The most expensive stick in Africa

There is corruption everywhere in Uganda, and it threatens to short circuit the country’s ambitious process of democratisation

Inomo, Apac - On a brown and barren field in Inomo in northern Uganda is a thin wooden stick. It was inserted into the soil two years ago by an entrepreneur who had received 7.5 million Ugandan shillings – the equivalent of six annual salaries for a Ugandan teacher – in order to build a borehole for 3,000 poor people who live in the area. He has not been seen since, and the stick stands where it was inserted back then.
Tom Opwonya calls it the most expensive stick in Africa. He is the Coordinator of The Apac Anti Corruption Coalition, TAACC, which resides in the nearby town, Apac. TAACC is a coalition of 28 local voluntary organisations and it works to provide the local population with an overview of the political pledges made, including the borehole in Inomo.
Tom Opwonya does not doubt that the entrepreneur has paid a ‘kick back’ to the local politicians in order to obtain the lucrative contract. Neither does he doubt that the entrepreneur has no plans to return and complete the work. The 7.5 million Shillings are now a part of his private bank account. 
The same applies to the so-called Apac Youth Road on the outskirts of the town – a road project which was supposed to have improved children’s route to their school, but which never materialised since an entrepreneur has pocketed the 17.5 million shillings which the project cost. Tom Opwonya indicates how far the work has progressed. Today, two years after signing the contract, the only sign of Apac Youth Road is 100 meters of overgrown car tracks which end in a small swampy area. The grotesque thing is that the entrepreneur has reported on the completion of the road to the government in Kampala.
TAACC was established as a local reaction to the widespread corruption which penetrates not only the area of Apac but the whole of Uganda, and which threatens to short circuit the country’s ambitious process of democratisation.
- Corruption in Uganda is well-coordinated and involves both politicians and civil servants, says David Ebong, who is an independent Member of the Ugandan Parliament and involved in the work of Tom Opwonya and TAACC.
- Personal connections are of highest value in Uganda, but sometimes it would be nice if one was to sacrifice a friendship in order to secure that the poorest areas and populations of Uganda receive the money that has been pledged to them, he finds.
Uganda rates 105 on the international anti-corruption organisation Transparency International’s list of perceptions of corruption amongst civil servants and politicians, while Denmark rates just below the least corrupt countries of Finland, Iceland and New Zealand. Uganda’s place on the list creates worry amongst the many international donors which pump millions of dollars into the country. 
The Danish Ambassador, Stig Barlyng, has cried out for the need for a more whole-hearted effort against corruption. He feels that Uganda is fundamentally moving in the right direction, but that the success of democratisation to a large extent depends on the efforts against corruption. 
Said he, during the opening of an anti-corruption workshop at Hotel Africana in Kampala earlier this year: - We have seen progress in the establishment of basic, institutional and judicial structures in the struggle against corruption, but in Ugandan society there is still an extensive perception of corruption being widespread, institutionalised and rapidly spreading.
- It scares both foreign and domestic investors away, impedes economic growth and increases inequality, he continued. 
Today, five month’s later, he notes with satisfaction that some things are happening in this area.
- There is at the moment an interesting debate about corruption, he says and refers to the corruption scandal in relation to the payments from the UN’s Global Fund to fight malaria, tuberculosis and hiv/aids in Uganda. The scandal has led to corruption charges against three former ministers of health as well as a high-ranking civil servant. The court case against them began in the middle of July.
- It is also worth noting that President Yoweri Museveni has sharpened the tone against corruption since the scandal hit the newspaper headlines during the spring, he says.
The Ambassador refers to the fact that in June Museveni stated in a press release that “NRM (the ruling party, ed.) and the Ugandan army has never accepted and will never, during my rule, accept or cover up corruption or crimes. Full stop”. During his annual address to the Ugandan nation a few days later, the President emphasised that the government leads a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption.
This ought to be sweet words, but several [people] think that this is ordinary talk-shop politics from Museveni. A journalist from one of the influential media in Uganda tells [the Danish newspaper] Kristeligt Dagblad:
- Museveni makes these strong cases against corruption because there is heavy external pressure on him from the donors. It is signal politics. The threads from the [Global Fund] corruption scandal also reach into the President’s palace to the circle surrounding his wife, but nobody dares say or write that in public.
This is exactly why the Apac Member of Parliament does not believe in immediate success at the national level. Rather they should use their efforts locally, he thinks.
- I sense that in the areas around Apac there is a lot of support for the work we do. I feel a strong commitment amongst the civil society to document corrupt behaviour and to do something about the problem, he says.
The work in TAACC is supported by the Danish development organisation Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, MS, which has its largest country programme in Uganda. They also believe in the importance of working from the bottom-up to educate people about democracy.
- The Ugandan education system has historically prioritised general knowledge and facts, says Alex Jurua, who is the project coordinator of MS’ democracy programme in Uganda.
- One has not focused on the skills which makes a person democratically minded and thereby independent and participatory. We are therefore working to develop democratic value systems in Ugandans and educate them about honesty, responsibility and solidarity. It is important that the Ugandans understand their rights and obligations so they learn to participate and to keep their politically elected leaders accountable for their actions, says he.
In Apac, part of this work takes place every Thursday evening, when the local Radio Apac focuses on corruption in the local language, Lango. In a small, hot broadcasting studio in a short building a few hundred meters from the office of TAACC, experts, amongst others, Tom Opwonya, explain the law and which rights Ugandans have when they encounter corruption. The listeners can call the programme with their dilemmas and receive advice. On the veranda by the entrance is a poster which boldly exclaims that the price of corruption is under-development and human suffering. They play the same song in between the listeners’ calls and the experts’ advice. It is Bob Marley’s voice one can hear. The lyrics go:
“There is corruption everywhere

Something for something

Nothing for nothing

Corruption in society”.

Translation from Danish by Line Engbo Gissel, Danish Development Worker in Uganda for MS - Danish  Association for International Cooperation.