Evidence shows that corruption is widespread – albeit much of it unnoticed and/or unaddressed – in Uganda, despite our fairly systematic legal framework.
The Constitution, the IGG Act 2002, the Leadership Code Act 2002, the Penal Code Act Cap 120, the Anti- Corruption Act 2009, etc, all aim to make Uganda a corruption-free country. Yet corruption is alive and thriving.
It’s clear that poorly-enforced laws create disrespect for the rule of law, undermine the legitimacy of the enforcing authority, create uncertainties and encourage corruption in the long run.
In the words of Kees Kouwennar: “In modern thinking, the sovereignty of the people is the first and foremost principle. The whole concept and structure of the state, the government and the legal and judicial system are built on this paradigm.”
This is to confirm the need to account to the society that the public servants represent. Under the Leadership Code Act, 2002, a person in a public office occupies a position of trust and such a person bears a social contract with the people.
They are employed at the public expense and for the benefit of the community, hence should act in the public interest. In the leadership code, declaration of property by public servants is one of the requirements.
In a bid to ensure transparency, parliament speaker Rebecca Kadaga and IGG Irene Mulyagonja declared their wealth recently – and we call upon all other leaders to take their example.The law requires the specified national and local leaders to disclose the financial information, including income, assets, and liabilities of their family members and how they acquired or incurred them. This is aimed at curbing the use of ‘proxies’ where leaders stash their wealth behind the names of close relatives.
The Inspectorate of Government should, however, beyond public servants declaring their wealth, make an effort to ensure declarations of public officials’ wealth are made public with all details.
The general public should be able to report instances of under declaration or over declaration of leaders’ assets where need be. It is the duty of our leaders to stand out and be counted by showing the will to fight corruption.
Failure to comply with the IGG’s request should lead to dismissal from office.