Print This Page
Visit�The�Publisher's�Site
New Vision (Kampala)March 24, 2004
Posted to the web March 24, 2004 Simon Mugenyi
Kampala
THE Inspector General of Government (IGG), Jotham Tumwesigye, has accused the Government and courts of frustrating the fight against corruption.Tumwesigye was presenting a paper on the national integrity survey at a workshop at Lake View Hotel in Mbarara on Tuesday. It was organised by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative and funded by the British.
He said cases took many years in court and culprits were not prosecuted. He cited a case he forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution in 1998. He said out of the eight witnesses listed, only one had been called."I am frustrated because many of the cases I forward to court never come to a conclusion," he said, adding that if only one witness is produced in five years, "By the time you get to the eighth person, he will have died, or gone for studies."The IGG said private lawyers use delaying tactics to frustrate cases where evidence against their clients is very strong.
He criticised the removal of corrupt officials from their jobs and deploying them elsewhere."Most permanent secretaries do not want to take action against their insubordinate staff," he said.
He said there was lack of will power to deal with corruption, adding that factors like tribalism and religion hindered the struggle against graft.He said the survey released last year indicated that the reputation of the Judiciary was declining. He said over 33% were not satisfied with it.
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
