The National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party has urged the public to gang up against corrupt government officials and do a public lifestyle check on all government officials in their neighborhoods.

During a press conference that took place on June 24, 2024, at the party headquarters in Rubaga, Kampala, the party spokesperson, Moses Matovu, said that since corrupt officials are being praised by fellow leaders, the public at large should come out and reject these corrupt officials.

The spokesperson said that the public should stand up against corrupt officials, stating that they don’t get affected by the poor service delivery since their children do not study in Uganda and they do not get their medical care in the country.

“We, as a party, call upon the public to stand up against these corrupt officials. Let us not allow them to sit in the front seats of church, boycott goods made by their companies and shops, and chase them out of our communities. Let us do a public lifestyle audit on these officials and ask them the source of their wealth,” Matovu said.

The party spokesperson said that corruption is now sanctified in Uganda and corrupt officials are being defended by the government based on the remarks made by the Speaker of Parliament during a mobilization event that took place in Lwengo district on June 22, 2024.

“If the Speaker of Parliament can beg voters to vote for an official who is on remand for an alleged corruption case, stating that even if she stole the money, she shared it with you, the voters, then we as Uganda are still far away from fighting corruption out of this country,” he noted.

This comes as corruption scandals in Parliament and different ministries are being exposed, leading to public outcry over the high number of corruption cases that have left the country dire, including the UGX 88.576 billion used by the Inspector General of Government (IGG) in recovery cases.