Do we lack institutions of integrity or integrity of institutions?

Last week the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) held its 9th Economic Forum. The Forum brings together members and non-members to discuss and share ideas on topical issues affecting the economy.

The mission of the institute is to regulate the accountancy profession in Uganda and beyond in public Interest. Therefore every citizen should have interest in the activities of the institute because the actions and inactions of the institute and its members affect the general public. 

This year’s theme was “Stimulating Economic Growth and Development for Sustainability”. This was a timely theme as the world is grappling with sustainability challenges that are normally summarised into Environmental, Social and governance issues.

Among the topics presented under the theme there was one that appealed the need for  value system change and national culture building that caught my attention i.e. “Quality control and Value Addition in agriculture: Harnessing the benefits”

This topic generated a lot of debate. The central question was what went wrong with Uganda’s quality controls systems? It is agreeable that value addition in the agriculture value chain has a lot of potential to turn around the country’s fortunes. To exploit this potential however quality control is essential at each stage of the value chain. Recently quality concerns have led to significant losses in foreign exchange earnings for instance the rejection of Uganda’s maize exports to Kenya led significant losses to the country.

According to Grebe and Minka Institutions of integrity refer to “institutionalised norms and codes of behaviour that bind individual behaviour and shape the context of individual integrity, including that of leaders.”  Those institutions define the dos and don’ts of an individual. Individual integrity on the other hand relates to individual character traits; it is concerned with moral choices of an individual according to the set norms and rules. Individual integrity is further concerned with consistency between words and actions.  Integrity of institutions is described as having institutions are fit for purpose and correctly functioning. 

In Uganda for instance we have several institutions in the agricultural value chain with norms and codes to constrain individual behaviour but we still have challenges of poor quality inputs and output. What went wrong? Is it lack of institutions of integrity or Integrity of Institutions? To achieve purposeful value addition in agricultural sector that in central for development the outcome of the interaction between individual integrity, institutions of integrity and integrity of institutions is very important. This is in addition to improving other variables like human development Index, Market and Infrastructure.

My view is that Uganda mostly lacks integrity of institutions and individual integrity. As a country we have accepted cheating at all levels in all sectors. That is why you see buildings collapsing very often.  It is high time we embarked on rebuilding our value systems as a country. We have institutions that integrity? We have managers and leaders but lack integrity?  The role of curriculum and the family in inculcating values in the young generation is key here. Values alone are not enough without correct actions. The accountability agencies such as auditor general, the police and Directorate of public prosecutions and the oversight mechanism in general are merely one manifestation of institutions of integrity but do not in themselves produce ethical leaders.

CPA Edson Serve Ashabahebwa Member of ICPAU