KAMPALA – The Permanent Secretary, Directorate of Ethics and Integrity, Alex Okello has said that although the acts of pornography are increasing in schools across Uganda, the growth hasn’t been matched with funding requirement, that has left the Anti-Pornography Committee incapacitated.
Mr Okello made the remarks on Wednesday, September 18, while appearing before the Public Accounts Committee(PAC) where the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity had been summoned to respond to audit queries raised in the 20127/2018 Auditor General’s report to Parliament.
He told the committee that Directorate of Ethics and integrity is under facilitated to deal with pornography acts something that has crippled the activities of the controversial Anti-Pornography Committee.
Section 3 of the Anti-Pornography Act 2014 provides for the setting up of the committee with a sole purpose of overseeing and implementing the law.
The government followed up this provision in the Act by setting up the Anti-Pornography Committee in 2016 whose role includes, sensitisation of the public about dangers of pornography, ensure prosecution of perpetrators, detect and prohibit pornography and also expedite the development, acquisition and installation of effective protective software to detect pornography users in the country.
Fr. Simon Lokodo, State Minister for Ethics and Integrity went further with his pornography fight by submitting before Parliament a UGX2 billion budget request to procure anti-pornography machines that Government can use to detect pornography, but the request was rejected by Parliament.
During the meeting with PAC, Okello said that there are many rotten things which have been discovered by the pornography committee and these can’t be contained without funds.
He said, “In schools, these acts of pornography are so rampant and it is very destructive. We have been going to schools with civil society organisations. When the Anti-Pornography Committee came, we first said, let us go through the schools.”
Okello added; “We aren’t facilitated at all, the Anti-Pornography Committee which you approved in Parliament and which we inaugurated, the first year they drew a program worth UGX2.3Billion they were given UGX1Billion. In 2018/2019 financial year they cut that money to UGX600Million, what can you do? We have a lot of things to do in society, there is no other body that can transform society, but through instilling ethical conduct, which is our mandate.”
