TIU Executive Director’s presentation about the state of corruption in Uganda on his visit to Oslo on 23rd August 2011
Structure of the presentation
1.0 Background
2.0 General causes of corruption
3.0 Effects of corruption
4.0 Efforts by Government and other actors in the fight against corruption
5.0 What accounts for the increase of corruption despite efforts to curb it
6.0 Some recommendations to address the paradox
7.0 conclusion
1.0 Background
1.1 Uganda is a developing country located in the Eastern part of Africa. Its estimated population is 33 million people; over 75% are below 30 years and close to 85 % live in rural areas. 26 to 30 % of the population is living in abject poverty. Close to 30% of Uganda’s annual budget is donor funded. Uganda’s economy is majorly supported by small scale farmers/ peasant farmers who are still using traditional tools like hoes to till the land for their survival and are dependent on rainfall. Uganda is however well endowed with many natural resources which include but not limited to; minerals (oil, Gold, copper, limestone, coal etc) wild life, fresh water bodies and vegetation but most importantly good soils, reliable rain fall and topography among others. Despite such high potential and prospects, Uganda is still listed among the 50 poorest countries on this planet.
1.2 One of the reasons advanced to explain this paradox is the high prevalence of corruption in the country which has become endemic and systemic. Public funds are misused by those entrusted with power and responsibility to use public resources for the good every citizen. This is evidenced by Uganda’s score in the annual TI CPI studies as well other similar studies like, corruption Barometer, East African Bribery index, Afro Barometer, Africa Peer Review Mechanism reports and many other publications including those published by the Inspectorate of Government a government a statutory body set up to fight corruption and any kind of maladministration. Many media reports also testify to that effect with the media revealing and uncovering corruption scandals almost on dairy basis.
1.3 Both grand and petty corruption is common in Uganda. Colossal sums of money is being embezzled by the high ranking public officials while lower cadres extort money from the public in exchange for service delivery. In 2005 the World Bank estimated that Uganda was losing over 310 million dollars a year by that time this figure may have increased/doubled to date. Its estimated that Uganda may be losing more funds through corruption than what the country receives as aid per year.
2.0 Some of the causes of corruption
2.1 Too much discretion of public officials while executing their public duties. They at liberty to serve whoever they want to serve and many times hide under this bureaucracy to demand for facilitation payments in exchange the needed service.
2.2 The political environment is characterized by patronage resulting into impunity; i.e. as long as those involved in corruption practices connected to those in power they misuse public resources without any consequences. They effectively use their political connections to avoid being reprimanded.
2.3 Rules and regulations are poorly defined and disseminated and changing rapidly without the people being adequately informed. When the processes and procedures to access public services are not clear to the masses then the duty bearers are likely to take advantage of that to use their positions to enrich themselves through corrupt means.
2.4 General moral decadency due to deterioration of religious and ethical values in our societies. The end justifies the means attitude; it doesn’t matter how you get the money. Those who have helped themselves with public funds are regarded as heroes and the contrary is true for those who serve their country honestly.
2.5 Inadequate implementation of criminal/ anti corruption laws. Uganda is credited for having comprehensive anticorruption legal and institutional framework compared only to France, but is also known for having the biggest implementation gap of 54%. Good anti corruption legal and institutional framework but poor/weak implementation. Where such laws are used, in many cases it has been done selectively targeting those regarded to have departed from the political line of thinking. Anti corruption institutions though on paper are autonomous and independent in reality they are heavily controlled and manipulated by the politicians and their close associates becoming subjective in their operations.
2.6 Low salaries of civil servants to certain extent have contributed to petty corruption; in a struggle for civil servants to supplement their meager salaries, law enforcement officers, teachers, guards, clerks, judicial officer, health workers etc are seriously under paid exposing them to high temptation to extort money from those seeking their services for survival. On contrary, politicians are well paid a case in point one member of parliament monthly salary and allowances equivalent to 100 primary teachers or 50 doctors working in the public sector.
2.7 Lack of political will to address the problem making corruption less risky than what should be. The government has to demonstrate its commitment to the fight against corruption by having zero tolerance to corruption. Whoever is suspected of getting involved should be held accountable as a deterrent measure. Impunity and selective handling of suspected culprits is not good for the fight against corruption
2.8 The culture of silence and being complacent in regard to use of public resources is rooted from citizens viewing government as a virtual organization. Ordinary citizens don’t take public resources as their own therefore do not feel obliged to protect public resources. This attitude has worsened by the fact that ordinary people are not directly contributing to running of government as they have been exempted from paying direct taxes and they have been promised free social services.
2.9 Pressure on politicians to recoup high election expenses used to buy their way into public offices but also prepare to buy the next elections. This propels politicians to deep their hands into the public coffers to enrich themselves at the expense of the masses after all they buy the votes from those who would seek public services. On the other hand the people through experience have realized that politicians do not honor their campaign promises so the only time to get something from politicians, however small it may be, is during elections that is why they have resorted to asking politicians to buy their votes.
3.0 Effects of corruption
3.1 Corruption negatively affects service delivery in the social, justice and law and other sectors. The poor who use these services are disproportionally affected by corruption since they depend on these services for survival
3.2 Corruptions provides additional cost to service delivery in terms of facilitation payments
3.3 Corruption on many occasions leads to substandard/shoddy work
3.4 Corruption leads to misallocation of scarce resources where public priorities are skewed to facilitate lifestyle of public officials instead of focusing on the ordinary citizens.
3.5 Corruption scares away foreign and domestic investment.
3.6 Corruption widens the gap between the poor and the rich. The rich being those with access to public funds.
3.7 Corruption leads to loss of legitimacy, sensitivity and trust in government leading to citizens resorting to violence and mob justice.
3.8 Corruption undermines democracy as the will of the people in electing their leaders is eroded though corruption leading to state capture.
4.0 Efforts by government and other actors in the fight against corruption
4.1 Since NRM government captured power in January 1986, the government has expressed its desire to fight corruption right from its 10 point programme; where fighting and eliminating corruption was point number seven. Government has done a lot in putting in place legal and institutional frame work designed to fight against corruption. Many new laws have been put in place while others have been strengthened and a number of international and regional convections against corruption have been rectified and some have been domesticated.
4.2 In 1988 government established the Inspectorate of Government (IG) and charged this institution with fighting corruption and any kind of maladministration in public offices. IG was given powers to investigate and prosecute corruption cases a rear mandate to one institution as per the IG Act of 2002. The IG was also given the responsibility to administer the leadership code Act 2002 which requires public servants of a certain level to declare their wealth, every after 3 year; or at the time they assume office. These two Acts are lethal on paper and if implemented they would have a strong impact on the fight against corruption
4.3 The government has also enacted other important laws in that regard for example; Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Asset Act 2003 recently amended in 2011, Access to information Act 2005, Public Finance and Accountability Act 2003, Budget Act 2003, Anticorruption Act 2009, Whistle Blower Act 2010, Auditor General Act 2008 to mention but a few. All these are comprehensive legislations to support and promote accountability.
4.4 To demonstrate its commitment to the fight against corruption, the Government of Uganda established a ministry for ethics and integrity to coordinate the anticorruption crusade and appointed a minister to be the political head of this ministry. Not many countries on the continent have such ministry.
4.5 The government has strengthened the office of Auditor General, accorded the office more powers and resources to enable them do their work effectively. The salaries for the officers of the Auditor General were increased tremendously to keep them motivated to carry out thorough audit without being compromised.
4.6 Uganda police created an anti corruption unit under its criminal investigation department to be able to hunt down those who are stealing public funds with the swiftness required to nub them
4.7 Judiciary established an anti corruption division at the high court level to be able to expeditiously handle corruption cases and eliminate backlog.
4.8 The Department of Public Prosecution has been revamped and retooled to be able to carry out swift investigations and prosecution of corruption cases. Their officers have been trained and equipped with modern tools and investigative techniques in carrying out investigations into corruption cases.
4.9 The Public Accounts and Local Government Public Accounts committees of the parliament were created and given responsibility to scrutinize public expenditure and recommend appropriate actions against those found to be misusing public funds. These committees have been quite active.
4.10 The government has been supported by various development partners to refine and streamline public finance management systems making them robust and water tight to minimize wastage. A case in point is streamlining public procurement to ensure value for money delivered through competition.
4.11 Government has put in place ma number of judicial commissions of inquiry into corruption such as the one in the police, purchase of Junk helicopter, Uganda revenue Authority, Wild life Authority etc. On top of those commissions, government has sanctioned special audit and investigations into high profile corruption scandal e.g. CHOGM, National Security fund, to mention but a few.
4.12 Other actors like civil society have been carrying diagnostic studies mapping gaps and carrying out evidence based advocacy, mobilize communities to monitor government projects and programmes and empowering communities to demand for transparency and accountability from their leaders but this has been on a limited scale
4.13 TI-U as one of the leading anti corruption organizations in the country has been active in promoting transparency and accountability in service delivery in education and health sectors by carrying out public expenditure tracking in the two sectors resulting in production of risk maps. TI-U has also been active in sensitization of citizens to get involved in monitoring service delivery and participate in decision making processes in their communities. TI-U with assistance from TI Norway has initiated a programme aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in the private sector.
5.0 What accounts for high level of corruption despite enormous government effort to curb the vice?
5.1 With such government effort to fight corruption one would expect a decline in the vice. It’s a paradox that despite the effort corruption is on increase. There quite a number of reasons assumed to be responsible for this paradox these includes;
5.2 Lack of real political will to fight corruption. Despite good legal and institutional frame the government uses them selectively on those who have shown some sign of disagreeing with the main stream political system and ideology. This has resulted into patronage and impunity which make some individuals in government beyond the arm of the law hence at liberty to misuse public funds without being held responsible. This kind of selective prosecution of culprits has set bad precedent and leaves the anti corruption institutions powerless to act on the big shots, making them concentrate on small public officers who are within their reach.
5.3 Generally most of the anti corruption actors have over concentrated on the public sector (demand side) and neglected the private sector (supply side) hence shooting in one direction. The involvement of the private sector is critical in the fight against corruption especially in the highly liberalized and privatized economy like the Ugandan economy.
5.4 There is high degree of citizen apathy coupled with low civic competence leading low or lack of citizen demand for better service delivery and pressure on government to act decisively on those implicated in mismanagement of public funds. Instead many citizens take those who have stolen public resources as heroes instead of being social outcasts. This has energized the corrupt and helped them to embezzle public funds without fear of facing the public opinion court which would have scared them.
5.5 Weak oversight institutions and corruption in the justice, law and order sector has been instrumental in building the confidence of the corrupt officials. Believing and trusting that they can go away with whatever they do since they will have an option to bribe their way out. They are not scared of facing the law since there short cuts to escape justice.
5.6 Misused discretion of judicial officials while handling corruption cases; some punishmenst given to offenders have not been strong enough to scare away those harboring the intention of misusing public resources. Some offenders have been convicted and get away with right sentences like refund the money, caution or very light sentences which have not been sending a serious signal and commitment as well as being deterrent enough.
5.7 Political patronage and commercialization of politics where some politicians buy votes and thereafter recoup their investment through corruption. Many politicians also get involved in corruption to get money for buying future elections. With that kind of scenario some politicians justifies their actions of stealing public funds they feel they are not accountable to voters since they bought their votes and they can do it again.
5.8 Lack of direct financial contribution by citizens into running of government though paying direct taxes. This make some citizens reluctant to demand for better services and safeguard public resources even when it’s their constitutional duty as reflected in Article 17 (d & i) of the 1995 Constitution.
6.0 What should be done to fix the problem
6.1 There is an urgent need to mobilize, sensitize and empower citizens to demand for transparency, accountability, and value for money from their leaders. They should be sensitized to appreciate that their leaders are voted or appointed in public offices to serve them not to use public resources to fund their personal luxurious life style. This approach should target the masses but with special emphasis on the young people especially those in school and those who have left school. We should use their numerical advantage, flexibility and dynamism to be in position to lead the demand for good governance without being violent
6.2 There should be a deliberate intervention aimed at increasing citizen participation in monitoring utilization of public resources coupled with increased interface and dialogue between duty bearers/ leaders and the people they serve to share experiences and ideas on how best to improve service delivery in their localities. Pressure should be exerted by communities to their leaders to demand their leaders to be more responsive and sensitive to the needs and aspirations of the communities they lead.
6.3 The private sector should be brought on board if the fight against corruption is to register some success. The private sector should be made to appreciate that they have a moral and legal obligation to conduct ethical business devoid of corruption and any kind of malpractices. Helping them build internal mechanism to fight corruption in their organization/businesses.
6.4 All actors i.e. citizens, civil society organization, NGOs, development partners should work together exert pressure on top leadership of the country to decisively act against those implicated in corruption scandals. Political will is critical in this fight; this has been demonstrated by the success that has been registered in Rwanda where the President has come out and acted on the corrupt, dismantled patronage and impunity that facilitates corruption
6.5 Anti corruption Civil society organizations and public oversight institutions should be adequately facilitated to execute their mandate of mobilizing citizens to demand for accountability and transparency from their leaders as well as holding those acting contrary accountable.
6.6 There is a need for anti corruption actors to engage with judiciary and parliament to impress upon them their constitutional and moral duty to safeguard public resources.
6.7 The media should too be strengthened by building their capacity in corruption investigation skills to be able to publish evidence based media reports capable of generating public debate and action against those implicated.
6.8 Civil Society organizations and other actors should be supported to institute public interest litigation against those implicated in corruption but using their connection to avoid justice.
7.0 Conclusion.
7.1 As martin Luther King said “The tragedy is not the brutality of the evil but the silence of the good people”, the battle against corruption requires the participation of each one of us to do something about this vice because it affects humanity. I believe that corruption kills more people across the globe than terrorism. People die on dairy basis due to lack of medicine, absenteeism of health workers and inadequately equipped health centers. We all have different opportunities to make our simple contribution; for the development partners they have to use their good influence to push for increased accountability and transparency in the countries they are working in, for NGOs and CSO they have to ensure they act as island of integrity to demonstrate how things should be done while the private sector should demonstrate its commitment to do good business free from corruption. The battle against evil starts with the individual. It’s the civil will that will deliver political will against corruption and not the vice versa.
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