Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has applauded the work of the Ugandan
Parliament Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in promoting accountability and
fighting corruption in Government in a non-partisan manner.

He said Government fully supports PAC in performing its oversight function
to the extent that many Government officials including the President
himself have many times appeared before the oversight committee even when
there is no law that compels the head of State to appear before the
committee.

Mbabazi made the remarks while meeting members of the Public
Accounts Committee of the Kenyan Parliament who were led by the PAC
committee Chairman, Ababu Namwamba, an opposition member of Parliament from
Coalition for Reforms and Democracy(CORD)under the leadership of Raila
Odinga.

Like Uganda, the Public Accounts Committee in Kenya is chaired by the
opposition in Parliament.

The Kenyan Members of Parliament are in the country on an experience
sharing study tour regarding the role of the oversight function and how PAC
interfaces with the Executive.

“Are you really PAC members?” Mbabazi asked before jokingly saying that
they did not appear as tough as members of the Ugandan Parliament PAC who
are always ready to grill public officials they summon to answer audit
queries.

During the meeting at his office, Mbabazi gave an insight into Uganda’s
institutional and legal framework which he said has been built since NRM
came to power in 1986, adding that fighting corruption was part of their
Ten Point Programme.

He highlighted some of the institutions leading the crusade against
corruption such as the Inspectorate of Government and the Anti- corruption
court, adding that Government is looking at the possibility of amending the
Constitution to give more powers to the IGG to fully investigate and
prosecute cases without referring to other power centers.

Flanked by the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of Government
business in Parliament, Gen. Moses Ali, Mbabazi said Government is building
the capacity to investigate corruption and is also considering passing the
Qui tam law which will enable members of the public to prosecute corrupt
officials and benefit from the stolen resources when recovered.

“The media has continued to play a great role in exposing corruption,
although some media houses are often guilty of publishing falsehoods,”
Mbabazi said.

He hailed the relationship between the two countries and expressed Uganda’s
commitment to integration process of the East African community.

The Kenyan Parliament PAC Chairman said they have learnt many lessons and
applauded Government for supporting institutions responsible for fighting
corruption.

“I don’t remember any incident when we were divided along party lines in
the course of executing our duties,” said the Kenyan legislator when
explaining how they have managed to do their work.

The visiting Kenyan legislators who also included, Julius Melly, Jackson
Rop, James Bett, Abbas Ibrahim and Charles Mong’are observed that their
Committee gives more time to public officials to answer queries compared to
their Ugandan counterparts.