acquired through corruption instead of waiting for the suspected corrupt individuals to be convicted.

This development comes at the time corruption levels in the east African nation continues to escalate even when the country has ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption and established a robust legal, institutional, policy, managerial frameworks to fight the vice.

Latest IGG report indicates that the country losses approximately Shs9trillion to corruption, which is approximately 20% of this year’s annual total budget, to corruption with some of the lost funds having been generated from loans. This, the CSOs say, has crippled a number of loans funded projects which do not perform satisfactorily.

Rise in public debt

Meanwhile, the CSO’s expressed concerns about the country’s surging public debt and the pace of debt accumulation. Data from Bank of Uganda shows that the country’s public debt has surged by 49.5% in the past two years to hit Shs70.4trillion as at the end of June this year.

For that, the CSO’s have called upon the government to strengthen the public investment management and ensure that the institutions charged with monitoring and evaluation of government projects are functional.

“We call upon the government to implement the Office of the Auditor Generals reports recommendations on the escalating public debt and low absorption of loans,” the CSOs said in a joint statement adding that the government should equally strengthen its ability to generate evidence of corruption within and outside the country and prosecute corruption individuals.