People in Katakwi area have expressed alarm, accusing the police of reportedly collecting bribes from suspects, complainants on cases handled and police bond.
This issue arose during a recent advocacy and capacity-building program in the three regions of Teso, Karamoja, and Busoga aimed at raising awareness among non-actors about corruption, which should worry all individuals involved in the fight against corruption.
An local anonymously expressed worrystating that the institutions intended to combat corruption are promoting it.
The citizen claimed that institutions such as police always charge complainants a fee for the release of arrested criminals on bond.
According to the complaint, even in small cases, the police tell residents to “help the police in order to help the suspect”, a understood as paying for police bond.Stephen Ouma Lajul, Regional Head of the Inspectorate of Government Soroti Office, confirmed that some police officers have been noted as engaging in corruption on multiple occasions.
However, he stated that the IG had taken note of the concern over police corruption, stressing that senior officers had been arrested and that more will be arrested for corruption in police institutions.
Ouma asked locals to identify police personnel who are extorting money from the public in order to take action. The government inspectorate urged citizens to report corruption in order to counteract it among government officers. However, Ouma challenged the citizens to always be ready to produce evidence of solicitation rather than weeping in court without proof.
He also warned locals not to participate in what is reported to be bribery requests by the police in order to combat corruption. Christine Lamakwa, manager of advocacy and capacity building at the Inspectorate of Government’s Directorate of Research, Education, and Advocacy, stated that while the CIID department fights corruption, individuals who are found corrupt should also be denounced.
She urged locals to report corrupt police officers to competent agencies such as the Inspectorate of Government in order to fight corruption. Recently the region highlighted that they are investigating over 200 corruption-related complaints. These bribery include extortion, embezzlement or theft of public funds, diversion or misuse of public assets, abuse of office, causing financial property loss, neglect of duty -absenteeism, late coming, nonperformance, nepotism, personalizing public officers use forged academic documents, non-accountability of advanced money or false accountability.
Among the key drivers fueling corrupting is highlighted as greed or the demand for quick money, lack of monitoring, poor and delayed salaries, long or unclear service procedures, moral decades, and other factors have been identified as drivers. URN