The Head, State House – Anti-Corruption Unit (SH-ACU) Brig. Gen. Henry Isoke has on Wednesday September 21, 2022 visited the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) training unit in Entebbe where he presented a lecture on the fight against corruption to the new recruits of the highly secretive but very effective intelligence gathering organisation in the country.
In his presentation to the trainees, the General emphasised the role of intelligence in identifying the gaps in the fight against corruption in the country basing on his experience in various institutions Uganda Wildlife Authority and Uganda Revenue Authority where he helped establish robust intelligence gathering systems that have gone on to enhance the operations of these government units overtime.
The general noted that the corruption in the country is deeply syndicated across all institutions which necessitates the value of intelligence led operations in the fight. And for this, he thanked ISO for the role they have played in identifying the corrupt in all the Ministries, Agencies and Departments of government.
Both SH-ACU and ISO have busted the corrupt networks by working in tandem in the pursuit of justice which helps the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) whose mandate helps them to keep a check on the civil servants especially the corrupt at the local government level.
It should be noted that the ISO Anti-Corruption unit has intensively combed the country to ensure an effective inter-institutional cooperation as a way of raising awareness on the security risks against the government beyond the normal – terrorism and alike that can be dealt with militarily.
According to General Isoke, with the Anti-Corruption agencies including PPDA, ODPP, IGG, FIA and URA working together in fighting the corruption scourge, the fight against economic crimes rendering service delivery inept will have been made easy. He thus asked the ISO officers on training to embrace cooperation among institutions as a way of achieving the common aim of depriving criminals especially the corrupt in government of the resources to pursue further corrupt activities.
In reference to the role ISO has played in fighting corruption, General Isoke emphasised the need of mutual cooperation amongst agencies as a mechanism of preventing and fighting all economic crimes while promoting better service delivery within government.
According to General Isoke, the multi-agency Intelligence led approach to fighting corruption will enable the concerned parties to investigate and prosecute corruption cases to a logical conclusion because they have a foundation to rely on as demonstrated from the recent operations across the country.
The General who is a career Intelligence officer encouraged the young officers to take to heart every bit of the training to heart because the quality of training they are getting from the institute is among the best in the country.
In addition to the words from the Head, SH-ACU, the Deputy Director General, ISO, Lt. Col. Emmy Katabazi emphasised to the young officers that the training they are undertaking is a step in change of capacity. He encouraged to make corruption an expensive venture in the country if at all they want to see development move to the village level. In his remarks, Col. Katabazi asked the officers to ensure that they make the successful steps of strengthening all elements against corruption in the country by being the foundation sources of the information on corrupt tendencies across all levels of local government in the country for State House – Anti-Corruption Unit.
He noted that this multi-agency approach is a patriotic move that will help the country in achieving their set targets in the long run.