The Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has put officials from the Inspectorate of Government (IG) on the defensive over what they termed as conflict of interest in the investigation and prosecution of embattled Uganda Land Commission boss, Hon Beatrice Byenkya.
Byenkya is on trial for allegedly obstructing investigators from the Inspectorate who were probing her for abuse of office.
But legislators described the charges as whitchunt, which they said stems from Byenkya’s deep rivalry with the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Hon Betty Kamya.
“There are allegations that you are fighting personal wars; she [Ms Kamya] was a supervisor of the Uganda Land Commission Chairperson and they had fundamental differences; as an Ombudsman, you should never find yourselves in such circumstances,” said MP Fox Oywelowo Odoi (NRM, West Budama North-East).
For MP Asuman Basalirwa (Jeema, Bugiri Municipality), the top challenge faced by the IGG is lack of interest in pursuing matters relating to advocating for the rule of law, which he said is one of their chief mandates.
“I need to know why the IGG has consistently shied away from matters of rule of law and the conduct of security officers which is in public domain; fighting corruption is not the only mandate of the IGG,” he said.
He also asked whether Kamya personally called for the indictment of Byenkya.
“Who particularly sanctioned the investigation and prosecution of the Chairperson of the Uganda Lands Commission?” MP Basalirwa asked.
Shadow Attorney General, Hon Wilfred Niwagaba said Byenkya is being persectuted.
“It cannot be a genuine prosecution but a mere persecution,” he said.
The Deputy IGG, Anne Muhairwe, led the team of the IG before Parliament’s Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to receive their Ministerial Policy Statement for the Financial Year 2022/23.
Muhairwe said there is no ill-intention in the prosecution of Byenkya, and said the sole intention of the IG is to deal with land-related fraud.
The IG wants a total of Shs53.4 billion, Shs13.2 billion of which will go towards “retooling and construction of the IG head office building.”
Shs33.2 billion will go towards wages, Shs4billion to cater for administration costs.