Corruption Taking a Heavy Toll on Ordinary Ugandans-DGF

The shortage of medicines in health facilities, poor roads, the deteriorating performance in education institutions and waning Agricultural productivity is evidence of the toll that corruption has had on the lives of ordinary citizens across Uganda.  

The warning was sounded by the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), a basket fund established by Development Partners to contribute to equitable growth, poverty eradication, rule of law and long term stability in Uganda.

The DGF Head of Facility Wim Stoffers says that services to Ugandans are lost as a result of corruption in sectors that drive the economy and have a direct bearing on the daily lives of the citizens.

//Cue in; “Because citizens are… 

Cue out…mention a few.”//  

Stoffers also urged the NGO Board to give an opportunity to Non-Government Organizations that did not validate themselves in the recent verification exercise to do so, because their work is very important to Ugandans. The government announced last week that they had ceased the operations of over 12,000 unscrupulous NGOs that failed to validate themselves.     

This subject came up this morning as key Anti-corruption stakeholders; Action Aid, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, Transparency International and Government’s Ethics and Integrity Ministry launched the 6th Anti-Corruption Caravan in Kampala. 

The Caravan will spend 10 days from November 18 to 29, on a journey that will take it to 11 districts in the four sub regions of Bunyoro, West Nile, Acholi and Lango, documenting cases of corruption, transparency, accountability and service delivery gaps.   

Xavier Ejoyi, the Country Director of Action Aid used the occasion to call for the enactment of the witness protection law to facilitate the work of whistleblowers. He equally urged the government to Strengthen Anti-Corruption Institutions by financing them, instead of creating parallel anti-corruption institutions that may weaken existing structures.   

//Cue in; “The Government should… 

Cue out…already in place.”//   

Lillian Zawedde Ssenteza, the program coordinator of Transparency International says they expect agencies like the Electoral Commission to ensure free and fair elections, in order to ensure that the leaders that come into offices are of integrity and not corrupt. 

Corruption Ranking in Uganda averaged 115.45 from 1996 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 151 in 2016 and a record low of 43 in 1996. The 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Uganda as the 149 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries.