District bosses most corrupt in Uganda, says report
LOCAL Government continues to be the most corrupt institution in Uganda, with Kampala district taking the lead, according to the Inspector General of Government’s (IGG) annual report released to Parliament yesterday.
By Barbara Among
LOCAL Government continues to be the most corrupt institution in Uganda, with Kampala district taking the lead, according to the Inspector General of Government’s (IGG) annual report released to Parliament yesterday.
The report said corruption in the district administration is so high that jobs are bought and district contractors committees must be bribed for contracts to do work for the district.
The IGG reported that 20% of all the complaints received between January and June were against the district administration. Kampala topped with 487 complaints, Masaka came second with 76 complaints, Jinja third with 68, Soroti 58 and Moyo 49.
The acting IGG, Raphael Baku, said the number of complaints received was used to gauge how corrupt institutions were.
He said the complaints were from the district leaders and other whistle blowers. The common complaints against district administrators included mismanagement and misappropriation of public resources, abuse of office, embezzlement, mishandling of tenders and contracts and property disputes.
The districts receive funds from the central government every year. In the last two financial years, they received a total of sh2.5 trillion. In addition, they are expected to internally generate revenue. The report said most of this money is not accounted for.
The report showed that individual public officials were in the second highest category complained against.
The third most complained against category included municipal council and town councils. In fourth place were schools.
The Police came fifth, down from last year’s third position. Local councils ranked sixth.
Baku said his office handled a total of 4,089 complaints, of which 184 were investigated and completed. This year, the IGG lodged 21 new corruption cases in court, bringing the total to 91 ongoing cases.