The Inspector General of Government (IGG), Beti Olive Kamya has reiterated that the fight against corruption in Uganda must be championed by ordinary people since they are the most affected victims.
Kamya who was addressing an integrity conference for universities, tertiary institutions, and secondary schools at Nkumba University revealed that most corrupt people are in government, and the government caters for their welfare, pay their bills when they are sick, therefore it’s the ordinary people who suffer most since the vice negatively affects service delivery in their communities.
“Senior public servants, are not victims to the same extent as those who are not. They are cushioned in a way that they use public resources, they live a luxurious life. That is what I was saying last time and people did not want me to say it. They even called for my resignation. Even if I resign today, I will hand over that VX [vehicle] to the next IGG and the next IGG will enjoy all the benefits that I’m enjoying now. And it is not only for the government, there are members of the opposition whom you know fell sick, they didn’t go to Mulago, they went to America. You know them, even the most critical of government when they fell sick, they were airlifted to Nairobi,” Kamya said.
“People who work in government or certain institutions most of them, have healthcare insurance. Most senior government officials are cushioned against the effects of corruption because of the benefits and facilities that they enjoy.”
According to Kamya, a recent study which was done by the Inspectorate of Government in 2021 on the cost of corruption, Uganda loses a minimum of Shs 10 trillion per year to the vice.
“This is a research study, now, you might not know it, but the total amount of money that we collect, the total domestic revenue of Uganda is about Shs 27 trillion. So out of Shs 27 trillion which we collect, Shs 10 trillion is lost to corruption, then we go and ask donors to top up which we call budget support but Shs 10 trillion has been taken by a few people from our taxes. That money should be doing services for us,” she said.
The IGG further revealed that according to their research, most of that money is lost in procurement processes like in construction of roads, among other services.
“We have about 10,000 parishes, now if we saved the Shs 10 trillion and divided it among the parishes, each parish in Uganda would get Shs 1 billion per year. Now imagine what Shs 1 billion per year would do to your parish? Money is lost in corruption that is why we have poor hospitals, the poor education quality, etc,” she said.
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