Prime
Museveni launches portal to protect investors from corruption
President Museveni gestures as he looks at the screen during the launch of Uganda Electronic Investors Protection Portal (EIPP) at the Statehouse, Entebbe, on December 13, 2023. PHOTOS/ PPU
What you need to know:
- Corruption remains a significant hindrance to our progress, manifesting through issues like bribes and delays. To address this, I established the investor protection unit in my office. I entrusted Col. Nakalema to lead it and examine and report to me the performance of government officials and departments responsible for facilitating investments in Uganda and expediting issue resolution for our investors- Museveni
- From the beginning, the NRM has been committed to empowering the private sector and our economy has shown remarkable growth despite corruption and various obstacles- Museveni
President Museveni has launched the Electronic Investor Protection Portal (EIPP) that is aimed at helping investors, both foreign and local, to report complaints about corruption, bribes and delays directly to the Office of the President.
The State House Investors Protection Unit, headed by Col Edith Nakalema, worked with the National Information Technology Authority (Nita) to develop the portal.
The portal enables the President to directly monitor how government agencies respond to complaints raised by investors.
Col Nakalema said this initiative followed presidential guidance for government agencies to embrace digital transformation to limit human involvement in transactions and reduce or combat corruption.
She added that some of the complaints raised by investors include the delays to receive feedback from some of the authorities in government agencies and failure to deliver responses to the complaints raised. Col Nakalema further said some of these delays are motivated by corrupt tendencies.
The head of State House Investors Protection Unit, Col Edith Nakalema makes presentation during the portal launch
However, the State minister for Privatisation, Ms Evelyn Anite, said she was concerned that whereas the President had established various agencies to fight corruption, the vice still persists.
“We have an electronic and physical systems but the investors are still complaining. I was challenging Col Nakalema and I asked her: ‘My sister, we have all these things in place, what is going to be new with this one?” Ms Anite said during the launch of the EIPP at State House Entebbe on Wednesday.
Col Nakalema responded that the unique feature about the EIPP is that it enables President Museveni to directly monitor how government agencies respond and address the complaints raised by investors.
The President said he was aware of complaints raised by some Ugandans over his decision to create multiple agencies to tackle corruption but the vice is still rampant.
“This one (EIPP) I wanted focus. I told [Col] Nakalema, ‘don’t become a judge. If investors are fighting in the courts over land, those are their issues but you (Nakalema) look at the government officials who are supposed to facilitate investment, how they are facilitating or not facilitating that investment effort’,” President Museveni said.
He was, however, hopeful that the portal could be effective if the developers ensure that nobody can manipulate and interfere with the system.
The executive director of Nita, Dr Hatwib Mugasa, said the portal has a provision for language translation so that investors who are not familiar with English language can launch complaints using their own languages, which the system will automatically translate into English.
It also has a whistleblower section that enables individuals who do not want to be identified to unanimously file complaints and provide evidence.
The Nita developed the portal within one month and it has been active since August. So far, 128 complaints have been registered.
