Civil Society Organizations want properties of the corrupt confiscated

Civil society organizations have demanded that laws should be put in place to provide for the seizure of the proceeds of corruption. They suggest the Proceeds of Crime Bill and the Whistle-Blowers Bill be enacted to strengthen existing anti-corruption laws.

The proposed law aims to bridge the gaps in the existing legal framework, enhance coordination among relevant institutions, introduce innovative approaches, and raise public awareness about the importance of combating proceeds of crime.

Marlon Agaba, the Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda emphasized that Uganda has a robust anti-corruption framework which includes over 15 anti-corruption institutions, laws, and policies that could be used to fight corruption.

President Yoweri Museveni has come up several times telling citizens to get involved in the war against corruption. This led to active citizens putting up information on social media implicating government officials and institutions of corruption.

However, despite the information from social media, anti-corruption agencies have not come up to investigate the claims of the citizens.

On July 23 dozens of young Ugandans attempted to march to parliament building in a demonstration against increased corruption in the country. This led to the arrest of several of them after security forces deemed the protests illegal. President Museveni on his X handle (formerly Twitter) stated that the youths were acting on the drive of foreign funding.

Yona Wanjala from the Civic Advisory Hub (CAH) mentioned that the aspect of foreign funding mentioned by the president is not a true calling for securitization and a theory informed by what is happening in Kenya.

He urged the government to investigate who is financing the youths and give them an alternative if they cannot march to parliament to voice their plea.

The 2023 corruption index by Transparency International ranked Uganda 141 out of 180 countries with a score of 26 percent. The alarming statistics call for an urgent need for sustained and comprehensive anti-corruption measures.
The CSOs that have called for broad-based support in the fight against corruption in the country included Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, Alliance for Finance Monitoring, Transparency International Uganda, Civic Advisory Hub, and African Youth Development Link