President Yoweri Museveni has urged leaders of\nanti-corruption agencies in Africa to deeply involve victims of corruption in\nthe fight against the vice because victims are the ones who most feel the pain\nand don\u2019t gain anything from the practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you are corrupt, the pain is felt by the\nmasses. It is the victims who can help you to fight corruption better. They\nhave nothing to lose,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President made the remarks today while opening\nthe 9th<\/sup> Commonwealth Regional Conference for Heads of\nAnti-Corruption Agencies in Africa at Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort and Spa,\nKigo near Kampala City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 5-day conference is running under the theme, \u2018Time\nto Act: Prevent Corruption for Sustainable Development\u2019<\/em><\/strong> and has\nattracted delegates from African countries that include Botswana, Cameroon,\nGambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda,\nSeychelles, Sierra Leone, Zambia and the host Uganda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n President Museveni, who at the same occasion\nlaunched a book titled \u2018Tackling Corruption in Commonwealth Africa:\nCase Studies of Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius Rwanda and Seychelles\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\ninformed the delegates that corruption is an ideological issue that stems from\nlack of understanding the problems of society that are oppression of man by\nnature and of man by man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the solution to the two challenges is\nto delve much more into the development of science and technology to help human\nbeings cope with problems presented by nature and to put in place democracy\nthat is fortified by human resource through education to deal with man by man\nchallenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n President Museveni further pointed out that there\nis need to empower individuals to expose the corrupt as opposed to succumbing\nto their whims. He asserted that the corrupt cannot sustain their looted\nprosperity amidst a sea of the poor masses as resistance will certainly emerge\nparticularly from the youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Museveni said Uganda has two fighting groups that\nwere a result of the counter-forces that were started in the 60s as a students\u2019\nmovement against vices that were orchestrated by ideologically bankrupt forces\nthat believed that when you kill you succeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said that between 1966-1986, over 800,000 people\nwere killed in political violence and in Luweero Triangle alone, there are 33\nmass graves of the victims. He added the battle fields of the two wings that\ncomprised freedom fighters who were mainly university graduates and the\nresistance councils composed of civilians were formed to counter the corrupt\nforces and a radical change was achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Museveni informed delegates that Uganda then\ninstituted agencies like the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Inspectorate of\nGovernment under the Inspector General of Government (IGG) that were manned by\nofficers who were selected on account of their integrity. Three other units, he\nadded, were recently added to beef up the struggle against corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The President said the most crucial areas in the\nbattle against corruption include experienced investigators and proper tools,\nprosecution, adjudication and also coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn Uganda, the advantage we have is the two\nconstituencies of the population and the Army that are not beneficiaries of\ncorruption. That makes it a good starting point in the fight against\ncorruption,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Museveni said that for the Commonwealth, the\nissue of political blackmail, which is not allowed in Uganda, should be handled\nthe way the African Union does not allow military coups on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, the Rt. Hon.\nJacob Oulanyah, called for enactment of stringent laws to decisively deal with\ncorruption that is still persistent in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is silent and walks like the devil in the dark.\nIt needs a complete change of the mindset. In our society we glorify the\ncorrupt, this should stop,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n State Minister for Ethics and Integrity, Fr. Lokodo\nSimon, expressed optimism that by the end of the conference, strategies will\nhave been adopted to decisively tackle corruption..He commended President\nMuseveni for ably leading the battle against corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Special Guest at the Conference, who is the Secretary\nGeneral of the Commonwealth, Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland QC, said corruption\nundermines the social and economic growth of the Commonwealth countries stifles\nattainment of their development goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Inspector General of Government, Ms. Irene Mulyagonja Kakooza, noted that the delegates would be able to learn from each other the strategies that have been successful in the fight against corruption, share failures, the lessons learnt and chart out new strategies to wipe out corruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other speakers included Principal Specialist responsible for Governance and Corruption at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr. Roger Koranteng who expressed hope that the Kampala conference will address challenges such as illicit financial flows as well as money laundering, among other issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Yoweri Museveni has urged leaders of anti-corruption agencies in Africa to deeply involve victims of corruption in the fight against the vice because victims are the ones who most feel the pain and don\u2019t gain anything from the practice. \u201cWhen you are corrupt, the pain is felt by the masses. It is the victims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":9364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-9363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n