President Museveni has appointed Colonel Edith Nakalema, his senior advisor on anti-corruption, to lead the newly established State House Investors Protectorate Unit. The president’s deputy Press Secretary, Mr. Faruk Kirunda, confirmed the appointment.
This move follows the President’s recent announcement to create another anti-corruption unit within State House to combat graft. The President made this announcement during his Labour Day speech delivered in the rural eastern Uganda district of Namutumba.
The newly created unit adds to a lengthy list of constitutional bodies like the Inspectorate of Government (IG), Auditor General, Parliament, Judiciary, and police that are fighting against corruption.
Currently, there are already two known parallel organs located inside State House for the same purpose: The State House Anti-Corruption Unit (Shacu) with unlimited reach, and the Health Monitoring Unit that oversees public health service delivery.
Shacu is currently heavily involved in investigating widespread corruption in the country’s land offices and conducting parallel special investigations into various areas of government.
Uganda loses more than Shs9.1 trillion to corruption annually, according to a 2022 study commissioned by the IG and conducted by the Government Transparency Institute.
The study revealed that 44 percent of government revenue in 2019 was lost, with a significant portion of the loss being attributed to bribes paid to tax officials.
During his Labour Day speech, President Museveni condemned corrupt politicians and civil servants, calling them parasites who are hindering infrastructure development and disturbing investors by asking for bribes and delaying decision-making, which increases the cost of doing business in Uganda.
He also denounced a group within the tax body, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), which he said goes around blackmailing traders and demanding bribes.
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