Where is the lifestyle investigation into government officials one year after launch?

On Friday, December 9, it will be one year of no execution since President Museveni approved the audit.

She was addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre yesterday when she revealed that the promising audit still needs a legal framework which will make it a valid procedure before the law.

"It was launched last year by the president and after the launch; the people went to the kitchen to prepare. We are currently preparing," Kamya said.

According to the IGG, the audit would face pose challenges to lawmakers outside of the law.

“We need a legal framework in which to operate the lifestyle audit, otherwise we would be challenged even in parliament. We have spent the best part of this year working on the legal framework in which to operate the audit," she added.

During the launch last year, President Museveni cautioned that a crackdown on officials would scare the corrupt ones into hiding their 'loot' outside the country.

“The lifestyle audit is good but be careful because we are still lucky that our corrupt people are corrupt here. But if they realise that their lifestyle is being audited, they will instead take what they stole abroad and it will be hard to track them,” Museveni said last year in December 9.

Following his warning, Museveni advised that the IGG's office focuses on performance and results-oriented audits of the money allocated for government projects.

"This method of working with the victims has worked for the NRA. The NRA became very popular with the people because of this method,” he said.

Nevertheless, the IGG said that the structure is almost complete for implementation.

"I want to assure the country that in a couple of months, the legal framework will be completed,” Kamya said.

Once the lifestyle audit is in place, she tasked Ugandans to support it.

Initially, she had pointed out that the audit would entail family members starting with children, and their caretakers.

“We want teachers in posh schools to give home work to their 10-year-olds in 5th Grade to write down their fathers name, place of work, job title, and car they drive and its cost, a picture of their houses and discuss it openly in class.

We may fail to prove in court that you took money through corrupt means but through the lifestyle audit method, the onus is on the suspect to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to the judge that the wealth she/he acquired while in public of Uganda office which is not commensurate with his/her known income is legit,” she said last year.

However, it is yet to be known if this method will be part of the legal framework for the audit.

Since it was announced, the fate of the lifestyle audit has been declared doomed by sections of the public. Will the legal framework give it the body to survive such views?