Wednesday 4, December 2019 marked a monumental day in the continued fight against corruption by the government of Uganda led by H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The walk served as a symbolic show of commitment by the President, flanked by officials from the government who have committed efforts to rid the country of the vice.
As usual, a number of opposition figures had planned to use the occasion to hold a mock walk to disrupt the official function. Many of these activists had for long planned a similar walk that was aimed not at fighting corruption but to use it as a means to hold violent demonstrations against the government and perpetuate their acts of civil disobedience.
Others like Kizza Besigye later held a press conference where they criticized the walk. Their argument being that government cannot turn activist in the fight against corruption. But this thinking goes to show the level of ideological ineptness by the opposition in Uganda.
Corruption carries many forms and is not merely carried out by officials holding public offices. Many cases of corruption exist in different spheres of our communities.
One social media commentator pointed out how one of the children of people power leader, Robert Kyagulanyi ended up in one of the high end secondary schools yet he score poorly in his primary leaving exams.
Others like Kizza Besigye have in the past while serving in public positions been implicated in forms of corruption like his mismanagement of army resources while head of the mechanized brigade in Masaka during his time at the helm of that institution.
Such cases though go under the radar and escape public scrutiny are the root cause of the vice in Uganda. The fact that people easily pay bribes to solve almost each and every problem they come across.
Many of our politicians have been guilty of giving gifts to voters during the election periods and this has cut across all political divides.
The opposition could not get their way around seeing a pro-active President Yoweri Museveni do what many have failed to do and literally walk his talk. This is what irked many of these politicians who are guilty of preaching one word and practicing the other.
The Anti-corruption walk was at the end a very fruitful exercise and we hope that members of society can pick a leaf from the President and show exemplary behavior, for the fight against corruption will require more that policy enactments and rhetoric.
President Yoweri Museveni remains committed to the fight against corruption in government and the establishment of the state house anti-corruption unit is a testament to this end.
