President Museveni blames corrupt public officials for Uganda’s slow economic growth

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has reiterated that one of the obstacles to the growth of Uganda’s economy is corruption by government officials.

Gen Museveni made the remarks while addressing public prosecutors together with judges during the 6th Joan Kagezi Annual Memorial Lecture at Speke Resort, Munyonyo on Friday.

Museveni revealed that Uganda’s economy is moving on well and very soon it will be in the leagues of South Korea, however, the cancer of corrupt public officials has severely affected the speed at which the economy is moving forward.

“The biggest challenge we have now is the corruption of the government officials, however I’m glad we are very harsh on it, Jane Abodo said so. Those people must go to jail, must lose opportunities of leadership and they must pay back everything they have stolen,” he said.

The President added that if corruption is dealt with, the economy will be growing much faster.

Museveni’s statement comes at a time when the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutor is working on the corruption cases of the Karamoja iron sheet scandal where several names of ministers and public servants were highlighted to have taken part.

Currently, three ministers are facing several charges concerning the possession and diversion of Karamoja iron sheets. Currently, according to the latest corruption perception index released in February, Uganda is ranked the fourth most corrupt country in the East African Community (EAC) where it has maintained a score of 26 for the past two years, after it dropped from 28 in 2019. Globally, Uganda ranks number 142 out of 180.

Although, President Museveni has always pledged to wipe out corruption, according to a research report done by Afrobarometer, 73 per cent of Ugandans say the government is performing poorly in its fight against corruption. And their dissatisfaction with government efforts to reduce corruption has grown significantly since 2005.