By Andrew Irumba
Government is to start confiscating all property of public servants convicted of corruption in abid to fight the vice, president Museveni has revealed.
Speaking at last day of the anti-corruption week held at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala on Monday, President Museveni said this is one of his new strategies to address the ‘cancer’ of corruption in the country.
“We shall enact a law that allows us to confiscate property of government officers accused of corruption. I will talk to the Speaker and the Chief Justice to see how to fight corruption in Parliament and the Judiciary,”Mr. Museveni said.
The president also expressed confidence that the new State House Anti-Corruption Unit established to be headed by Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema will boost the fight against corruption urging members of the public to come out and report any corrupt officers through the toll free that has already been put up.
Mr Museveni also accused Permanent Secretaries of different government ministries, town clerks, chief administrative officers, sub county chairpersons and parish chiefs for being the biggest perpetrators of corruption.
“Those public servants who think or feel they are tired of working and promoting integrity should leave. I’m not ready to continue dealing with them. Even the public is also tired of hearing stories about corrupt officers,” he added.
However, interestingly, in his speech Mr.Museveni declared that he would fight the vice through the very structures of CAOs,Town Clerks,Sub county Chairpersons which he said were the very perpetrators of corruption.
Meanwhile, Lt.Col.Edith Nakalema said one doesn’t necessarily need to identify themselves to report a corrupt official.
After the launch, the number one citizen and commander of the armed forces went on his social media face book face and posted….. “Today, I joined Ugandans in marking the International Anti-Corruption Day at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala. I later officially commissioned the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to be led by Lt Col Edith Nakalema.
By 1986, we had seven major problems associated with corruption; extra judicial killings by the army, extortion at roadblocks by soldiers, poaching in national parks, wetland encroachment, embezzlement of public funds, bribery and nepotism.
The first three we dealt with quickly. We are still dealing with the others. Embezzlement is largely done by the accounting officers; the permanent secretaries, chief administrative officers, gombolola chiefs and town clerks.
With the new anti-corruption campaign I am launching, if government money is stolen, these are the people I will come for. These corrupt people should also know that we have many young educated Ugandans. We shall easily replace them. A few corrupt people can no longer blackmail us.
In this new campaign, we are basically stoking the fire. You can report cases of corruption to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit on 0800202500. Lt Col Nakalema is my watching post on this. She will keep me posted and pursue cases of corruption with the other agencies.
We are going to study the law to ensure we confiscate wealth acquired through corruption. It will be amended to effect this. I am also convening a meeting with the Speaker and the Chief Justice to address concerns of corruption in their institutions.
Also, we have about Shs54 billion uncollected from corrupt officials even when court has ordered so. I am directing that this money is recovered immediately. I will also demand answers on why this has not been done yet.
Finally, I urge the media and the general public to join us in this campaign. Please expose and report corrupt public servants.”
