Iron sheets scandal exposes need for political will to fight corruption

Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of Ugandan society to the extent that as a people, we have become far too used to hearing stories about fraud in public service. This fraudulent conduct by public officials is one of the major reasons for the escalating collapse of social  infrastructure and failure by the government to deliver social services  as citizens are hurt disproportionately.

Last week, during the sixth Joan Kagezi  Memorial Lecture in Munyonyo, President Museveni admitted that corruption has stalled Uganda’s development and made the general population poorer and that our big problem now is corruption by public officials who must go to jail, lose opportunities of leadership and pay back everything they have stolen.

The most recent scandal of iron sheets and goats meant for the Karamoja Empowerment Programme is one of those many symptoms of the general malaise in the government institutions, the enormity of the ways in which the state structures operate and the degree of vulnerability  of the citizens, especially the poor.

While we have adequate policies, several anti-corruption agencies, presidential directives and institutional frameworks to ensure that the country has leaders of integrity, little - if any - has been achieved. Instead statistics show that Uganda is consistently ranked low (142nd least corrupt nation out of 180 countries) in the Corruption Perceptions Index as reported by Transparency International 2022.

Corruption in Uganda does not happen as a matter of negligence or poor oversight but rather  as  acts of willful intent to defraud government resources. There is an ever-increasing elite corruption of NRM’s patronage system that reinforces government’s recurrent and wasteful spending, unregulated borrowing and approval of endless supplementary budgets amidst worsening delivery of social services.

Many times we have heard the president’s tough talk against corruption but regrettably the next day we see worse reports of bureaucratic corruption by those closer to him. There is growing open greed, outright incompetence and poor ethical behaviour  across all sectors of the economy. Most of our leaders are so ineffective in their roles that they cannot effectively manage their teams or hold  them accountable for their actions.

While the  State House Anti-Corruption Unit, the police and office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have taken up the mantle to bring to book the perpetrators of Karamoja iron sheets scandal, it is unlikely that courts will ever resolve such corruption cases because the powerful officials and those favoured by the government and the ruling political party will be  protected from complete prosecution.

If indeed what we are currently seeing in the trial  of government officials involved in the iron sheets scandal is the start of a new wave of decisive political will against the deep-seated corruption, the investigations and prosecutions should not remain focused on a few of the suspects as others continue to enjoy luminary treatment. Let all the implicated ‘fishermen and women’ step aside and open themselves up for investigation until they are proven innocent.

Graft in Ugandan society has morphed and permeated all sections of society  beyond the  citizens’ imagination. Institutions like the Church that used to give citizens hope and fight evil have equally not been spared -especially new-generation churches.

We need concerted efforts  and political will to holistically deal with corruption and fighting it should not only be reactionary in form probes, a few arrests and prosecutions but rather preventive-something that the NRM government lacks..

We expect urgent and more proactive firm action from the president and fellow leaders because most of the socio-economic challenges grappled by Ugandans are linked to the corruption menace.

Otherwise, for now the public remains skeptical of the government’s anti-graft rhetoric until we see real commitment to address the root causes that lie near the heart of the  NRM political system.

Mr Andrew Mafundo is the  executive director –Citizens Concern Africa.               [email protected]