Africa-Press – Uganda. CORRUPTION
A senior government official has reportedly surrendered 10 apartments worth sh1.2b that he failed to declare to the Inspectorate of Government (IG) during his wealth declaration.
William Tumwine, the head of policy and rulings in the legal directorate at Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA), has been under investigations over failure to declare some of his wealth. IG has been investigating Tumwine over alleged living beyond his known legitimate source of income. According to reliable sources, investigations commenced against Tumwine after the inspectorate established that he had not declared his entire wealth. Also, it was found out that the accumulated wealth was not commensurate with his income as a public official. Information Saturday Vision has obtained shows that when Tumwine was tasked with explaining the source of the wealth, he failed to justify, prompting the inspectorate to swing into action. Saturday Vision learnt that this was one of the big cases that Justice Irene Mulyagonja handled in her final days as the Inspector General of Government. Justice Mulyagonja left the Inspectorate in June this year and returned to the Judiciary as justice of the Court of appeal. A number of officials Saturday Vision talked to who are privy to the matter were guarded and reluctant to go into the details of the case and how it was concluded. Attempts to get comments from the inspectorate over the matter were futile. However, Saturday Vision, has learnt that one of the issues that was agreed on was that the matter be settled out of court after Tumwine accepted to forfeit his apartments located in the outskirts of Kampala at Kitende, in Wakiso district. The Government is currently managing the palatial apartments and receiving sh10m per month from rent. The Leadership Code Act, 2002 gives inspectorate a mandate to confiscate undeclared property acquired by a public officer and IG can order such a leader to vacate office. However, Saturday Vision has also established that in this case, the inspectorate did not ask UNRA to fire Tumwine. A source further said UNRA was not informed about the outcome of IG’s investigations and how the matter was concluded. UNRA probe Saturday Vision has learnt that the IGG’s investigation followed an earlier probe by UNRA. UNRA commenced investigation after obtaining information from a whistleblower that Tumwine had a huge number of land titles in his possession.
UNRA obtained a court order for the search of Tumwine’s residence as part of its investigations. The order was granted by the then chief magistrate Agnes Alum and UNRA investigators carried out a search which led to the recovery of a number of land titles allegedly registered in Tumwine’s name. According to a source, between July and August in 2017, Tumwine was also asked to step aside to pave way, yet another investigation over a separate matter involving compensation involving a claimant, Godfrey Kibeherere who reportedly owned a house on the northern bypass in Kampala. He reportedly claimed about sh3b to pave way for the construction of the road. Subsequently, the UNRA board cleared Tumwine of any wrongdoing and reinstated him. After Tumwine was cleared, the inspectorate took up investigations into his wealth and established that he had not fully declared his wealth as required under the Leadership Code Act. Tumwine is among the UNRA long-serving managers who joined the organisation long before Allen Kagina took over as the executive director in 2016.THE LAWLeadership Code Act The Leadership Code Act, 2002 requires a leader to declare his or her wealth to the Inspectorate of Government. Section 4 of the Act requires that after every two years, a leader in the month of March submits in writing declaration of the income, assets and liabilities, the names, income, assets and liabilities of his or her spouse, child and dependant. It is specified in section 4(1) (8) of the Act that a leader who fails without reasonable cause to submit a declaration under this section commits a breach of the Leadership Code Act. Section 35(i) of the Act further stipulates that a leader who commits a breach of the Leadership Code commits an offence and shall forfeit the benefits equivalent to the gift, hospitality or benefit to the government or institution and shall stand warned. Other similar cases handled by IGG Late last month, the Anti-Corruption Court ordered the seizure of properties of former principal accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Godfrey Kazinda, estimated at sh4b, following an application by the Inspector General of Government. The property included vehicles BMW, Mercedes Benz, Dodge Saloon car, Mercedes Benz ML Class estimated at sh769m and land situated at Plot 1904, 213 and 264. Court was convinced by the evidence adduced by prosecution that Kazinda concealed the ownership of the properties he illegally acquired in Charles Kamuntu’s name. Besides the property, Kazinda maintained a luxurious standard of living, renting and occupying Constellation Suits at Nakasero and apartments at Sheraton Kampala Hotel in Kampala for 10 months. Leadership Code Act
