Appeared in The Daily Monitor on 18 Dec 2009

The Inspector General of Government is yet to pick interest in investigating the controversy surrounding the expenditures for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Daily Monitor has learnt.

The acting IGG, Mr Raphael Baku, said his office has not yet received any complaint about the alleged financial scandals on the conference hosted in 2007. “There is a lot of public talk about Chogm expenditures but I have not received even a single complaint about it,” Mr Baku said.

He was responding to a query from the Masindi Town Council chairman, Mr Joshua Amanyire, who alleged there is a public feeling that the fight against corruption is skewed more towards the ordinary citizen than big shots in the government. The IGG was in Hoima to disseminate the findings of the national integrity survey report that was conducted last year by Reev Consultancy International about public perceptions of corruption in the country.

Several senior civil servants and political leaders from Kibaale, Hoima, Masindi, Kiboga and Buliisa districts attended the meeting that started on Monday. He said the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (Pac) and the Police are investigating the matter to its logical conclusion. “That is the channel and we shall wait for Pac to recommend to us some cases to deal with,” Mr Baku said, adding that the IGG prosecutes only cases it has investigated. Pac has so far revealed mind-boggling allegations indicating how billions of shillings meant for organising the event was misused by several high profile personalities in both the public and private sectors.

Mr Baku further told participants in the conference that the government does not protect big shots in its fight against corruption, saying the government's duty is to deal with whoever is corrupt irrespective of class and office they hold.

He said it is mostly the poor who feel the pinch of corruption. He cited nurses, sub county chiefs and police officials as some of the professionals who relate directly with the poor. “Our attention goes to those things that affect the poor more,” he said.