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The President, in his State of the Nation Address (S.O.N) held at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, threatened to ‘crash’ public officials and politicians implicated in graft.
Museveni said he had recently busted a ring of corrupt officers working in different government offices, including his own office.
At State House, Museveni said, some of his staffers were “extorting money” from unsuspecting individuals, promising to arrange for them meetings with him.
“I have been getting good information about corrupt actors among the public servants and political actors,” Museveni said.
“I have been hearing that people even in my office take bribes from people to bring them to see me. Can you imagine?”
“Recently we arrested one of them; he had extorted shares and money from an investor. He is now in court.”
President Museveni also revealed that he had obtained evidence about a racket operating at the Ministry of Finance and Parliament.
“From Finance, they arrange with accounting officers of ministries to come to parliament to obtain certain funds provided you give them a share. These will be crashed.”
Corruption in Uganda remains a significant challenge, impacting various sectors of society and undermining efforts towards sustainable development.
On Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, Uganda scored 26 on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”). When ranked by score, Uganda ranked 141st among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.
Early this week, the Minister of State for Investment and Privatisation Hon Evelyn Anite said corruption is increasingly tarnishing the image of the government.
The Minister said she was personally facing difficulty stepping out as a cabinet minister for fear of public ridicule.
“Corruption is making us very unpopular,” she said.
“We are tired; I am fatigued and even ashamed to sit in a government car, because whatever you do if you dress smartly (people say) our money…this is because citizens are aware that we are eating their money and they are tired.”