New Vision 23rd July 2010
A Jinja Grade II magistrate was on Wednesday arrested over receiving a bribe of sh100,000 in order to acquit a man charged with theft.
Okitwii Odutu allegedly received the money from Esther Nabulime to have her brother, Emmanuel Ssembule, released.
Odutu was arrested by Police detectives attached to the office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG), led by Dominic Baru, the eastern regional officer.
Baru explained that they raised the sh100,000 which Nabulime said the magistrate demanded and copied down the serial number of the notes.
Shortly after handing over the money to Odutu, the IGG officers stormed his chambers.
The magistrate was expected to appear before the Anti-Corruption Court any time.
New Vision 23rd July 2010
IGG sh18m salary rise angers staff
The Inspector General of Government (IGG) has been given a 516% salary rise, sparking anger among his staff who got lower increments than they expected.
In the new salary structure seen by The New Vision, the ombudsman’s monthly pay went up six-fold, from sh2.9m to 17.85m effective this month. The IGG’s salary is now almost at par with that of the Auditor General, John Muwanga, who earns sh18m a month.
The other benefits for the IGG include a chauffer-driven car, sh2m for housing, mobile phone allowance, security for both office and residence, medical cover and a top-up allowance of about sh1m.
The employees are now questioning how the new salaries were arrived at. Although handsome increments had been proposed across the board, only the IGG and the deputy had their proposals approved by the inspectorate board without any alterations.
The IGG and the deputy are appointed on a four-year term, renewable only once.
An expert in public service remuneration says the increment should have been done in a phased manner because a five-fold increment appears outrageous.
The official also said the new salary structure poses a challenge for transferable staff, especially the Permanent Secretary, whose salary under the public scale is sh2m. The PS now earns sh5.95m.
The reason for paying hefty salaries to public officials is reportedly to insulate them from corruption. But a number of studies have ranked some of these top paid organisations among the most corrupt institutions in the country.
The IGG 2008 Integrity Survey also observed that better remuneration is not enough to curb corruption.
New Vision 23rd July 2010
KCC cheques missing
Some of the cheques used to withdraw unauthorised funds from the Kampala City Council (KCC) account at a city bank were misplaced by the Police, a Parliament committee heard yesterday.
KCC lost a total of sh3.6b, out of which sh2.3b was unauthorised payment from the teachers’ account at Stanbic Bank, according to the director of finance, Baka Musujja.
The money was in respect of teachers’ Pay as You Earn.
The committee particularly zeroed on a cash withdrawal of sh704m from the account.
Karugaba said sh900m was paid by the bank to KCC after they made a claim that unauthorised money had been withdrawn from their account. She said the bank also paid sh70m to KCC lawyers.
However, the committee chairman, Abdu Katuntu, wanted to know how the figure of sh900m was arrived at.
New Vision 23rd July 2010
Three Koboko officials held over corruption
Three top officials of Koboko town council in Koboko district were on Monday arrested and detained at the district Police station for allegedly causing a financial loss of over sh10m.
The Koboko district criminal investigations officer, Francis Olugu, on Tuesday confirmed that the town clerk, Emmanuel Banya, the finance officer, Tom Adriko, and the town council LC3 chairman, Joseph Banga, were detained.
Olugu said after thorough interrogation and provision of substantive sureties, Banga and Banya were released on police bond and their passports retained.
He, however, said Adriko was still under custody because he refused to hand over his passport and had failed to produce sureties for him to be granted bond.
Olugu said the Police in Koboko and the anti-corruption unit from Kampala acted following a tip-off from residents.
New Vision 23rd July 2010
Corruption is terrorism
I am glad that we have Ugandans still thinking productively on matters of ambulances and our deteriorating health system. Uganda’s hospitals and health centres badly need ambulances and so do the Police and subcounties.
Affordability is not an issue because Uganda can afford a lot if only corruption was handled with vigilance. Corruption in Uganda is a major concern like terrorism. People stealing from the vulnerable sick and the poor are terrorists because they create fear and anxiety to society. If only Uganda could confiscate the properties of those found guilty of corruption, a lot of money would be saved and used to provide basic needs.
Daily Monitor 23rd July 2010
State House staff ordered to refund cash
At least 15 State House employees have been ordered to refund Shs27 million in public money they took without paying taxes.
The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee heard on Wednesday that the staff got Shs89.3 million in honoraria from Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry and did not pay taxes.
Honoraria is a fee paid for a nominally free service.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Ambassador Julius Onen told the committee that State House employees in question were working under the Presidential African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) team.
The Export Led Growth Strategy Unit under AGOA Country Response Office was set up in 2001 by President Museveni. But some committee members including Peter Mutuluuza (Mawokota North) and Mbale Municipality MP Jack Wamai Wamanga demanded that the AGOA be scrapped insisting that “it’s a flop”.
The lawmakers have also demanded that State House employees stop receiving money from Ministry of Trade.
Daily Monitor 23rd July 2010
Kajubi can not be traced, court told
A city tycoon Mr Kato Kajubi, who was acquitted of ritual murder of a 12-year-old in Masaka District, is allegedly missing the High Court heard yesterday.
Mr Joseph Mugwanya, the father and Mr Matia Mulondo, the grandfather of the deceased came to this conclusion after failing to serve Mr Kajubi with summons to respond to a civil case against him over the death of the child.
A few months after Mr Kajubi was acquitted by Masaka High Court, parents of the deceased took him back to court seeking Shs1 billion compensation for the loss of their child. Court issued summons against Mr Kajubi to file his defence within 15 days.
Now the parents want court to issue fresh summons for the businessman to file his defence because the earlier summons have expired.