IGG Kamya attributes slow recovery of stolen assets to staff restructuring
- Written by JOSELYN ESIANA
IGG Beti Kamya
The Inspectorate of Government (IG) has attributed the slow recovery of stolen assets to the recent staff restructuring at the agency whose core mandate is to fight corruption.
The bi-annual report covering the period January-December 2022 and January-June 2023 was presented to parliament on Wednesday to Zombo Woman MP Esther Afoyochan, who represented speaker Anita Among. According to the report, 3,504 complaints were registered with 1,528 corruption investigations concluded. The amount of money recommended for recovery was Shs 38.7 billion, but only Shs 7.99 billion was recovered in the last 15 months.
The report further indicates that administrative sanctions implemented were 700 with 92 concluded prosecutions while the convictions stood at 43. According to James Penywi, inspectorate director research and education advocacy , the decline in cases concluded was a s a result of staff transfers.
“During the period, the IG was conducting a restructuring process in the office, and that led to a number of internal transfers of staff and hence there has been staff learning the new roles they have been deployed,” Penywi said.
“In addition, there has been handling of high profile cases which takes a lot of time so that is why you see the number of cases concluded, decreasing from about 700 to about 300. We hope that is going to increase very soon in the next reporting period,” Penywi added.
He however noted that there was an increase in recovery of stolen assets.
“We observed an increase of funds by IG and this is attributed to the emphasis on recovery of stolen assets and the establishment of a compliance division which has been following up on the implementation of the IG recommendations and orders,” he said.
On her part, Inspectorate General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya Turwomwe noted that in the execution of their mandate, they have prioritized prevention as the main approach to the elimination of corruption in the country.
“This will be achieved through mobilization of citizens of Uganda to own the war against corruption and empowering citizens to have a mindset change towards the evil of corruption,” she said
“…where there was a bit of tolerance or passiveness, there is going to be active mobilization of people to fight corruption because they understand that corruption is a vice that denies them the quality of services that they deserve and therefore making them victims in this fight against corruption,” Kamya said.
MP Afoyochan, also commissioner in parliament, said she would hand over the report to Among and ensure its tabled in the House for scrutiny.
Comments
There was some funny logic that only comes from Museveni, that gives a free hand to those in position to steal, to steal and not fear getting punished.
And that same logic completely hamstrings you, and makes you and your department a barking dog that can't bite. If you were worth your salt, you should have resigned, because your ability to perform independently, had been made untenable right from the start. So, excuse us and spare us your sour graping.
Betty knows that very well. Who is she fooling? That useless position should be abolished altogether. A complete misuse of taxpayers.