Inspector Generals office

Today was a very interesting day at the Uganda inspector general’s office. At first I had no idea what an inspector general did or who he was for that matter. So first thing for me was to find out what and who exactly this person was and what he did. When we first got there everyone sat around or near this big table waiting for Raphael, the general to come in. When he came in he had an entourage of people, about three men; one of which we knew (James from Kabale). He walked in and we were told to stand for him which everyone did once told to. After that he said thank you and we sat down. It reminded me of a court room where everyone has to stand for the judge. After the sitting and standing dance James announced and gave a brief overview of who the man standing before us was and what he was going to talk about. Raphael had a packet of papers with bullet points in it of what he was going to talk about; he introduced himself and then went into what exactly the Inspector General’s office does in Uganda. Raphael has been the general for two terms. In order for the general to be put in this office or in his position he must be appointed by the president and approved by parliament. The goal of the Inspector Generals office is to reduce corruption. They go about this by following and investigating complaints that people make about companies, corporations or people that may be involved in corrupt activities. Raphael said that there were about 25 definitions of what corrupt activity could actually be. He did not go into all the examples but the main ones he mentioned were fraud, bribery, nepotism, and failure to account. The office starts out by following complaints that have been made. They then investigate and if need be they prosecute. When Raphael was concluding his speech he mentioned the main parts of the office and what the Inspector general does. To promote and foster the rules of law set forth by the constitution, eliminate corruption, enforce laws, supervise disciplinary codes of conduct, investigate acts of corruption and give a recommendation as to what the next step is, and lastly, stimulate public awareness of what corruption is and how to prevent it. The inspector of government was created by the constitution and therefore has constitutional independence. The office cannot conduct its own trials but they make inquires and investigate what needs to be looked in to. The people that are appointed are the deputy who is appointed by the general and the general is appointed by the president. The most interesting thing I thought that was talked about was the new act that was passed in 2009 named the Anti-corruption act. This stated that with this new act private sectors can be prosecuted and it also included some new offenses. These new offenses were influence penalty, conflict of interest and nepotism. Raphael talked about how even though the Inspector government is a private entity it does work with the president and government to ensure that corruption is stopped He talked about how assets are recovered when someone is found guilty of corruption and where the money goes. The money either goes back to the proper place that it should have been in like the company it was stolen from or it goes into the Inspector government’s bank account where it then will be given to the treasury. After his discussion he allowed time for questions and there were quite a few. The main questions had to do with the fact that Uganda is still considered a corrupt country and what are they doing about it. To summarize the general said no country will ever be free or corruption but the goal is to reduce it as much as possible. Overall, I thought that the presentation was very entertaining I went in knowing nothing about the inspector general and what he does to knowing exactly who he is, what he does and how he does it. It was very interesting to see the power that he has and the respect that had to be shown to him. When it was time to leave everyone had to stay seated until Raphael and his entourage were gone. Once he left everyone stood up trying to remember and organize everything that was said and then we were on our way out of the office. The experience was definitely a learning experience for me and something I probably would not do again. It was interesting but if politics and government are not really your thing, then this was a somewhat boring talk. I think that Raphael was straight and to the point about what he does and how he does his job. I think it was extremely informative and I am glad I am not so clueless as to what an inspector general does anymore.