By Spy Uganda
State House Anti Corruption head Col.Edith Nakalema has today met Police Commanders at Police Senior Command and Staff College Bwebajja and tasked them to rush on the frontline in the war of kicking corruption out of Uganda.
Nakalema kicked off her presentation by quoting his boss President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s statement in one of his 2019 state of nation addresses in which he called corruption “Public Enemy No.1” and the remaining obstacle to Uganda’s development.
The National Service Delivery Survey 2015 by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics put the Uganda Police at 63% as far as bribery, fraud and extortion are concerned, making it the most corrupt institution in the country.
Police is closely followed by tax officials at 48%, the Judiciary at 45%, the public sector at 44% and business executives at 40%.
Nakalema told Police Commanders that corruption hinders economic, political, and social development, especially in less-developed countries, and has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education, and justice.
Not only the above but Nakalema adds that corruption worsens poverty and aggravates inequality as resources meant for the poor and the underprivileged are diverted to line the pockets of the corrupt.
As we write this, Uganda is estimated to lose over UGX2.5 trillion to corrupt tendencies each year. A 2015 report by Parliament estimates that the country has lost more than sh24 trillion to corruption in the last 10 years.
Nakalema asked the officers to always reflect on their oath before involving in corruption practices and asked themselves;
”●As the tactical level officers, how have you used the powers that you have to fight corruption especially in the Police force?
●Do you know what is expected of you? (Are you field RPC’s or are you Desk RPC’s who are even hard to find? – abuse of office)
●Do you Know Your Customer? (In civil service, we have left KYC to the corporate)”
Nakalema says the majority of Police commanders claim that they fail to meet the expectations required of them due to;
●Lack of funds
●Lack of resources (Fuel/Facilitation)
●Citizens come expecting to pay for services and many others
”But as the leaders, what have you done or what can you do to change the perception and improve the image of the Ugandan Police force?,” Nakalema questioned officers.
Reports by the IGG, AfroBarometer rank Police as having high levels of corruption.
Due to the above background, Nakalema tasked officers to challenge themselves with how they can fight corruption yet they are ranked the best in that vice.
”Our question today then seems a paradox. How is Police supposed to deal with the issue of corruption if it is itself suffering from the same? That is a question I will leave to you. But let me emphasise that those of us in the security forces should be more concerned since corruption is a threat to the security of our country that we are mandated to protect.”
