Prevention of Corruption Act, 1970

The Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 121) of Uganda was adopted on 12 June 1970.

This Act does not explicitly define corruption, but according to Art. 2 provides that "any person who shall, by himself or by or in conjunction with any other person:

• corruptly solicit or receive, or agree to receive for himself or for any other person; or
• corruptly give, promise or offer to any person whether for the benefit of that person or of another person, any gratification as an inducement to, or reward for, or otherwise on account of any member, officer or servant of a public body doing or forbearing to do anything in respect of any matter or transaction, actual or proposed, in which that public body is concerned

commits an offence."

The Prevention of Corruption Act provides for the special powers of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to investigate and prosecute corruption cases and all incidental matters.

This law confines the acts of corruption to situations only involving public officers. This obviously is restrictive as experience shows that there is private sector corruption that inadvertently impacts negatively on the public sector. It is for this and other reasons that having identified the weaknesses, there are current attempts at reviewing the law relating to dealing with corruption in Uganda.