President Yoweri Museveni has warned the Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya to “be careful” with her lifestyle audit as the latest strategy to curb down the chronic corruption in the country.
Speaking at Kololo Independence Grounds during the Internationa Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, Kamya said she was taking the anti-corruption war to the grassroots because they are the most affected by corruption and Uganda’s corruption performance has been getting worse over the years ranking 150 out of the 180 countries.
She said the “mercenaries” recruited to fight corruption do not care if they win or lose the war because they will still earn their huge salaries and benefits anyway.
“None of us in this tent would die because there is no medicine in Mulago hospital because we have medical insurance and can even fly out for medicare…we may fail to prove to court that you’re corrupt but through the lifestyle audit we will prove that you took the money,” Kamya said.
Kamya said it is now time for public officials who live a lifestyle that is not commensurate with their salaries and earnings to explain the source of their wealth. Kamya called on citizens to become angry and gang up about the corrupt officials similar to how boda boda riders gang up to protect and defend their own.
“People in villages do not own the corruption loss, if they own and personalise the cost and pain of corruption then they will all come up against the corrupt,” Kamya said.
But speaking after Kamya, Museveni said Uganda is “still lucky” because the thieves who steal government money are still investing it in Uganda through building 5-star hotels. With the lifestyle audit, Museveni said the thieves will now start taking the money abroad and there will be no evidence which will be a loss for everyone.
Museveni said the corruption fight is very easy if the ordinary citizens and their local leaders joined in. He wondered why even the local leadership just looks on or joins in the stealing of project money meant to benefit their own areas. Museveni called on anti-corruption bodies to not only fight corruption but also teach people about how to generate wealth without stealing, saying one of the reasons for being corruption is searching for wealth.
“Some people want wealth but don’t know how to work. I do not believe in miraculous wealth. I believe in the parable of talents. It is a curse to get wealth through corruption. God doesn’t bless people who do evil. Even those who took slaves got problems…I am calling upon the different government bodies charged with fighting corruption to rise up to the task without fear. I have told the chief justice that he should expect to find “a plateful” of “criminals” to be charged with corruption,” said Museveni.
