Museveni: "Thieves have infiltrated anti-corruption bodies"

President Museveni has accused the bodies he created to fight the corruption of failing him noting that some have been infiltrated by thieves.

He made the remarks while launching a new social media campaign against corruption dubbed “ExposeTheCorrupt” at State House Entebbe. The campaign is spearheaded by the Anti-Corruption Unit of the State House.

‘‘Uganda has relevant anti-corruption laws and agencies in place. The foundation of the fight against corruption is strong. The challenge is these agencies have been infiltrated by wrong characters’’ Museveni said.

Museveni challenged the heads of the various anti-corruption agencies to do character check on their employees.

He suggested lifestyle audits should be carried out.

"Corrupt juniors don’t fear to be corrupt because they do things and they get away with them. Top leaders, you are here to work for the people and not your juniors. The problem is your work methods are not serious. The leader should check on the people you lead as well as the victims,"he said.

Museveni said the corruption of the KCCA law enforcers is evident on the streets and if anyone bothered to ask the people, they would find evidence.

" This is a problem of the leaders in charge as well. The systems are already in place but you have been infiltrated. I think the manager depends on the infiltrated institutions. You don’t check,"he said.

"You should spy on your officers. Quietly ask the people. Have a network of getting independent information from these fellows of yours. The RDCs are no longer smelling,"Museveni said.

Museveni asked the head of State House Anti-corruption unit Lt Col. Edith Nakalema and other institution leaders to link up with victims on the ground and get evidence

‘‘We are using bureaucratic methods to fight corruption. The enemy has blocked the nose of institutions. We therefore need to change how systems operate’’ he advised

He also partly blamed the judiciary which he said gives bail to some corrupt people who should not be bailed.

He said: ‘‘They [the judiciary] have a cultural difference with us. They are Europeans while the rest of us are Africans. The citizens of Uganda will appreciate sterner sentences that discourage the corruption vice.’’

Lt Col. Edith Nakalema,the head of State House Anti Corruption Unit said working with the police, the Unit has arraigned 153 persons and 19 of these have been sentenced.

"We intervened in murders, large scale land grabbing and theft in various regions,"she said.