Kampala, Uganda | URN | Members of Parliament have questioned what they describe as selective enforcement in Uganda’s anti-corruption campaign.
The legislators accused the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) and other agencies of concentrating investigations on local governments while paying comparatively less attention to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), which control a larger share of public resources.
The concerns emerged during an interface between State House officials, led by State House Comptroller Jane Barekye, and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (Central Government), chaired by Kassanda North MP Patrick Nsamba Oshabe.
The committee questioned the leadership of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU), represented by the Deputy Head, Israel Ochwo about the unit’s operational priorities, investigation record, and justification for maintaining a separate anti-corruption structure under State House.
The questions come amid an intensified government campaign against corruption in local governments led by Minister for Local Government Balaam Barugahara, popularly known as Balaam.
Under the campaign, dubbed “Expose the Corrupt”, Barugahara has conducted inspections and accountability meetings across the country, often accompanied by operatives from SHACU, police detectives and officials from the Ministry of Local Government.
During these operations, the minister has directed the arrest of district and municipal officials accused of corruption, abuse of office, procurement irregularities and mismanagement of public funds. Several officials have also been interdicted to pave the way for investigations.
The campaign has attracted attention because of the public nature of the operations, with officials sometimes being arrested following accusations raised during accountability meetings.
By October 7, the government reported that the campaign had resulted in the arrest of 267 suspects and the interdiction of 253 officials, while Shs22.7 billion linked to corruption complaints and cases was under investigation.
It is against this background that MPs questioned whether the country’s anti-corruption operations were giving sufficient attention to central government institutions.
Samia-Bugwe Central MP Richard Wanyama challenged State House Anti-Corruption Unit to explain why its operations appeared concentrated in local governments while ministries and other central government institutions, which manage significantly larger budgets, received comparatively less attention.
Kassanda North MP Patrick Nsamba Oshabe argued that the government could not convincingly demonstrate an effective fight against corruption if investigations predominantly focused on institutions controlling a relatively small proportion of public funds.
The MPs’ concerns raise questions about whether the distribution of anti-corruption investigations reflects the level of financial exposure and corruption risks across government or whether local government officials are facing disproportionate scrutiny.
The issue also places SHACU under pressure to explain how it selects cases, allocates investigative resources and ensures that allegations involving senior officials and institutions at the centre of government receive attention.
Responding to the concerns, Ochwo defended the unit’s focus on local governments, arguing that corruption at that level has a direct impact on service delivery.
He said the theft and mismanagement of public resources in districts affect citizens through poor roads, inadequate health services, shortages of essential supplies and incomplete public projects.
Isoke maintained that Unit had not limited its investigations to local government officials and had intervened in several key sectors.
He also sought to address concerns that influential individuals, commonly referred to as the ‘big fish’, were being spared investigations.
During the interface, Ochwo reported that they had arraigned 1,005 suspects before courts of law since its establishment.
He said the suspects included 461 civil servants and 550 private individuals, whom he described as people involved in aiding and abetting public officials in corruption, as well as individuals implicated in land fraud, fake gold scams and fraudulent procurement schemes.
Ochwo cited a case in which investors reportedly lost up to Shs13.6 billion through fraudulent dealings, saying the unit had expanded its investigations to address economic crimes that undermine investor confidence and foreign direct investment.
He said the Unit, working with the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Police, had secured 168 convictions, comprising 95 public officials and 73 private individuals.
Another 263 cases were pending before courts, while 33 files were at different stages of review by the DPP.
Ochwo described the record as significant considering the unit’s relatively small workforce.
He disclosed that SHACU currently operates with approximately 11 lawyers, two auditors and 24 detectives attached to it by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
However, the figures presented by Ochwo did not, in themselves, establish how the unit’s investigations were distributed between local governments and central government institutions, the issue that had prompted the MPs’ concerns.
The committee’s questioning therefore puts the focus not only on the number of arrests and convictions but also on the reach of the investigations, the institutions targeted and the consistency with which allegations of corruption are pursued across government.
