The Inspectorate of Government conducted an empirical study to measure corruption in Uganda, and some shocking figures were discovered.
The study found that yearly, Uganda loses at least Shs9.144 trillion to corruption in private and public institutions. In total 23% of the country’s annual budget is lost to corruption.
This study is the first of its kind and was initiated in 2021. It was funded by the German Government and conducted by The Government Transparency Institute (GTI), a nonpartisan think tank. They used a “red flag” methodology to analyze public procurement spending.
The report’s datasets were collected, deducted, and categorized in two broad forms, direct and indirect costs.
Direct costs denote costs to citizens in form of bribes. While indirect costs are costs that were generally hard to quantify in the research.
Some of the direct cost criteria measured include salaries paid despite absenteeism, which is estimated at Shs2.3 trillion per year.
Illegitimate contract awards (Shs858 billion), bribes to judicial officers (Shs762 billion), corruption in procurement processes (Shs614 billion), healthcare corruption (Shs191 billion), bribery in water and electricity utilities, as well as the corruption costs of unpaid utility fees (Shs478 billion,), and cost of bribing security personnel (Shs91 billion). It was estimated that Ugandans paid an average of Shs56,779 annually in bribing corrupt security officials.
As for indirect costs of corruption, the criteria and figures unveiled by the report are as follows, corruption in foreign direct investments net inflow (Shs18.5 billion), limited labor force supply in labor force participation rate (Shs320.5 billion), bribing judicial officers as well as high-interest rates that stop small and medium enterprises from submitting loan applications (Shs763 billion). Loss due to firms' misreporting and underreporting of value-added tax (Shs136 billion).
Speaker of Parliament Anita Among on Thursday expressed deep concerns about the alarming figures revealed in the report.
The speaker said “This is absurd because when we do appropriation of money and we are giving government money, the government [then] says there is no money yet money is siphoned out at a tune of Shs9.14 trillion. As IGG (Inspector General of Government), you still have a lot of work to do.”
The Inspector General of Government, MS. Kamaya also commented on the findings, noting that the corruption itself is not endemic, as sensitization would aid in reducing the figures. Her point was to change the mindset of Ugandans “so that people can adopt the ability to reject corruption.”
She said, “The challenge is mainly in corruption because the population has accepted corruption as a way of life,” she told Sunday Monitor in an interview on Friday, adding, “People should know that they are entitled to good service. They should replace that way of accepting corruption with the sense of entitlement.”
She also noted that the money lost to corruption, if recovered, could drastically improve the country's economic state.
Below is a rundown of the entire report.
Cost of corruption:
- Salaries paid despite absenteeism—Shs2.3 trillion
- Loss of Environment resources—Shs2.2 trillion
- Corruption in contract royalties—Shs859 billion
- Bribing judicial officers—Shs762 billion
- Corruption in procurement—Shs614 billion
What tackling corruption can save
- Security—Shs4.2 trillion
- Education—Shs3.4 trillion
- Agriculture—Shs760 billion
- Water and environment—Shs654 billion.