By Mulengera Reporters
Beyond just the Shs8.6bn worth of crime proceeds which the Office of DPP recovered through successful prosecution of corruption and money laundering cases at the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court, there are many other activities that the Access to Justice (A2J) sub program/JLOS institutions did to amplify Uganda’s fight against corruption in the last 12 months.
The same is well documented in the sub program performance report that was unveiled during the Tuesday annual review meeting at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Firstly the agencies involved in the administration of justice for the people of Uganda took steps aimed at actualizing the Zero Tolerance to Corruption Policy which Uganda enacted in 2018. The Directorate of Ethics & Integrity (DEI) was enabled to identify and designate Integrity Focal Persons for every GoU MDA. These are the foot soldiers charged with enforcement of the zero tolerance to corruption in their respective Ministries Departments and Agencies.
Already a total of 47 such Focal Persons have already been unleashed and are in place at all A2J sub program institutions. And leveraging on funding obtained from GiZ and Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountability (CIPFA), the DEI organized training sessions for the 47 Focal Persons who have since been inducted about their role as champions of ethics at their respective work places.
Yet that isn’t all. The A2J sub program institutions and agencies have also continued working with the Cabinet Secretariat to have the law permitting recovery of proceeds of crime prepared and made ready for Cabinet level approval. The recovery of proceeds of crime is aimed at preventing the corrupt from profiting from proceeds of their criminal activities.
Whereas DPP has already been engaging in some conviction-based asset recovery, this new proposed law in the making will help strengthen the entire thing and it even make it more risky for any public officials to try to involve themselves in sharing proceeds of crime.
Stakeholder meetings or sessions have been conducted or held to have the relevant Principles of the Law looked into and validated. There is already a task force in place that will be working with the First Parliamentary Council to draft the Proceeds of Crime Bill. The agreed target is to have the same enacted into law not later than 30th June 2023.
At the instigation of the Justice Ministry, Parliament amended several laws which have a bearing on the fight against corruption and money laundering in Uganda. These include the Anti-Terrorism Act which was amended and enlarged to cover offences related to proliferation financing. The other enactments include the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Regulations 2022 which now provide for due diligence being conducted on politically exposed persons. There is also the Anti-Money Laundering (Administrative Sanctions) Regulations which are under consideration by the First Parliamentary Counsel.
Several staff training packages were undertaken to enhance efficiency in prevention, detecting and combating of corruption. For instance, 50 staffers of the Police’s Professional Standards Unit and 3,000 Police Officers were trained and sensitized on professional standards.
To further capacitate the Police in doing their corruption fighting-related work, the sub program procured 16 brand new motorcycles for Police’s 16 PSU regional offices. The anti-corruption strategy was also disseminated to Police officers who also continued to be sensitized about the rationale behind the revised Police form 18.
The inspection function of Uganda Police Force was equally supported to ensure growing compliance with human rights observance requirements among officers deployed to work among the 8 policing regions. Members of the Police’s Compliance & Enforcement Unit also did undergo training by URSB on corruption, integrity, risk, corporate governance and accountability.
The Judicial Service Commission, a key justice administration institution under the A2J sub program, was also enabled and supported to conduct sensitization and public engagements on anti-corruption mechanisms embedded within the administration of justice. This sensitization was conducted mainly through radio talk shows that were conducted by JSC staffers. These JSC activities were conducted in Pakwach, Zombo, Lira, Pader, Busia, Tororo, Kibale, Kagadi, Kaberamaido, Soroti, Iganga and Budaka. Originally 50 such awareness creation radio talk shows had been planned across the country but JSC ended up carrying out only 12 because of financial constraints.
Mentorship and capacity building programs were also undertaken as a way of enhancing corruption-fighting measures. The ODPP was also enabled to establish the Research, Training & Managing Unit whose work it is to initiate and coordinate all the trainings aimed at boosting capacity of both investigators and prosecutors involved in cases going to ACD.
Besides putting in place plea-bargaining guidelines, the ODPP was also supported under the A2J sub program to carry out training of its prosecutors on things like handling corruption appeals, miscellaneous applications and understanding of procurement laws and processes. CID investigators were also trained on how to handle financial crimes-related investigations, UNRA prosecutors on asset recovery and UWA prosecutors on prosecution-led investigations.
The sub program institutions, especially the ODPP, also took deliberate steps to deepen collaboration and working relationships with key stakeholder institutions in the fight against corruption. These include the Finance Ministry, DEI, OPM, FIA, ARINSA, OECD and GiZ. Working with these, the ODPP has deepened its participation in the activities of the Districts Integrity Promotion Forum. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 0200900416 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).