The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Justice Mike Chibita has said President Yoweri Museveni did not launch State House Anti-Corruption Unit on Monday on because Anti-corruption agencies have failed but that they will hand in hand with the new unit headed by Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema to fight the vice.
“The President did not say the anti-corruption agencies have failed, what he said is that the agencies have some weevils and it is possible some of the matters reported are not looked into,” Chibita said on Wednesday while being hosted on NBS Morning Breeze by journalist Simon Kaggwa Njala.
Chibita was responding to issues related to corruption in the country that touched on agencies fighting the vice, court cases and human resources available to deliver judicial service to Ugandans.
Mr. Chibita said that as the head of state, the president in a way has to take responsibility of what is happening in the country “and you can understand why the country is looking at him.”
Asked as to why Museveni set up the new Anti-corruption unit despite the existence of other agencies like the IGG, CID and others, Chibita said the president did open the unit to enable the people “to call an independent agency on matters to do with corruption and we welcome the creation of the office.”
He said the DPP and the IGG are two prosecuting units in the anti-corruption division at the High court and operate smoothly.
He said DPP prosecutes cases reported by the police while the IGG has an inbuilt office of investigation.
He said the conviction rate of corruption related cases is the highest in the country at 85 percent, which he said includes prosecuting high profile figures. “Right now, we prosecuting the State former Minister for Labor, Employment and Industrial Relations, Herbert Kabafunzaki,” he said.
Asked if he was independent in executing his duties as DPP, Chibita said he does not for instance encounter political interference. “We are independent and have been left to do our work, the only area we are not yet independent is funding of our activities,” he said, urging the public to report corruption and other forms of crime.
“Majority of the officers we are working with are hardworking, patriotic and full of integrity. We have had only 10 cases out of the 600 officers we have,” he said.