Increase public awareness on corruption, Speaker tells IGG

PARLIAMENT  – Speaker Anita Among has urged the Inspectorate of Government (IG) to increase public awareness campaigns in the fight against corruption.

The Speaker urged the IGG to create friendship with the citizens to facilitate the smooth and easy gathering of vital information on the corrupt.
“I know you are creating awareness to the public about corruption, misuse of government funds, but I want you to increase [on awareness], create friendship with these people [the public]. When you create friendship with these people, they will be able to tell you so and so took this and that will be a starting point,” she said.

Among said this while receiving bi-annual reports of the Inspectorate of Government for the period covering July – December 2023 and January -June 2024 from the IGG, Beti Kamya on Thursday, 03 October 2024.

Article 231 (1) of the Constitution requires the IGG to submit to Parliament at least once every six months, a report on the performance of its functions and make recommendations for the efficient performance of public institutions.

The Speaker applauded the IGG for their dedication and consistency in complying with the requirements of the law. She tendered Parliament’s commitment to supporting the inspectorate to improve their budget and efficiency, and the need to transform their work into digital capabilities. 
“I recognise the critical and ever-increasing need for the IGG in terms of budgetary requirements. I have seen that you are still in the analogue era; it would be good if you went digital for you to do an audit trail,” she said adding that, ’as Parliament, we will continue to do oversight on you, legislation and most importantly, we will do appropriation so that you are able to get what will enable you do the work’.

Pursuant to Article 231(3) of the Constitution,  the Speaker said the IGG bi-annual performance reports will be laid on the Floor of Parliament next Thursday and referred to the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for scrutiny.

The IGG, Kamya said that for the period covering July – December 2023 and January -June 2024, the inspectorate recovered assets worth Shs8 billion, concluded 1,778 investigations and 63 prosecution cases, caused the conviction of 37 people, conducted 802 corruption-related investigations and inspected over 1,000 projects.

“It is evident that there was an increase in the number of complaints received by the IG, number of investigations concluded, funds ordered for recovery and an improvement in the conviction rate,” Kamya said, attributing this success to improvements in internal processes such as prosecution led investigations and increased citizen’s engagement.

Kamya cited inadequate funding, case backlogs, analogue systems and high staff turnover due to low remuneration as some of the major challenges impeding the inspectorate’s capacity to effectively implement its mandate. She said there are over 5,000 cases that have not yet been investigated.
“Government should consider increasing the IG budget for operations, new vehicles and equipment, the fifth National Integrity Survey and staff training and recruitment,” Kamya said.

In her report, Kamya revealed that the IGG, in its preliminary findings, had confirmed widespread corruption in recruitment processes in government following a recent IGG – led research on the cost and extent of corruption by district service commissions. She said the final report will soon be made public.