Parliament. The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga and Inspector General of Government Irene Mulyagonja, yesterday declared that they do not own any assets outside the country.

Both officials gave a rough breakdown of their wealth, rating themselves as modest Ugandans, moments after the IGG had held a closed-door meeting with Ms Kadaga.

Ms Kadaga indicated that she owns three cars, a house in the upscale Kampala suburb of Muyenga, a hotel built with savings from 20 years, a farm in Nakaseke district while she is currently servicing a salary loan with DFCU bank and a loan with the Parliamentary Sacco.

“I have declared all my properties and they are all in Uganda. I have declared my cars. I have three cars. I have also informed the Inspector General where I got the money. Most of it has come from earnings here [at Parliament]. I have also declared obligations. I also owe some money to the Parliamentary Sacco and I have declared that,”Ms Kadaga said. Ms Mulyagonja indicated that she co-owns a property with her sister; two pieces of land off Gayaza Road and is in the process of buying a house in the Namugongo, Wakiso. The IGG said that she does not own a private vehicle. She announced that fight against corruption is being hindered by loopholes in the Leadership Code Act and laxity in banks which allows unscrupulous individuals to transact illicit cash through the banking system.

Under the leadership code, specified public officers are obligated to annual declaration of their wealth and sources of income. “There are all of loopholes in the process of verification. A leader may fill in a form and give you what they reach but there are some places you cannot reach. Most of the investments carried out by the people in Uganda is land and the most purchased land is unregistered. Banks are not very vigilant in identifying inflows of income and outflows of income. The banks need to do more,”Ms Mulyagonja said.

With the end of March deadline fast approaching, it remains unclear how many MPs have heeded reminders by the Speaker to file their declaration of assets as required by the law.

Failure by MPs to declare assets can attract sanctions like being kicked out of Parliament -- a fate that was suffered by Rubaga South MP Ken Lukyamuzi. Mr Lukyamuzi was kicked out of the House in 2006 before court overturned the former IGG Justice Faith Mwondha’s ruling.

Background

This year’s deadline for the declaration of assets comes on the heels of the leakage of files from the Swiss banking giant, HSBC which exposed 57 clients “associated” with Uganda holding cash totalling to up to $89.3million (about Shs255.6 billion). Though the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), the body established by the Anti-Money Laundering Act to tackle suspicious money transactions, promised to pursue the billions held by Ugandans in HSBC, it remains unclear whether it has made any headway.