Corruption Is Such A Serious Problem, If You Didn’t Know.

SIR— According to your May 4 edition, finance minister Gerald Sendaula, recently lamented to the committee probing election violence that the photo voter registration and identification cost, had dramatically risen by almost 200% from the initial figure of sh11bn to a colossal sh32bn!Furthermore, that the Government has always been taken aback whenever it is told to add more money, something he says had happened on more than one occasion in this particular exercise.May I remind those who may be shocked by these events at the Electoral Commission and its line ministry that we have had similar upswings in budgets for certain public projects before. When Kampala City Council contracted Fair Construction and Mukalazi Technical Services to build the New Taxi Park, the initial cost was low. So the public was made to believe it was at sh800m. By the time the two companies finished the construction, shoddy workmanship really, the total cost had been revised to sh2bn.The construction of the most beautiful house in Uganda, others will say in the whole of East Africa, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) building, was revised upwards several times before reliable ROKO Construction came in to save the situation.The upgrading of the Owen Falls Dam underwent similar changes in costs and, if I remember well, the construction of Namboole stadium, too.The cause of all this is corruption. A bidder wins such a contract usually because their bid was lowest. However, their competence and superiority over rival bidders are issues often not given the critical attention they deserve. And the immediate contracting authority is always well aware of the consequences of the oversights; but because the kitu kidogo will most probably have been at play, the undeserving convenient winner begins work. With heads buried in the sand, the two parties proceed despite the anomalies, hoping things will sort themselves out in due course. Sooner than later, they run into problems.It is what leads to drastic changes in the budgets as the parties involved soon come face to face with the actual costs of the quality of work agreed in the contract. Building materials, equipment, labour and consultancy stand out clearly with their real prices.In the end, the work is haphazardly done at the initially agreed cost or slightly more. And the contractors will not sue since they will have been party to all the deals. As for the public, they can shout their voices hoarse since it’s likely going to stop at that.The other likely result is a piece of work done according to the standard agreed in the contract. But the under-pricing in order to win the contract, the over-pricing when work has begun, the kick-backs here and there and the coming in of other components not included in the bid earlier, will combine to send the total cost soaring. This disease has other complications I believe, and eliminating it is a real struggle because it is well entrenched. But since the Government is doing something about it, we can only hope for the best.Ignatius KabagambeMbale