There is a time in the month of March when the precincts of the Inspectorate of Government in Kampala are full of people eager to beat the deadline for the declaration of their income, assets and liabilities as required under the Leadership Code Act, 2002.

The process is manual, with Inspectorate of Government staff spending many hours from their offices distributing declaration forms to the over 25,000 leaders eligible to declare their income, assets and liabilities.

However, following the launch of an Online Declaration System yesterday by the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, Government Ombudsman Justice Irene Mulyagonja contends that the long queues that normally form at the Inspectorate’s headquarters are henceforth a thing of the past.

“The new system is less onerous; it is efficient and cannot be tampered with by anyone to access information without the permission of those running it,” Mulyagonja said after the launch.

By adopting the online declaration, Uganda has joined countries like South Korea, India and Malaysia, which have long embraced the system.