Dr. Enock Kibuuka

EDITOR: The New Vision newspaper of Thursday, July 27, published a headline, “Software to catch corrupt leaders okayed.”

Under this on page 3, it was reported that while meeting a delegation from the Republic of Azerbaijan, President Yoweri K. Museveni agreed to introduce this new digital system in Uganda aimed at curbing corruption and increasing efficiency and quality in public sector administration.

The system dubbed Azerbaijan Service and Assessment Network (ASAN) is also said to be used in Canada, United Kingdom (UK), and Georgia and that it is said to have significantly increased transparency and efficiency in service delivery in public sector in those countries.

In his communication, President Museveni sounded exuberant and optimistic about ASAN and that is how he okayed it to be introduced in Uganda essentially giving us hope that ASAN will be a magic pill to combating corruption in Uganda.

I don’t share even an iota of this optimism. Uganda is not short of software, agencies or institutions that can fight and stamp out corruption. 

Rather, the missing link is the lack of political will to fight corruption both by government and the President himself. Our approach to politics is the exact reason corruption has become the blood vessel in public sector without which the regime cannot survive. The moment politics became transactional and a source of economic survival in this country, government then lost the war on corruption.

If politicians and public servants are still racing to build inconceivably mansion houses call them palaces to where they even host fellow politicians and religious leaders ostensibly for ‘thanksgiving’, drive the most expensive cars on the market, own hundreds of land titles and erect huge apartments in the known city suburbs, but all these happening without a meaningful audit and check from the Government, we can only hallucinate about fighting corruption.

Corruption in Uganda has become so perverse that even when ASAN is brought into the country, it may not catch even a single thief. Instead, it will be stolen without its knowledge.

Like many other African countries, our approach to politics is Machiavellian in nature. Nicole Machiavelli’s political philosophy was crude enough: capture power, control and consolidate it for political longevity.

To achieve this, a prince (leader) must economically incapacitate his subjects which puts them in a feeble position as prey for easy compromise and purchase; give his subjects just mean education to help accumulate average minds that can easily be manipulated and mitigate critical assessment and evaluation of regime’s uncouth excesses; allows his subjects blind freedom to do “anything” they want as long as they don’t threaten the prince’s sole power and authority, and in case the subjects seem to threaten the prince’s sole authority and power, the prince must then resist such threats with absolute ferocity.

This green card to freedom also helps to divert people’s attention from concentrating on the shortfalls of the regime. After all, the masses are also free to do what they want without the State’s control, why then do they bother the prince? Machiavelli also advises leaders to create but weaken institutions.

This helps the prince to appear like the sole person who can ‘solve’ people’s problems since they don’t have confidence in the institutions. So the institutions are just a public show as long as those managing these institutions can be allowed to “eat”, they are not bothered by the prince’s micromanagement.  

Above all, Machiavelli advises, that a prince must allow those around him and others to “eat”, accumulate wealth and he must not threaten their wealth. Otherwise, they will gang against him and he will lose his power because to Machiavelli, “man forgets so easily the person who killed his father than the person who stole his wealth.”\

In Uganda, we are not short of agencies and strategies to fight corruption. Let me list some of them.

Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU), Anti-Corruption Public-Private Partnership (ACPPP), Anti-Corruption Strategy (ACS), Auditor General (AG), Accountability Sector (AS), Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit (BMAU), Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), Committee on Commission Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Directorate of Ethics and Integrity (DEI), Data Tracking Mechanism (DTM), which I suspect is synonymous with ASAN, Internal Auditor General (IAG), Inspectorate General of Government (IGG), National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), National Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation Systems (NIMES), Office of Auditor General (OAG), Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Public Expenditure Management Committee (PEMCOM), Public Finance Management (PFM), Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), Public Service Inspection Unit (PSIU), Sector Wide Approach (SWAP), State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU), the Commercial Court of Uganda, Zero-Tolerance to Corruption Policy (ZTCP), District Integrity Promotion Forums (DIPFs), to mention but a few. Uganda government also ratified the African Union Convention on Combating and Preventing Corruption (AUCPCC), as well as the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).

Which answer can government provide to the question why all these initiatives and efforts have failed to combat corruption in Uganda? How magical will ASAN be in combating a vice that all the above tools have failed to eliminate?

How have the corrupt in government succeeded in eluding all the above “traps” that were put in place to trap them? One would be right to say that Uganda is in a state of a chimera. According to the Greek mythology, a chimera is a monster-like creature with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, a serpent’s tail, and mouth that vomits fire frames. A chimera is not only confusing but also scary and a symbol of disorder.

This is the exact socio-economic and political abyss that Uganda is ensconced. It is no longer a secret to confess that Ugandan society is infested with corruption where it is almost impossible to get a service without offering a bribe; where public funds are syphoned on a daily basis and the real culprits are not held accountable; where many public and civil servants and politicians are miraculously owning and amassing property and real estate without anyone checking this out; where anyone can camouflage as a pastor and erect ‘churches’ with makeshifts and begins to ‘preach’ the gospel, with no formal theological training and instruction; where anyone can become the “owner” of that Boda-boda or taxi stage and begins demanding for rent from fellow motorists.

All this happening at the sight of Government.

Fighting corruption does not require wearing gloves to box the culprit. The thief must receive naked blows, punches and knuckles. This is how Lew Kuan Yew created a clean Government in Singapore.

Government must have the political will to fight corruption, the cost of getting into political office must be reduced and this can only be achieved by significantly reducing the salaries, allowances and emoluments of politicians, government must operationalize the National Ethical Values Policy (NEVP).

Sometime back around 2011, President Museveni had asked (either jokingly or seriously) Parliament to amend the Anti-Corruption law to insert a section that would allow him to hang those who steal government money. I would also suggest firing squad for all those who have looted and still looting this country with impunity. President Museveni should adopt this approach. Otherwise, Uganda’s future is ominous.

Dr. Enock Kibuuka

Educational Policy Consultant