President Yoweri Museveni has said he is not corrupt despite being a wealth man.
“I have never stolen. But I am rich. I have never stolen anything from anybody but I am also not a poor man,” Museveni said at Kololo Independence Grounds while addressing thousands of Ugandans who participated in the Anti-Corruption Walk, where he was the Chief Walker.
Museveni came up to say he is not corrupt after Jacob Oulanyah, the deputy speaker of parliament, in his earlier speech insinuated all Ugandans are corrupt, a statement that didn’t go well with a section of people who had gathered on Wednesday morning to say no to corruption.
Oulanyah referred to the Bible and quoted Jesus Christ’s statement he made after realising people who had gathered wanted to stone a prostitute to death for committing adultery. “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” Jesus said.
Museveni further said that corrupt people are parasites. “They are parasites because they get wealth which they did not earn,” he said, adding that the nation needed to address itself to issues of morality, spiritual and materialism, if corruption is to be wiped out.
“Spiritually they are bad investors because they think that the bad things they do the people don’t see them, they think God doesn’t see them, yet God sees things that people don’t see,” he said.
Museveni said that has not seen these corrupt people being successful sustainably in the last 60 years.
He asked political leaders to help people get out of material needs by creating jobs and wealth through commercial agriculture Industrial development, services sector and ICT. “Anybody who delays a project in commercial agriculture, services and ICT is an enemy of the fight against corruption,” he said.
On using laws to fight corruption, Museveni said that the laws are in place, but the problem is with implementation. He urged Revenue Authority, State House Anti-Corruption Unit and the Inspector General of Government to hire staff on the basis of integrity rather than papers, saying when a person has integrity it is hard to bribe them.
He however said other public offices like the Judiciary, civil service, and army can recruit according to papers.
Poor supervision has led to corruption tendencies in institutions like the police. He said public officers should engage the public to get information on service delivery and others.
The Anti-Corruption Walk featured members Museveni’s cabinet, civil service heads, political appointees like RDCs, diplomats, media, religious leaders, students, civil society organisations, private sector, traditional leaders, the army and police and of course Ugandans.
The Minister of State for Ethics & Integrity, Simon Lokodo has praised President Yoweri Museveni’s stand against corruption in a speech at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.
Oulanyah urged every Ugandan to fight corruption. “Don’t wait to be president to fight corruption,” he said.
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