The Anti Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) activists say government should regulate rather than curtail the powers of the inspectorate of government as it’s contained in the amendment to public procurement and disposal of public Assets PPDA Act 2003.
According to the executive director of ACCU Cissy Kagaba, it has emerged that government is determined to curtail the powers of the inspectorate of government with regard to investigating procurement related corruption.
Kagaba adds that as anti corruption activists, they believe that intervention by Inspector General in government projects is important and healthy for ensuring transparency and accountability because blocking the IG from investigating procurement related corruption is potentially unconstitutional and could expose government to unnecessary litigation.
They say government should address the lacuna in the regulatory framework to guide the inspectorate and also intervene in procurement corruption cases. They added regulations to IG Act be passed rather than amending the PPDA Act in a potentially unconstitutional manner.
This development comes on the heels of several procurement related scandals including the Katosi rd scandal, national ID scandal and of recent the corruption allegation shrouding the procurement of the new parliament chambers. And if the proposal to the PPDA act is passed, the Inspectorate will no longer be able to probe corruption in procurement projects and the proposal from government is influenced by several projects which have been halted by the Inspectorate of Government pending investigation, this perhaps frustrated some people in government.