Appeared in The New Vision on 27 Apr 2010

THE Inspectorate of Government is ready to prosecute politicians and government officials implicated in the loss of funds during the preparation for CHOGM in 2007.

The cost for hosting CHOGM went up from sh370b to over sh500b.

According to the Auditor General's report, billions of shillings were lost in irregular procurement of the CHOGM cars, road construction and repairs, and the renovation of Entebbe Airport.

Raphael Baku, the IGG, while appearing before the legal and parliamentary affairs committee yesterday, said: “We are ready to take them on when they are referred to us.”

“We did not want to handle the CHOGM investigations concurrently with the public accounts committee, but we have been in touch with it.”

Baku was responding to concerns raised by Ndorwa East MP Wilfred Niwagaba (NRM) that the Inspectorate was not taking interest in the Auditor General's report questioning the spending of tax payers money during CHOGM.

Top government ministers and permanent secretaries have been on the spotlight over reported misappropriation of the funds.

The PAC, chaired by Nandala Mafabi, is currently on a retreat in Jinja writing its report.

Baku told the committee that he expects that some of the cases will be referred to the Directorate of Public Prosecution, while others will be referred to the IGG.

Ethics and integrity minister Nsaba Buturo recently called for heavy punishment of officials named in the mismanagement of the funds.

He also urged the Police to take up the cases for further investigation, prosecute those responsible and recover the funds.