The Inspector General of Government has decried the low capacity of her institution to combat corruption, as a new report released yesterday showed limited gains in the anti-graft battle.

Speaking at the release of the report in Kampala yesterday, Ms Irene Mulyagonja said: “Top brains prefer to defend the corrupt rather than prosecute them.” The Annual Report on Tracking Corruption Data in Uganda, done by the Economic Policy Research Centre on behalf of the IGG, was released as part of the activities to mark the World Anti-Corruption Day.

The report covered business, soliciting and accepting bribes, increase in arrears and unbudgeted expenditure and access to public information. The other areas were strength of political finance disclosure laws, public procurement, implementing anti-corruption measures and media freedom. However, the only “clear” progress noted was in the media. “The press has published stories on corruption without being hampered.”

Otherwise it was mostly bad news, with more money noted to have been spent on paying extra-budget expenditures and arrears. The report says the extra money could have been stolen. This comes amid corruption scandals that have recently dogged the Ministry of Public Service and the Office of the Prime Minister, which led donors to cut budget support.

Speaking on behalf of the donors, the World Bank country manager, Mr Ahmadou Ndiaye, said there was “strong evidence that the integrity of the fiduciary system has been put into question and strong measures would have to be put in place to fight corruption. He said the data tracking system on which the report was based could help.

Mr Jacob Oulanyah, the deputy Speaker of Parliament, said corruption had affected the “reputation of Ugandans,” but added that on the brighter side, the revealing audit on the OPM was done by a Ugandan institution (Auditor General’s office).