Appeared on: Aug. 31, 2023 Last Updated: Sept. 1, 2023, 1:15 p.m.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government, Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria, on August 29th, 2023, opened the validation workshop of the collaboration between African Organisation of the English-Speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI) & Eastern Africa Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (EAAACA) with support from GIZ Good Financial Governance in Africa.

The collaboration framework aims to strengthen the effectiveness in the fight against corruption among Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) and Supreme Audit Institutions among the six-member countries, which include Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Sudan.

The workshop was held in Kampala under the themes, “The Enabling Legal and Regulatory Framework and Processes, Institutional Referral Mechanisms and Information Sharing and Institutional Capacity Building and Resource Utilization".

While addressing the participants, Dr. Okiria noted that corruption is becoming widespread and very complex for investigators and all anti-corruption actors.

“It therefore calls for renewed synergies and strategies across the board. This requires mutual co-operation and coordination against all trans-boundary offences/crimes many of which are predicate to money laundering,” she said.

Dr. Okiria told the participants that increased research and effective data collection will go a long way in strengthening information sharing and concerted efforts towards the fight against corruption and easing asset recovery, adding that the role played by Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and ACAs in Africa cannot be underscored.

She also noted that the specific mandate and role of SAIs as public oversight institutions which audit the government’s use of public funds makes them a critical link in a country’s accountability chain.

“By auditing all public financial operations, they are a critical element in the ecosystem of budgetary control and their audit reports usually help to quickly detect red flags, uncover irregular conduct (non-compliance with laws and regulations), mismanagement and performance of policies and programmes,” she said.