Without the resources needed to go after every corrupt individual in public office, the Inspectorate of Government is being forced to exercise selective prosecution of the corrupt, the ombudswoman, Justice Irene Mulyagonja, has admitted.
According to Mulyagonja, her best shot at punishing offenders such as petty thieves of a few hundred thousand or a few million shillings is to compel them to resign their jobs and refund the embezzled money.
Mulyagonja told The Observer by telephone on Monday that she chose this strategy because the Inspectorate of Government has limited resources to successfully prosecute every corrupt official.
“There are different ways of dealing with corrupt officials. One is prosecution, another is administrative sanctions,” she said. “We are not interested in prosecuting everybody because we have very many people to prosecute and we have limited resources for prosecution. So, we take the low-line choices.”
Mulyagonja added that if an official is arrested and he or she confesses to an offence, an agreement is drawn in which he or she agrees to refund all the money, and “we take our money and you leave the service.”
In the interview, the IGG was largely reacting to the discomfort of Chief Justice Bart Katureebe at the inspectorate’s decision to let go some corrupt judicial officers after getting them to refund stolen money and leave their jobs.Speaking on Friday, March 31, during the Uganda Law Society organised discussion on judicial corruption, Justice Katureebe voiced his frustration at the way some corrupt judicial officers caught red-handed taking bribes, are let off the hook.
Katureebe cited an example of a magistrate who was arrested taking a bribe only to get pardoned by the IGG after being forced to resign. According to Justice Katureebe, the magistrate also got his terminal benefits.
However, the IGG clarified that her office had a gentleman’s agreement with the magistrate to resign after he was caught in the act of accepting a Shs 250,000 bribe.
According to the IGG, the cunning magistrate also wrote to the ministry of Public Service seeking to retire. He was let go with full retirement benefits. The IGG said she later reported the issue to the Judicial Service Commission, which chose to take action.
“They decided they would take him through administrative procedures of the Judicial Service Commission in which we are participating because we are the ones with the evidence and they do not have it,” Mulyagonja told The Observer.
At the same meeting, Katureebe asked the IGG to go after every corrupt official, no matter how much money they have stolen. But the IGG maintained that prosecuting small thieves can be costly and time-consuming. On average, it takes two years to prosecute a case, the IGG said.
Section 14(5) of the IGG Act gives power to the inspectorate to investigate, arrest and prosecute an individual in cases involving corruption or abuse of authority in a public office.
'COMMONSENSE' APPROACH SUPPORTED
Interviewed yesterday, Cissy Kagaba, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda, said she agreed with the IGG’s commonsense approach.
“It is okay because at the end of the day, what do people want? We want our money back and we want these people out of public service,” Kagaba said.
“For me it is a step in the right direction. It is another way they can use to work with minimal resources,” she added.
Kagaba also faulted the government for not providing sufficient funding to anti-corruption agencies. This, she said, erodes the political will to fight corruption.
“We have continuously told government that if you are putting in place agencies, they have to be well funded because it is different when you say you have the political will and then at times the agencies put in place to fight corruption are not funded well,” she said.