“For example these shiny sky-scrapers standing in the middle of Kampala, instead of trying to investigate…you sue that building…you say, you building standing here you are a proceed of corruption and let somebody who thinks otherwise prove it wrong,” he explained.
The Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Charles
Elem-Ogwal is seeking a forceful lifting of the veil to ownership of buildings suspected to be built with proceeds of corruption.
Ogwal noted difficulties in prosecution of
criminal cases and getting convictions due to lack of good forensics under the current conviction based asset recovery policy. He said that the solution lies
under the non-conviction asset recovery regime where countries follow proceeds
of crime.
“For example
these shiny sky-scrapers standing in the middle of Kampala, instead of trying
to investigate…you sue that building…you say, you building standing here you are
a proceed of corruption and let somebody who thinks otherwise prove it wrong,”
he explained.
Ogwal says that once this step is taken, then people
with an interest in such buildings have to come out to declare proof of ownership
and source of income. He says that if adopted by Uganda, the policy can create a big impact in the fight against
corruption so that nobody benefits from its proceeds.
//Cue in; “and I am…
Cue out…create an impact.”//
Ogwal was part of a panel discussion during
the launch of the fourth National Integrity Survey Report, 2019 by the
Inspectorate of Government- IG on Thursday. The survey focusing
on corruption and mal-administration carried out in conjunction with Uganda
Bureau of Statistics –UBOS, comes 13-years since the country last carried out a
national integrity survey.
According to UBOS Executive Director Chris Mukiza,
the survey was conducted in 2020 covering 15-sub regions comprising 128
districts. Uganda Radio Network-URN learnt that a total of 5,100
households were surveyed and the
findings established that corruption is on the increase. Mukiza says that the
results are not surprising and display a true picture in the country that
should be decisively dealt with.
Some of the findings of the survey show that the
public ranked bribery, solicitation and nepotism as the most common forms of corruption
at 47 per cent, 18 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. The least ranked forms of
corruption was impersonating public figures, illicit enrichment, causing
financial loss and false or fraudulent accounting, which all reported by less than 1 per cent
of the respondents.
Vincent Fred Ssenono, the UBOS Principal Statistician
in-charge of Methods and Analysis says that greed or the need for quick money
was highlighted as the main driver of corruption. The other forms of corruption in the survey
are embezzlement, diversion of a public resource, forgery, conflict of interest,
withholding information, extortion, favouritism and others.
//Cue in; “community thinks that…
Cue out…Uganda is reducing.”//
The Survey also highlights the Uganda Police Force
in general as the institution where corruption is most frequent. This is
followed by Traffic Police, Criminal Investigations and Intelligence
Directorate (CIID), Courts of Law, Land offices, Public Health Facilities,
District Service Commissions and Agriculture Extension Services.
Julius Twinomujuni, the Deputy Director CIID says
that sometimes it’s the public who initiate the bribes, especially in traffic
offences. He however said that this does not make the vice right since they
have on several occasions investigated culprits and prosecuted the suspects.
//Cue in; “sometimes we the…
Cue out…the disciplinary procedures.”//
George Bamugemereire, the Deputy IGG also noted that
it was time for anti-corruption agencies to be bold and link wrongdoing of
individuals in a particular institution to their top leaders.
//Cue in; “because people are…
Cue out…hold people accountable.”//
Cissy Kagaba, the Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption
Coalition Uganda (ACCU) says there is a need for government agencies to always
take action when the public report cases of corruption. She says that acting
and feedback to the public is important if public confidence is to be won.
//Cue in; “yes, I do…
Cue out…have public confidence.”//
Some of the recommendations about the public in
regard to corruption are amending the law to provide for harsher punishment of the
corrupt, introducing ethics and integrity at an early stage in the education
cycle, increasing supervision for public servants and others.
