Corruption remains one of the major challenges affecting service delivery and public confidence in Uganda.
The 12th Parliament and other accountability institutions have continued to raise concerns about corruption in local governments, including irregular recruitment, misuse of public resources and weaknesses in supervision.
Hon. Balaam has spent much of his time exposing and arresting more than 160 government officials in various districts accused of embezzling road funds, selling jobs, inflating school enrolment and many other offences.
When you read the report by the Inspectorate of Government, it reported that Ugandans seeking government jobs paid over Shs29 billion in bribes for local government jobs between 2018 and 2022, highlighting the seriousness of the problem.
I have come across an investigation letter by the IGG on how corrupt officials shared money among themselves, and it has since directed them to refund the money.
It should be noted that Tororo Cement Factory paid Shs45 billion in compensation to families affected by the setting up of the factory in the Tepeth community in Tapac Sub-county. The money was sent to the community through the bank account belonging to NAITA A Tepeth, a community land association found in the Tepeth community. However, the majority of the beneficiaries, comprising over 500 persons, were not paid their due compensation as per the compensation guidelines. Instead, a bigger part of the money was paid to non-deserving beneficiaries, while the remaining balance was misappropriated.
So far, the IGG has directed Mr. Michael Lokawa, the NRM district chairman for Moroto, to refund Shs90 million that was wrongly paid to him. My question is: Was Mr. Lokawa the only person who received this money wrongly? There are many people who received this money, and their names we shall publish in our next article.
What pains me is that this is the same issue where Hon. Simon Peter Aleper (RIP) lost his life in a road accident while running up and down to make sure that the community gets better compensation for the same land. His death has caused a big problem for the families that have not been compensated yet, as the families had placed all their hopes in him. Hon. Aleper, may your soul rest in peace.
This is where I am appealing to Hon. Balaam Ateenyi: this community cries for your help. They are too desperate; hunger is biting them harder. Yet, if they had received this compensation, they would have bought cows and obtained milk for survival.
The writer is a senior veteran journalist.
