The Deputy Inspector General of Government George Bamugemereire has asked Ugandans to join the Inspectorate in the fight against corruption through supervising on going government projects across the country.
He observed that although there are strong legal regimes in place to fight corruption, the incidences can’t be fought without the participation of the general public since they are the end beneficiaries of the government infrastructure projects.
“The various government agencies such the IGGs office, Auditor General among others can’t do much without the intervention of the local people. For corruption to be fought at the grass root level we need more supervision of the government projects by the end users that is when they will be value for money on most projects,” he said.
He added that the local people should task their leaders and local governments accounting officers to account for the resources which the Central Government releases to fund key social and economic activities in their respective distracts and sub counties.
The Deputy IGG made the call last week in Kampala while launching a 3 years Anti-corruption project: Strengthening Partnership for Anti-Corruption, Responsiveness and Citizen Engagement” (SPARC).
The project is expected to be implemented by the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda and funded by the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF).
Bamugemereire noted that the office of the IGG is challenged with the many corruption cases which it receives from various parts of the country hence the need for the local people to join the struggle in the fight against corruption.
“Majority of the corruption cases at district and Sub county levels relate to mismanaging of the resources government allocates to finance infrastructure projects such as markets, schools, health centres, among others.
Such projects can, however, be supervised by the local people starting at the procuring of the contractor, the cost of the project and if the terms and conditions are not reflecting on what the contractors is doing then they can take action,” he said.
Maron Agaba, a program manager at the Anti –Corruption Coalition Uganda, said the SPARC project will focus on four major areas meant to improve civil society coordination in influencing public accountability processes at local and national level.
The project will also support the improvement in the implementation of anti-corruption laws, policies and recommendations by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies among other objectives.
“Once we build the capacity of the non-actors then the struggle to fight corruption will be achieved because they plays big role towards fighting corruption in the country,” he said.
During the meeting, participants from various Government Agencies, Civil Society Organisations and development partners agreed that although there various government agencies tasked with fighting corruption in the country, Uganda is still performing poorly in the region when it comes to fighting corruption and they attributed it to poor coordination among those agencies.
BY SAMUEL NABWIISO
