Gulu | Uganda’s government, through the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity, has taken steps to revitalise a proactive approach to anti-corruption efforts.
Alex Okello, the Permanent Secretary in the same Ministry, told tndNews that they have begun a countrywide revitalization of the district integrity promotion forum as a proactive approach to combating corruption.
“We want to revitalise the performance of the district integrity promotion forum which is a more proactive approach to curtail the tendency of not working with the community in the fight against corruption,” Okello said.
According to Okello, this is the only methodology for effectively combating corruption because corruption begins in the mind and then manifests itself through actions.
“Integrity goes beyond honesty, be loyal to those who are not present and in doing so, we build the trust of those who are present,” Okello added.
Those who are very good at politics have very low integrity, he told tndNews. “Let us exercise integrity by paying the workers what they deserve and desire.”
Furthermore, Okello confirmed to this publication that the government has made several efforts to combat corruption and misconduct in public offices, including the formation of the Anti-Corruption Inter-Agency Forum.
He stated that the Forum develops institutional frameworks and mechanisms to coordinate anti-corruption efforts.
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He went on to say that, while coordination has been effective at the central government level, it has had little impact on local government accountability issues.
“Weak systems coupled with poor implementation of programs have resulted in opportunities for widespread corruption leading to poor service delivery,” he noted.
“Several annual audit and monitoring reports have identified most inefficiencies to have been a result of poor coordination and lack of confluence of ideas in local governments.”
The Permanent Secretary stated in 2019 that the National Anti-Corruption Strategy would establish a coordination mechanism in local governments to improve the achievement of effective service delivery at the local level.
He also stated that the district integrity promotion forum was established and mandated to address issues related to service delivery, such as accountability and public officer conduct.
Andrew Onyuk, RDC of Omoro, welcomed the proactive approach to fighting corruption and urged all districts in Uganda to actively participate in the fight against corruption.
“We have leaders who only think about themselves but with the revitalization of the district integrity promotion forum, we must now start to walk the talk and be a true representation of our words,” Onyuk said.
Stephen Odong Latek, RDC of Amuru, praised the ministry of ethics’ concept but urged them to provide structured content in order to fully grasp the concept of integrity.
“We need structured content to appreciate the concept of integrity because the existing frameworks vary from one form to another,” Latek said.
“The central government is killing our integrity; these transfers of public officers on accountability of the mistakes done in one area and moved to another area should not be tolerated if we need to fight corruption.”
On the other hand, Hafisa Kabaganza, a member of the Pornography Control Committee, urged local leaders and parents to strengthen their control over their children’s internet access.
Kabaganza noted that society has lost moral uprightness, and parents can no longer regulate what their children watch, resulting in a loss of integrity.
“This is why we are rebuilding the integrity of our country, so parents can regulate what your children watch? our moral uprightness and sound character is zero and we need to rebuild these through the district integrity promotion forum,” Kabaganza said.
The District Integrity Promotion Forum is a coordinating mechanism that brings together district leaders to discuss issues of accountability and effective leadership.
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