Opposition MPs were joined by Sarah Opendi in rebuking the slow fight against corruption in the country.

Leader of Opposition in Parliament Mathias Mpuuga led the way for his colleagues while responding to President Yoweri Museveni’s state of the nation address.

Mpuuga punched holes in the head of state’s address by stating that it did not capture the reality of the state of the people.

The National Unity Platform leader, castigated: “Anti-corruption agencies have domineered public posturing instead of curbing corruption. Parades, press conferences and security convoys service the egos of those appointed to head the agencies. They never pursue their master and his colonies.”

Mpuuga pinpointed: “All of the Ministers responsible for the bloated projects were never dropped in the newly appointed Cabinet. Instead, they were reappointed and some transferred to other dockets. These have joined others that were censured and convicted for corruption.”

Gilbert Olanyah, Kilak South MP rose up to lament: “The President has been lamentating on the fight against Corruption for many years. I remember he stated one day that whether one steals the money, so long as he invests within the country he does not care.”

Olanya blasted: “It is quite surprising that this gov’t is encouraging corruption. Look at the #COVID19 funds and cars donated by the people, where are they? Those monies we swindled and the President keeps on massaging those steal our money. The level of Corruption in Uganda is terrible.”

Tororo Woman MP, Sarah Opendi decried the increasing level of corruption in the country. She said: “There is lack of political will by the government to fight corruption in the country which has continued to affect service delivery in the country.”

Opendi stated: “The fight against Corruption in this country seems to have been lost. Those who fight corruption sometimes are not given support.”

She went on: “While the NRM gov’t came into power, and among it’s 10 programs was the fight against Corruption, allot has been done in terms of Legislation and policies, but there hasn’t been adequate political will to fight corruption. For 35 years, you can’t be taking and singing about fighting corruption. And corruption is increasing day in day out. It is now a service tax to the local people, for any service in this country you must pay a bribe.”

The former minister of state for mineral development, however, hailed: “I want to thank the President for the work he has done for this country since 1986 when he assumed the leadership. However, the are still issues that have not been handled properly. While I thank the President for establishing an innovation fund to support research, you’ll realize that Uganda as country has not fulfilled the conditions that were set by the Africa Union, to pit at least 1% of it’s GDP to research and development.”

Francis Mwijukye added his voiced: “The President in the State of the Nation Address talked about corruption in the Ministry of Finance, yet constitutionally, he is the Minister of Finance. There are people in the Ministry of Finance who are corrupt and he was only lamenting.”