Prime
Why Uganda's 20 watchdogs have failed to stop corruption
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja (left) and the Inspector General of Government Beti Kamya, during the International Anti-corruption Day in Kampala on December 10, 2024. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- Lyn Ayebare, Kennedy Secondary School,S3: “If they give you money to renovate a road and you take that money, there are going to be many accidents.”
- Jacob Eyeru, chairperson of the National Youth Council said: “The youth of the country want to see that the fight against corruption is taken to the places that hurt them most, for example, the health sector and education sector.”
- Rose Lilly Akello, Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity: “We commit ourselves to work hard and hand-in-hand with all the citizens of this country to fight this virus.”
After the anthems had played, a prayer followed. Pastor Joshua Lwere asked the almighty God to help Uganda overcome the “scourge” of corruption. But as the wait for divine intervention continues, the more than 20 government agencies mandated to deal with it are limping in their efforts, as the country now losses more than the previously estimated Shs10 trillion to new faces of corruption.
Officially, there are 20 agencies listed under the umbrella of Inter-Agency Forum Against Corruption (IAF), including the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity (DEI) – Secretariat, Inspectorate of Government (IG), Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID), Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), Office of the Auditor General (OAG), Uganda Revenue Authority, Anti-Corruption Court, Internal Security Organisation, State House Anti-Corruption Unit, and Accountant General Office.
The others are Judicial Service Commission, Public Service Commission, Education Service Commission, Local Government Finance Commission, Ministry of Public Service (Inspectorate), Ministry of Local Government (Inspectorate), Inspectorate of Courts, Justice Law and Order Secretariat, and Accountability Sector Secretariat.
The Forum was established to bring together the different agencies in the “pursuit for zero tolerance to corruption”, but their success is easily eclipsed by the ever increasing amounts of taxpayer money stolen.
As the country marked International Day against Corruption in Kampala yesterday, it emerged that despite all these interventions and agencies, corruption is increasing and taking on new forms, further undermining development and service delivery.
Ms Beti Kamya, the Inspector General of Government (IGG), said corruption has taken on new faces, morphing into sophisticated and syndicated rings that are not only difficult to crack, but also cause a lot of loss.
“While we normally focus on the traditional faces of corruption like bribery, embezzlement, falsification of accountability documents, procurement malpractices, tax evasions through under declaration and non-declaration of taxable business, ghost employees and ghost facilities, absenteeism, inflation of pay rolls, human resource (HR) management malpractices, environmen-
tal degradation etc, which is estimated to cost about Shs10 trillion per year, we learnt that there is actually very big corruption out there, often not talked about,” she said.
Ms Kamya cited cybercrime and transitional frauds, and impersonation of government officials to con investors as the most recent avenues where money is stolen.
"Financial institutions are defrauded of hundreds of billions of shillings, usually channeled through government systems and processes, aided by government officials. The recent syphoning of Shs60b from BoU is a typical example of a common occurrence in most financial institutions in Uganda today,” she added.
The disappearance of the Shs60b had initially been disguised as a hacking job by some shadowy group, but it was later discovered to have been an inside job by officials in the institution and the Ministry of Finance. Government officials, she noted, are also aiding the stealing from investors, which is then laundered by buying property here or abroad. There is a powerful syndicate that includes government officials.
How it is executed
Conmen lure investors to Uganda, masquerading as senior government officials,the investors are received with full government splendour, including police escorts and lead cars, driven in posh vehicles, flying the national flag, with government number plates, they are led to government boardrooms
where they meet “top government officials”, transact business and by the time the investor get wise, they have been fleeced of millions of dollars.
In 2023, President Museveni established the State House Investors Protection Unit to specifically deal with corruption affecting investors. According to data on their website, the Unit has so far received 557 complaints - 409 and 149 from local and international investors, respectively.
Corruption in the private sector also hurts the whole country because it makes Uganda an expensive economy in which to do business because the cost of corruption ends up in the price and quality of goods and services, which makes Uganda a less competitive market.
Defence of agencies Ms Kamya, who heads a lead agency in the would-be fight against corruption, however, defended the agencies, saying each plays a specific role, adding that they are hamstrung by multiple challenges. In their joint statement delivered by the Auditor General, Edward Akol, the anticorruption agencies highlighted 10 challenges said to be failing the fight.
These include moral decay and glorification of corrupt individuals, which has normalised the vice, judicial delays, political interference, critical staffing gaps and underfunding, among others.
Kamya said all agencies are underfunded, which cripples their work.
"The collective annual budget of the IG, OAG, PPDA, DPP, FIA, DEI, LCT etc is about Shs320b, half of it being for statutory expenditure, i.e. salaries, Paye, NSSF, Gratuity, etc. Surely...does such a budget reflect government's seriousness to combat the monster called corruption?” she wondered.
Ms Kamya added: “Just to give you a comparison of what happens elsewhere, in Tanzania, the equivalent of Uganda IG has 100 regional offices to Uganda’s 16 regional offices and 2,300 employees to Uganda’s 407 employees. Tanzania has a population of about 60 million while Uganda has 46 million people. The government needs to demonstrate commitment to fight corruption through its budgeting priorities.”
Even with the said challenges, Mr Marlon Agaba, the executive director at the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, said there is lack of a political will.
“At the time when we had a chance to address corruption in the 1990s, we did not. The political leaders did not address corruption, especially political corruption, which rose and we are now having corruption as a culture. The political failure to address corruption in its nascent stages is one that set the ground for what we are seeing now. We have corruption in Uganda mostly because of lack of political will,” he said.
In the 2023 Corruption Perception index,which ranked countries based on how their public sector is perceived to be, Uganda scored 26 points out of 100, falling in the “highly” corrupt nations.
Museveni message
President Museveni, in a speech delivered by the Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabanja, however, rallied Ugandans to report all corruption tendencies and tasked anti-graft watchdogs to map out ministries, departments and agencies, and local governments that are prone.
“These should include digitizing delivery of services where possible to minimise face to face interactions; strengthening internal and external audit; monitoring of government projects such Parish Development Model, road construction etc., to ensure effective execution; strengthening mechanisms for involving the people in fighting corruption and inculcating the culture of integrity in homes, schools, churches, businesses and public sector agencies,” he said.
“It is important that all members of the public are moved to the point where the high awareness levels we have today on corruption, translate into action against it. Ugandans should not shy away from reporting incidences of corruption and giving evidence in courts against the suspects,” he added.
Mr Museveni, whose government listed elimination of corruption and abuse of power in its foundational principles commonly known as the Ten-Point Programme upon taking power in 1986, has been rocked by multiple multi-billion dollar corruption scandals, and often accused of failing to decisively deal with the vice.
The NRM government has also superinteded over the ‘violent crashing’ of anti-corruption crusaders, including the July March to Parliament protests that sought accountability from Parliament officials.
Nearly 40 years later, Museveni is concerned that unbated corruption will fail major aspirations of the country.
“As you are aware, our country is implementing Vision 2040 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The development plans aim at transforming Uganda into a middle-income status, providing a high quality life to citizens by the year 2040...Although Uganda is blessed with numerous natural resources, a relatively well developed infrastructure, an educated youth and hardworking workforce, as well as its strategic location in the region, we cannot achieve this goal without eradicating corruption,” he said.
He added: Corruption undermines the rule of law, erodes trust in public institutions and disproportionately affects vulnerable populations.”
Mr Museveni, however, reiterated government's commitment to fighting corruption by empowering the agencies in place, strengthening the legal and institutional framework and partnering with international and regional bodies to fight corruption.
Postives
Mr Akol, yesterday announced that the country has registered some successes in the past years. The IG, DPP, CID, and State House Anti-Corruption Unit received 693,264 complaints involving abuse of office, conf lict of interest, land disputes, nepotism, impersonation, tax evasion, recruitment irregularities, and forgery.
They prosecuted and convicted 136 public officials, recovered Shs67.1b and instituted disciplinary action against more than 11,000 public officials.
He added that the agencies have adopted multiple strategies to address the loopholes in the fight, among them, strengthening family values, enhanced stakeholder engagements and scaling up investigations and prosecutions of corruption cases.
The lifestyle audit, which Ms Kamya maintains is the key to racing illicit wealth, remains on table, as well as digitisation of public works. This year's commemoration run under the theme “Promoting effective participation of the youth in the war Against corruption”with a clarion call for youth to be involved in the fight. The day is recognised globally on December 9.
