Billions earmarked in new anti-graft offensive
On Thursday, March 6, this year, during an interface with officials from the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity, Opendi and Nsamba questioned the relevance of the multiple anti-graft agencies, arguing that instead of curbing corruption, it has only worsened.
Government Chief Whip Dennis Hamson Obua (Ajuri County) and finance state minister Henry Musasizi (Pictured) lifted the veil on the closed-door discussions while addressing journalists at Parliament on Friday, March 7, 2025. (New Vision/Files)
By Dedan Kimathi and John Odyek
Journalists @New Vision
Amid the deliberations, Museveni sounded a familiar but urgent battle cry against corruption. Government Chief Whip Dennis Hamson Obua. The Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi. Last year, IGG Betty Kamya disclosed that Uganda loses shillings 10 trillion annually to corruption.
On March 7, 2025, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) parliamentary caucus convened at State House for a high-stakes session with President Yoweri Museveni, dissecting the financial year 2025/26 budget priorities.
Amid the deliberations, Museveni sounded a familiar but urgent battle cry against corruption.
Government Chief Whip Dennis Hamson Obua (Ajuri County) and finance state minister Henry Musasizi lifted the veil on the closed-door discussions while addressing journalists at Parliament on Friday, March 7, 2025.
“In the budget for next year, we shall provide shillings 198.7 billion to facilitate efforts to eliminate corruption. These funds will go through the following agencies; Directorate of Ethics and Integrity (DEI), Inspectorate of Government (IG) and the Office of the Auditor General. These are some of the agencies responsible for fighting corruption and we intend to enhance and support their budgets,” Musasizi disclosed.
“The frontier for fighting against corruption starts with Ugandan citizens. Where under Article 17(1), every Ugandan citizen is duty bound to combat corruption and misuse or wastage of public resources… The citizens must also be seen to do their part. Frontier number are the laws we have put in place. Frontier number three, the anti-corruption agencies must implement the laws to the dot….” Obua elaborated.
A familiar script
Over the years, the Government's anti-corruption dragnet has netted a few senior civil servants like former Principal Accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Geoffrey Kazinda. Who in 2009 was charged and convicted of forgery, causing a financial loss and illicit enrichment among others.
A decade later, Uganda secured a landmark judgment exposing that Kazinda had amassed a staggering shillings 4.6 billion. A fortune, laughably incomparable to his modest government salary.
However, allegations of failure to arrest what some people call the big fish has left a huge stain on the agencies' efforts to fight graft.
A pale shadow
As Zimbabwean singer Thomas Mapfumo lamented in his continental hit ‘Corruption’ that "in the streets, in private companies, everywhere, corruption reigns", the vice which was once the size of a lizard has graduated to a fully-fledged crocodile.
And so, even as President Museveni rings the alarm, some lawmakers such as Sarah Opendi (Tororo District Woman MP, NRM) and Patrick Nsamba Guma-Oshabe (Kassanda North, NUP) remain sceptical.
On Thursday, March 6, this year, during an interface with officials from the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity, Opendi and Nsamba questioned the relevance of the multiple anti-graft agencies, arguing that instead of curbing corruption, it has only worsened.
The team which was led by Dunstan Balaba the new accounting officer and Alex Okello his predecessor was in Parliament to interface with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC/Central) which on that day was chaired by Gorreth Namugga (Mawogola South, NUP).
The entity is charged with co-ordinating efforts and agencies involved in the fight against corruption.
“I want to know whether in their view they think they are really doing their work properly. Because when I look at the main anti-corruption agency, the Inspectorate of Government and what it is doing now, some people are untouchable. The IGG (Betty Kamya) now has resorted to following small people and leaving the big fish untouched. As a directorate what have you done about this, have you done an assessment and made reports?” Opendi posed.
She added that since her tenure, much has changed, to the extent that the IGG and other anti-graft agencies have become avenues for economic enrichment rather than fulfilling their core mandate.
“There may be a challenge with some of the people in this directorate who have turned this into also a place where everybody is eating …When you look at what the IGG’s office is doing today compared to what the IGG was then when some of us worked there, things have completely changed. And now it is more of a political office that you must seek for permission to investigate some people,” she added.
Nsamba echoed the same concerns, challenging officials from the directorate to admit whether the fight against corruption is unwinnable and whether their efforts have in any way been impeded.
“This country is suffering from corruption, east, west, north and south. And we have a team which is dedicated to that and they are doing nothing. They are spending shillings 23.821 billion (entity’s 2023/24 fiscal year budget) of taxpayers' money every financial year…. I want to hear from them whether they feel they are doing anything to fight corruption in this country. Whether you reached a point and you gave up, you also tell us that your hands are also tied,” he probed.
Last year, IGG Betty Kamya disclosed that Uganda loses shillings 10 trillion annually to corruption.
Unaccounted funds
The MPs' concerns were poignant, given that in his report on the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity for the year ending 2023/24, the Auditor General (AG) raised red flags regarding shillings 1.933 billion.
The Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi had ordered the then Permanent Secretary, Alex Okello, to withdraw these funds to facilitate the conclusion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural benchmarks.
“I, however, observed that, despite the fact that the PSST emphasized timely accountability in his authorisation letter, the entity had not accounted for a total of shillings 294.4 million by the time of the audit in December 2024,” the AG observed.
“Although the Accounting Officer explained that at the time of my audit, the accountabilities were being reviewed by the Internal Auditor General under the special internal audit review exercise, I was not availed with the records in question, during my subsequent verification exercise,” he added. 
Cost breakdown
A detailed breakdown of the unaccounted funds reveals shillings 100 million had been earmarked for travel allowances, security, and fuel to facilitate nationwide field activities.
Another shillings 89.5 million was for conducting validation meetings for the assessment report on the implementation of the National Anti-corruption strategy (NACs) in the Busoga region.
A further 60 million for capacity building and assessments related to implanting activities related to the NAC in the Sebei region. While, an additional 17 million was for facilitation to the minister’s team for their involvement in validating the report on the implementation of the “Zero Tolerance to Corruption” initiative, among other expenditures.
DEI responds
Responding, the entity’s outgoing accounting officer Alex Okello said “The monies which were not accounted for were to individuals and the issues are being handled as advised by the Auditor General”.
“I want to state that it would be good if Finance can bring details of this document constituting these payments where there is a voucher, the details of the purpose why it is being advanced and the like,” he added.
Okello’s attempts to drag the principal accountant of the entity, Washington Musamali, into this mess, were in vain.
Musamali told MPs that at the time, he had been edged out of office and replaced by Julius Mandu, a junior accountant who oversaw much of the year’s activities.
“Because majorly our functions are done on the system, he (Okello) wrote to the Permanent Secretary/ Secretary to the Treasury and said ‘I want the other one out of the system.’ Then I was also exited from the supervision of the cash office. So, I remained redundant. I decided to sit in the office, handle other things as they come. When he was transferred away, the new team said no, we need a senior person in this position, he (Mandu) can’t continue holding it. That’s why I was restored,” Musamali stated.
Partially implemented activities
During the 2023/24 FY, the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity had a budget of shillings 20.9 billion, which was later revised to 23.821 billion.
Despite activities being partially completed, the entity spent shillings 60.98 million on general staff salaries. On the other hand, 926 million was allocated to mainstreaming national ethical values in secondary schools, 188.9 million for implementing the zero-tolerance to corruption policy and disseminating anti-corruption laws.
Furthermore, 215.7 million was for capacity building of integrity focal persons from ministries, departments, and agencies tasked with mainstreaming ethics within their MDAs.
On the flip side, 521.5m which had been budgeted for welfare and entertainment, 200m for workshops, meetings and seminars, 23.9m for beddings, clothing, footwear and related services were not released.
Amidst this, it remains uncertain whether these anti-graft agencies can still rid the country of its corruption plague, or if they too have contracted the disease.