The Leadership Code Tribunal sitting at Nakasero in Kampala has today ordered the Procurement Officer of Ministry of Energy, Mr. Mfitumukiza Emmanuel to pay a fine of 60 currency points (UGX1,200,000) for breaching the Leadership Code Act.

The Tribunal, which is chaired by Dr. Roselyn Karugonjo, discovered that as a leader, Mr. Mfitumukiza did not declare his wealth during the declaration period of March 2023 as required by law.

Mr. Mfitumukiza is supposed to pay the said fine on or before September 28th, 2023.

He will also be required to submit a declaration of his wealth to the Inspectorate of Government for the period 2023 as provided for under the Leadership Code Act.

Kibaale Magistrate’s Court on September 6, 2023 convicted the Kibaale district Senior Human Resource Officer, Mr. Mathias Sewante for receiving UGX15M from Ms. Judith Bogeza, a retired primary school deputy head teacher to enable her get her pension.

Mr. Sewante was sentenced to three months imprisonment and ordered to refund UGX15M to Ms. Bogeza within 12 months.

He was also ordered to vacate office for a period of 10 years from the time he was convicted.

The case was investigated by the Inspectorate of Government’s Hoima Regional Office.

The Anti-corruption court on September 5, 2023 charged and remanded two engineers from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to Luzira prison over corruption and abuse of office.

Mr. Dathan Nuwagaba Kahima and Ms. Pamella Besigye are engineers attached the OPM under the Development Response to Displacement Impact Project (DRDIP).

However, the duo who appeared before Grade One Magistrate, Ms. Esther Asiimwe, denied the charges.

The duo allegedly received a bribe of UGX 689,260,000 from various companies and persons as a reward for recommending them for various tenders/contracts for execution of works and services under DRDIP between February 2021 and June 2022.

The duo is also accused of allegedly influencing the award of the said tenders to companies that offered bribes, an act that is arbitrary prejudicial to the interest of their employers and other competent companies.

According to the charge sheet, the duo is charged with two other businessmen, Mr. Denis Masiko and Mr. Patrick Omla, who allegedly bribed their way into the award of the said tenders.

Mr. Masiko’s company, Tashil (U) Ltd, allegedly deposited UGX190M to Mr. Nuwagaba’s company (Ark Consult and Engineering Ltd) bank account in Centenary Bank, Mapeera. Mr. Omla also allegedly deposited UGX15M to the same account.

Prosecutors from the IG, Mr. Rogers Kinobe and Ms. Jackie Mawemuko informed court that they were finalizing investigations into the case.

The prosecutors also applied for criminal summons to be issued to the two businessmen.

The Inspectorate of Government (IG) on August 31, 2023 held a joint quarterly meeting with the members of the Leadership Code Tribunal (LCT) in the IG boardroom to strategise on better enforcement of the Leadership Code Act.

While addressing the meeting, the Deputy Inspector General of Government, Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria, revealed that the IG has come up with a number of strategies to increase the number of cases submitted to the LCT.

For instance, she said that there is a need to publish the outcome of the cases prosecuted at the Tribunal and share it with directorates and regional offices to enable the different users to learn and appreciate the basis for the decisions taken by the Tribunal.

The Deputy IGG noted that the IG will be setting up teams to investigate breaches of the Leadership Code Act in local governments, especially those who did not submit their clarifications.

The IG, she said, is also considering development of the consolidated and simplified versions of the Leadership Code Act to make it easy for the users to refer to it.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government, Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria, on August 29th, 2023, opened the validation workshop of the collaboration between African Organisation of the English-Speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI) & Eastern Africa Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (EAAACA) with support from GIZ Good Financial Governance in Africa.

The collaboration framework aims to strengthen the effectiveness in the fight against corruption among Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) and Supreme Audit Institutions among the six-member countries, which include Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Sudan.

The workshop was held in Kampala under the themes, “The Enabling Legal and Regulatory Framework and Processes, Institutional Referral Mechanisms and Information Sharing and Institutional Capacity Building and Resource Utilization".

While addressing the participants, Dr. Okiria noted that corruption is becoming widespread and very complex for investigators and all anti-corruption actors.

“It therefore calls for renewed synergies and strategies across the board. This requires mutual co-operation and coordination against all trans-boundary offences/crimes many of which are predicate to money laundering,” she said.

Dr. Okiria told the participants that increased research and effective data collection will go a long way in strengthening information sharing and concerted efforts towards the fight against corruption and easing asset recovery, adding that the role played by Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and ACAs in Africa cannot be underscored.

She also noted that the specific mandate and role of SAIs as public oversight institutions which audit the government’s use of public funds makes them a critical link in a country’s accountability chain.

“By auditing all public financial operations, they are a critical element in the ecosystem of budgetary control and their audit reports usually help to quickly detect red flags, uncover irregular conduct (non-compliance with laws and regulations), mismanagement and performance of policies and programmes,” she said.

The Inspectorate of Government (IG) on August 23, 2023 tasked the Institute of Survey and Land Management (ISLM) to defend itself against allegations of maladministration.

The directive was given by the Director of Ombudsman Affairs (DOA), Mr. Stephen Okiror, during a boardroom session between the IG and the management of the institute at the IG Head Office.

The meeting was triggered by a whistleblower who alleged that the institute has been operating without a governing council, disregards recruitment procedures to favour some people, operates without a strategic plan, lacks accountability and has failed to reign in on sexual harassment against students by their lecturers.

However, the Principal of ISLM, Mr. Bernard Oguro, denied all the allegations. He noted that there are bad elements at the institute who are spreading malicious information so as to undermine its credibility.

After the Principal’s submission, Mr. Okiror asked him to formally write a comprehensive response to the allegations, which he said would then inform IG’s next course of action.

“We are giving you only two weeks to compile the responses and they should be ready by September 6th, 2023. But also you should expect our officers to come to your institute to verify certain information,” Mr. Okiror said.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government (DIGG), Mrs. Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe on August 16, 2023 ordered the arrest of the Ntungamo district engineer, Mr Charles Kusemererwa and Roads Supervisor, Mr. Moses Twine over alleged diversion of funds leading to shoddy works on two roads.

The arrest was triggered by failure by the duo to produce Bills of Quantities during the inspection of roads in the district by a team from the Inspectorate of Government (IG) led by the DIGG.

The duo also failed to explain why the 25km Omungyenyi-Nyakambu-Omukarere-Kashanda road in Rushenyi County and the 14km Kagarama-Rukarango-Rwamabondo road in Kajara County had not been completed despite the release of over UGX600m to the district in the 2021/22 FY.

They also failed to produce proof of the money which had so far been spent on the two roads. A whistleblower told IG investigators that over UGX400m meant for the two roads was diverted and cannot be accounted for.

Mrs. Muhairwe tasked investigators to follow-up the matter and give her a report of their findings.

The Ntungamo district engineer in charge of the water department, Mr. Dismus Tumushangye, has built a water tank for the community in Rwebirere, Buhara parish in Ngoma Sub County on orders of the Inspectorate of Government.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government (DIGG), Mrs. Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, ordered the arrest of Mr. Tumushangye in May this year on allegations of diverting a water tank meant for the community members to the home of a businessman, Mr. Robert Buhungu.

Mr. Tumushangye was subsequently interdicted and asked to immediately construct the water tank.

During a follow-up inspection on August 16 2023, the DIGG found out that Mr. Tumushangye had started constructing the tank for the community.

He apologized to the Inspectorate of Government (IG) and the community members, saying that the water tank was diverted in error.

“I want to apologise to the IG and the community members for my earlier mistake. I really regret it and promise that I will be a good officer going forward,” he said.

However, Mrs. Muhairwe revealed that the IG will get an engineer from the Ministry of Works so that s/he can verify the quality of the material used before it is officially launched.

She warned that IG will not hesitate to prosecute any public officer who diverts public property.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government (DIGG), Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria, on August 3, 2023 held a follow-up meeting with officials from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development at the Inspectorate of Government (IG) head office to actualise resolutions which were made early this month during the inspection of roads under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) project in Mbarara city, Ntungamo and Kabale municipalities.

Dr. Okiria had earlier visited the earmarked municipalities to assess progress on road works following misunderstandings between the leaders and the contractor, Multiplex (U) Ltd.

During inspection of road works, Dr. Okiria found out that the contractor had indeed delayed to complete construction despite the fact that he won the contract to construct roads in all the three municipalities three years ago.

She gave the contractor only two months to complete the works or else face other punitive measures as provided for in the law.

In the follow-up meeting, Dr. Okiria revealed that she would go back to the three municipalities early September to again assess progress on the roads.

She emphasised that she will not sit down and watch the contractor play with a project which is supposed to improve the livelihoods of the citizens.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government, Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria, has given Multiplex (U) Ltd an ultimatum of two months to complete works on the 8.0km roads in Mbarara city, Ntungamo and Kabale municipalities under the Uganda Support for Municipal Development (USMID).

Dr. Okiria gave the two-month ultimatum on August 2, 2023 during her engagement with leaders of Kabale municipality, shortly after inspection of the earmarked roads. She had earlier inspected roads in both Mbarara city and Ntungamo municipality.

“I’m giving you [Multiplex] only two months to complete the road works because the project will end in December and we do not want the World Bank to take back the money due to the failure by the contractor to complete the road works. I will take the next punitive step if no work is done because the law gives me those powers,” Dr. Okiria warned.

The Deputy IGG, who led a team of technocrats from both the Inspectorate of Government (IG) and Ministry of Lands, the implementer of the USMID project, expressed dissatisfaction over the contractor’s failure to complete the road works, three years since he was awarded the contract.

Leaders in Mbarara city, Ntungamo and Kabale municipalities accused the contractor of incompetence, arguing that he failed to complete road works despite the fact that he had been given the money to execute work.

The Mayor of Mbarara city, Mr. Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi said they were under pressure from the public to have the roads completed, adding that they are ready to offer any necessary support to the contractor to complete the road works.

The proprietor of Multiplex (U) Ltd, Mr. Moses Bbosa, had earlier petitioned the IG claiming political sabotage by local leaders and failure by the municipalities to give him the necessary support.

However, Dr. Okiria revealed that both parties had failed to fulfill their obligations as per the contract.

Mr. Bbosa pledged to complete the works and asked both the leaders and the public to bear with him as he does his best within two months.