We must stop treating corruption as a “weakness”
Sitting on May 12, 2026 on the hallowed grounds of Kololo in Kampala, witnessing the commencement of this seventh term from our dear, the Patriot of this Nation – His Excellency Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, I felt the heavy weight of the President’s declaration: this is the Kisanja No Sleep. But as I sat there, reflecting on my role as a leader, an official of this government, an **Awitong**, and the author of *The Integrity Mandate*, I realized that “no sleep” must be more than a fatigue of the body; it must be a restlessness of the soul. We are at a point in our history where we must stop treating corruption as a “weakness” and start treating it for what it truly is: treason against our future.
The air at Kololo today was thick with the echoes of a voice that once dared to strip away our national veneer, the voice of the late Rt. Hon. Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah. His haunting indictment, “We are all corrupt,” did not fall on deaf ears; it planted a seed of reckoning that has finally sprouted into this moment of national urgency. As an Awitong, I carry his spirit in my heart, remembering that truth is never buried, it only waits for the courageous to speak it again. To those who believe they can continue to feast on the sweat of the mwananchi while hiding behind the shadows of bureaucracy: your time of pretense has passed. The veil has lifted, and the “sacred mist” of Oulanyah’s summons is now a storm of accountability.
For too long, the corrupt have sat amongst us, smiling behind expensive suits and titles while they bleed the life out of our hospitals and steal the roads from our farmers. There is no honor in wealth stolen from the vulnerable, and there is no “blessing” in a house built on the ruins of public service. As both a government official and a traditional leader, I say this clearly: if you are a parasite on the progress of this nation, you are no longer just breaking a law, you are violating a sacred covenant. We cannot build a First World nation with Third World ethics, and we will no longer allow the “facilitation” culture to replace the foundation of character.
My message to the nation is simple: the Integrity Mandate is the battle plan for this kisanja. If the President has declared a season of “No Sleep,” then let the corrupt find no rest and no hiding place—not in our offices, not in our cultural institutions, and certainly not in the halls of power. We must move from the shame of “all being corrupt” to the glory of being a nation redeemed. Today, a line was drawn in the dust of Kololo. You are either a champion of integrity or an enemy of the state. I have chosen my side. The “No Sleep” era has begun, and for those who choose greed over God and Country, the nightmare of justice is only just starting. For God and My Country.
Dickson Ogwang Okul
AWITONG/ LAWYER & DIPLOMAT
