Politics 19 August 2026 Daily Monitor (Uganda)
Minister Balaam Proposes Local Committees to Prosecute Village-Level Corruption
Minister for Local Government, Balaam Barugahara, is seeking to amend the Local Government Act to empower local council units to prosecute corrupt officials at the village and parish levels, aiming to expedite justice and curb resource losses. Source: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/minister-balaam-proposes-local-committee-to-prosecute-corrupt-officials-at-village-level-5563008
Minister for Local Government, Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, has put forward a significant proposal aimed at combating corruption within Uganda’s local government structures. He plans to lobby Parliament to amend the Local Government Act, granting local council units the authority to process and convict individuals found to be abusing their power.
This initiative would involve establishing ‘disciplinary committees’ at the district level, which Minister Balaam believes will accelerate dispute resolution and alleviate the burdens faced by the formal court system. The proposal suggests that these local committees could handle cases where government funds allocated for specific projects, such as classroom construction, are misused.
Minister Balaam explained that empowering these local bodies would ensure that government officials are held accountable and compelled to fulfill their mandates effectively. He argued that such a system would allow ordinary citizens to provide timely evidence against officials engaged in corrupt practices, thereby strengthening the fight against corruption from the grassroots.
“We should hold meetings in parishes or villages where crime has been committed,” the Minister stated during an interface with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)-Local Government. He further emphasized that this approach is designed to prevent corruption from becoming an intractable issue and to benefit the common Ugandan.
Ben Kumumanya, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, expressed support for the proposal, indicating that it could restore much-needed discipline within local government units and improve service delivery, which has often been hampered by corrupt practices.
Since assuming office, Minister Balaam has been conducting spot checks across various local government entities as part of his anti-corruption drive, leading to the arrest and prosecution of several officials. He has vowed to maintain a stringent approach to ensure discipline, effective service delivery, and proper accountability of public resources.