The new State House Anti-Corruption Unit is set to intensify its nationwide fight against corruption in government facilities according to a statement by government Spokesman Ofwono Opondo during a press briefing on Wednesday.
This revelation comes hot off the heels on a number of media reports that showed various officials in Mbarara and Wakiso district apprehended by the Unit.
The Unit was officially launched on 10th Dec. 2018 by HE Kaguta Museveni to effectively work & assist the already existing anti-corruption agencies namely IGG Uganda, Office of the Auditor General, Anti-corruption Court, PPDA, Police etc.
Following the Anti-Graft Unit launch, several cases have been reported to the Unit through the available channels leading to a number of operations as seen over the past few months.
For Wakiso operation; On 20th December the Anti-corruption Unit of State House, @AntiGraft_SH made an impromptu visit to the Wakiso land offices over allegations of corruption and five officials were arrested;
The 5 include; Mr. Mwanje Andrew,Ms Doreen Mpumwire-Data Entry Clerk, Ms Katushabe Monica, Mr. Jaffery Bakalaze and Mr. Herbert Kavuma the senior physical planner who was arrested red-handed soliciting a bribe from a citizen.
For Tororo operations on 17th January, the unit visited Tororo Municipality after a number of whistleblowers reported incidences of misappropriation of public funds and three officials were arrested;
These were; • Mr. Akuma Muzamil -the Tororo Municipality town clerk, • Denis Okatch -Municipal Engineer, and; • Mr. Etuku Ejolu Shadrack- Roads Inspector.
These were arraigned before the Anti-corruption court on 25th January, 2019 and further investigations are still ongoing.
For Arua operation; subsequently, the unit visited Arua district on 13th February 2019, following allegations of financial mismanagement and other irregularities by the Head Teacher and Bursar of Arua public Secondary school.
This mismanagement of over 436,000,000/- meant for the construction of Mango road and Afra lane in Arua Municipality.
For Mbarara operation; more recent, the unit visited Mbarara Municipality headquarters after receiving reports of district leaders allocating public land and houses to themselves, misappropriation of over 360m meant for Koranorya road, abuse of office and attempted sell of Kakyeka stadium etc. District officials arrested & arraigned in court were Mr. Cuthbert Esoku- Chief Administrative Officer;
Others were Mr. Godlive Nayebare- senior land Management officer, Karuhanga Rosalia -The Human Resource officer and Mr. Himbisa Emmanuel-Senior Land Management officer.
In addition to the major operations around the country, the unit on 19th February in Jinja arrested two URA officials, Mr. Hassan Miiro and Mr. Ferdinand Albaker Wamala for soliciting a bribe of 45m to help a business man dodge taxes worth 3bn.
These were arraigned in court on 27th February 2019 together with Ms. Namakula Sarah, clerk Chief Magistrate’s court at Nabweru who was arrested for soliciting a 2 million bribe to fast track the bail hearing of a suspect.
The Unit continues to encourage the public to continue reporting all corruption related cases toll free on 0800202500, whatsapp-0778202500, Twitter-@AntiGraft_SH, Facebook- Anti Corruption Unit-State House Uganda &website http://www.reportcorruption.go.ug .
