In recent years, Lt Gen Edith Nakalema has become the face of the fight against corruption in the country, almost eclipsing the office of the Inspectorate of Government office. President Yoweri Museveni himself later clarified that he had not appointed his former private secretary was never meant to fight IGG Irene Mulyagonja to complement her work and “watch over the watchman.”
And since taking over office as the maiden head of State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) in December 2018, Nakalema has dared the corrupt, starting from what many called small fish to touching some powerful businessmen and connected government officials.
She has closely worked with Uganda Police Force (UPF) Criminal Investigations Department to effect the arrest of hundreds of officials, a few of whom have been convicted, others faced trial in courts of law and some money recovered.
On the whole, Nakalema’s 16 months of hard work have seen her expose crooked deals worth Shs250bn. She has seen some 146 people slapped with corruption-related charges in courts of law. Of these, 120 are public officials while the rest are private companies and people.
But in her almost one-and-a-half year tenure as SHACU leader, Lt Col Nakalema seems to have countered two challenges: fewer convictions and recoveries, and a slow judicial system dogged by a case backlog. For example, only 14 of the people arrested have been convicted: the rest (132) are still pending. For recoveries, only Shs1.73bn has been recovered so far. The recoveries were made from labour export companies (Shs1bn) “that had taken money from desperate youths with the promise of jobs in the Middle East and failed to provide the jobs.” The rest (Shs738m) had be recovered from the Gaming and Lotteries Board and returned to the Treasury.
LIST OF ARRESTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS
- Bufumbira South MP Sam Bitangaro
Office of Prime Minister (OPM Relief Food Scandal)
- OPM Permanent Secretary Christine Guwatudde Kintu
- OPM Accounting Officer Joel Wanjala
- OPM Commissioner Disaster Management Martin Owor
- OPM Assistant Commissioner for Procurement Fred Lutimba
Human Rights Commission
- Secretary Human Rights Commission Patrick Nyakana Mabiho
- Human Rights Officer Accountant Wamala Tadeo
- Human Rights Officer Wilfred Assimwe Muganga
- Human Rights Officer Rebecca Nassuna
- Human Rights Officer Willy Agirembabazi
- Human Rights Officer Rebecca Tino
Equal Opportunities Commission
- Secretary Equal Opportunities Commission Lawrence Mujuni
- Under Secretary Sunday Nicholas Olwor
- Principal Compliance Officer Evans Jemba
- Senior Compliance Officer Manasseh Kwihangana
- Senior Monitoring and Compliance Officer Moses Mugabe
- Senior Accountant Harriet Byangire
Gaming and Lotteries Board
- CEO Edgar Agaba
- Manager Finance and Administration John Patrick Kazoora
Soroti University
- Secretary Ruth Achimo
- Internal Auditor James Odong
- Ag University Secretary Samuel Omoding
- Ag University Bursar Gilbert Otim
- Other junior staff
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development
- Senior officials from Wakiso Zonal Office
- Senior officials from Mbarara Zonal Office
Banking Institutions
- Post Bank Managing Director Stephen Mukweli
- Directors and some members of senior management of Post Bank
- Director Currency BoU David Malinga Akol
- Some Branch Managers
Local Government Accounting Officers
- Seven Chief Administrative Officers
- Seven Town Clerks
- One Mayor
- Senior officers from the following districts and municipalities:
- Tororo
- (v) Mbarara
- Arua
- (vi) Alebtong
- Lira
- (vii) Dokolo
- Lyatonde
- (viii) Amolatar
Private Companies/Individuals
MTK Ltd (obtaining 1,095,353,800/= by False Pretence, Conspiracy to defraud and forgery)
- CEO Fiona Kitaka
- Operations Manager Francis Kitaka Jr
- Commercial Manager Alex Natukunda
City businessman Abid Alam (conspiracy to defeat justice through interference in cases related to land disputes in Kassanda District)
Middle East Consultants
- Benon Kunywana
- Godfrey Kyalimpa
Security/Covid19 Directives Implementation: mismanagement of Movement Permits
- Ariong Osikol Stephen
- Sabir Ali
- Ali Noshad
- Behlum Usana
- Abhina Sen
- Mutaawe Eddy
- Mayengo Moses
- Kavuma Honest
- Musoke Henry
- Musinguzi Wycliffe
Torture of Pregnant Woman
- Police Constable Francis Mpande
- LC Official Junior Asiimwe Junior
Impersonation of SHACU officers
- Cpl E Kakuru
- Newton Mukasa (civilian)
Credit: mulengeranews.com
