With the escalating cases of corruption in the country, government is considering pushing for a law to track and confiscate assets acquired through false proceeds.
The head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema, said that many officials deliberately steal public funds because of weak laws.
She made the remarks during the passing out of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) officials at the National Leadership Training Institute, Kyankwanzi.
Nakalema delivered a key note address to the new recruits on the “Impact of Corruption On National Development” and the role of every citizen in the fight against the vice.
She urged them to put God first and do their work with absolute honesty without deviating from the purpose for which they have been recruited.
“I want to tell you that it all begins with surrendering, I surrendered myself to serve the Lord and to serve my country and to obey God and authority. What is remaining is you and me to choose to detest corruption,” she said.
She said those who will be caught on the wrong side of the law will be handled with an iron hand.
“We are going to ensure that our institutions are cleaned up and I am here to tell you that if you don’t change, then I will use the other force to ensure that you change, we don’t want to use force,” she said.
She said anti-corruption agencies in this country are all determined to fight corruption adding that; “We have decided to work together to ensure that corruption doesn’t ruin our beautiful motherland.”
The URA Commissioner General, John R Musinguzi called upon the new recruits to serve the country with honour noting that they should ensure the tax body meets the revenue targets in the next financial year.
“URA is deliberate about the direction we are taking. The mission is clear and well cut out to liberate our country from economic dependency,” he said.
He noted that as URA, they are promoting three areas of the human resource function, Integrity, technical competence and patriotism.
“I want to thank NALI for building a firm foundation for patriotism in our staff to know that it is not all about self, but it is about the country and the good of everybody.” Musinguzi said.
