KARORO OKURUT
A literary and socio-political analyst

The last few weeks in Uganda are certainly some of the most eventful in recent memory in as far as the fight against corruption is concerned, and suggest that push has come to shove in what President Museveni labelled the “last war” or what the English men will call the final frontier.

The press pages and the airwaves have been choking on corruption-related news, you’d be excused to think there was nothing else that our press corps found worthy to talk about.

The crack down on fraud, dishonesty, bribery, embezzlement, theft and whatever other forms that corruption takes; the spare-no-one approach that the government has embraced, tackling big individuals and high-sounding institutions suggests that time is nigh up for those who practice corruption.

The National Drug Authority (NDA), the institution that regulates the use and possession of drugs, is under investigation following allegations that certain individuals therein have been happy to look the other way as acts that compromise the safety of Ugandans are carried out right under their noses, with some folks in high places directly involved.

Recently a special monitoring unit that the President set up headed by Dr. Diana Atwine to fight corruption in the drugs industry followed up drugs to a clinic in Ntinda and arrested the culprits. Some 650 doses of Lumartem anti-malaria tablets — which are supposed to be free of charge at public health centres— were impounded.

Corruption in the NDA has two critical implications: first the safety of drugs available on the market can be compromised by the regulatory authority allowing unscrupulous people to bring in or sell fake or substandard drugs, something that directly impacts on the unsuspecting public who have almost blind faith in the drugs they find in hospitals and pharmacies, only to end up dying of the ‘cure’ rather than the ailment.

Pharmacies that do not mean minimum standards are given licenses. That means even people who do not qualify to dispense drugs are fully licensed to do so, along with the unlearned advice that accompanies every dispensation of drugs. And there is the very sorry tale of expired drugs being allowed into the Ugandan market because powerful individuals high up in the regulatory authority have been paid to look the other way.

But secondly, it also impacts directly on the sheer availability of drugs to people in time of need. Many of the consignments sent to health centres never get there. The common man who waits for that opportunity of treatment in the public health facilities has to wait until they either die or get treatment elsewhere because a lot of the medicine ends up in private clinics. Hospitals make orders for drugs and they spend months in pipeline.

The Minister of Agriculture, Hope Mwesigye, has set up a taskforce to inquire into the theft and misuse of funds (we are talking about sh80b) invested in the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS). So far 12 NAADS officials in Iganga district are in jail. More are sure to join them.

In Karamoja, the Minister for Karamoja, Janet Museveni, has called for investigation of all NAADS officials in the Karamoja sub-region, citing misappropriation of funds.

At a time when the country is pursuing the optimal path of increased agricultural production through moving from subsistence to commercial farming, the problems in NAADS come at a most unfortunate moment.

The country has witnessed a rather dubious phenomenon; NAADS officials bribing farmers who are already established and have farms, so that these farms are passed off as NAADS projects.

The money that was actually dispensed for the pilot project is then gobbled up by the officials. And worse, the farmers who are supposed to use the pilot projects to learn how to improve their own farms, lose out on the opportunity because there is actually nothing they can learn. So they stay in the same position they were in before, yet government mistakenly assumes that all is well. This creates a dangerously deceptive situation, government planning on the basis of false evidence and, therefore, failing in the long term.

The National Forestry Authority is also under fire, its chief executive officer suspended and many officials under investigation.

The rot in the Ministry of Education will also soon be exposed when a special probe into the theft of funds meant for programmes like free primary and secondary education takes off.

Let’s move over to the much-discussed probe into the handling of the funds for the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

It just turns out that the hundreds of billions sank into the CHOGM project was not handled with due faithfulness.

Parliament has sank its teeth into the matter, calling on relevant officials and politicians to explain why some bills were inflated by sometimes as much as 40 or 50% and why clearly laid down procedures of public procurement were flouted. It appears money changed hands in a manner most unlawful and Parliament is eager to hear why this was allowed to happen.

The Inspector General of Government, the body appointed to ensure integrity in government, is also doing a commendable job, with several public officials recently interdicted over corruption.

Apart from the institutions fighting corruption, one must also address oneself to the fact that even in terms of legislation, Uganda is doing quite well, with the most recent example being that the Anti-Corruption Act has now been replaced with a far more comprehensive Prevention of Corruption Act that also establishes a special court to try corruption cases.

Nevertheless we need to ensure as a country that those accused of corruption are given a fair hearing, and that they enjoy every benefit of the appeal mechanisms, lest we, in a fit of emotional displays, throw innocent people into jail.

We also need to strengthen our investigative machinery to ensure that enough evidence is collected, as most of the accused often get off the hook because of lack of evidence.

Having said that, it is nice to know that thieving officials are already quaking as more suspects are brought forth. The guns against corruption are out: blaze, blaze blaze!

Like the President said, everybody must join the fight against corruption — we must root out this cancer… enough is enough!