The Inspectorate of Government has revealed that it recovered UGX 14B from the orders issued for recovery in Financial Year 2023/2024.

The IG noted that a cash payment of UGX 6B was deposited into the IG asset recovery account and property worth UGX 8.7B was handed over to the institution in lieu of cash.

In the same financial year (2023/2024,) the IG received 2377 complaints concerning corruption, Ombudsman and Leadership Code of Conduct.

Of the 2377 complaints, 1260 were registered from the Head Office while 1117 were registered across the 16 IG Regional Offices.

91.8% of these were sanctioned for investigations, 2.7% were referred to other authorities while 0.1% were declined because they did not meet merit in investigable cases.

By the end of the financial year, decisions were yet to be taken on 5.4% of the complaints that had been received during the year.

The Inspector General of Government (IGG), Beti Kamya, said they investigated and concluded 852 corruption-related cases of which 18 were high-profile in nature while 829 were other (not high-profile) corruption cases.

Following the investigations, the IG recommended recovery of UGX17B to the consolidated fund from persons found culpable in various corruption offenses.

“At least 251 administrative sections were issued against public officials and 26 of these were to be prosecuted for their involvement in corrupt tendencies,” Kamya told the media at the Uganda Media Center.

Prosecution and asset recovery

Under this function, Kamya said 55 cases were prosecuted and concluded, adding, “A total of 26 convictions were realized leading to a conviction rate of 47.3%. Of the 55 concluded cases, 9 were acquitted, 18 withdrawn for various reasons such as settling the matter out of court, while two (02) were dismissed.”

She noted that from the withdrawn cases, the affected persons committed to refund UGX 912M to the consolidated fund.

The IG also prosecuted and concluded 28 cases at the Leadership Code Tribunal (LCT), registering24 convictions (85.7 conviction rate).

The IG conducted a series of sensitization activities and outreach programmes to support Leaders to submit their declarations.

At the end of the declaration period, 26,541 out of an expected 32,617 Leaders had declared, representing a compliance rate of 81.3%.

“The IG sought explanation from those who had not submitted. The process was ongoing by the end of the financial year. During the same period, the IG verified declarations of 574 public officials out of a targeted 600 for the financial year. This represents a success rate of 95.6%,” she said.

A total of 213 investigations into breaches of the Leadership Code Act were concluded, of which 190 were related to non-declarations while 23 were false declarations, according to Kamya.

“As a result of the verifications and investigations, 61 public officials were recommended for prosecution at the Leadership Code Tribunal,” she said.

Resolution of Ombudsman complaints in public offices

The IG resolved 498 Ombudsman complaints comprising 77 in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and 421 in Local Governments (LGs).

The complaints were majorly related to employment disputes, delayed services, non- payment of salaries and pensions and mismanagement among others.

From the Ombudsman investigations, 892 citizens were able to directly access various services including access to payments totaling to UGX4B delayed salaries and pensions.

Kamya also announced the commemoration of the IG Day On September 18, 2024, at Railway Grounds in Kampala. The organization will also commemorate 38 years of existence.

The IG Day will open doors for the public to candidly interact with the institution, appreciate the processes and mandate of the IG and provide feedback to the institution on the delivery of its mandate.