36 YEARS WITH SOPHISTICATED CRIMINALS

In 1986 when the NRM / A captured power I was a trainee accountant in Uganda Commercial Bank - Jinja Main. 

When President Museveni talked about having zero tolerance to corruption in Government, I was one of those who hoped for a real miracle.

36 years down the road, it is just the worst experience in my life. I thank God for the gift of life. I am a victim of the most sophisticated criminality. In 2010, I seriously wanted to raise money to help the development efforts of Namutamba Parish (Mityana District) where I grew. God was on my side in that the idea to use fundraising to stand for President in 2011 came to my mind.

I had hoped to participate as one of the Presidential candidates with no chance of winning, but I would have the money that would help my dream turn true of starting on the development efforts in Namutamba Parish.

I got it wrong. When NRM came to power, there was the evolution of a group of people who imagine that Uganda is theirs and others are secondary citizens.

The group that I may call the mafia surrounded me. They instead benefited from the communication I made in fundraising for President of Uganda. My email: williamkituuka@hotmail.com became inaccessible to me. I was only to realize that towards nominations for President in 2010, I had not received any funds, and I just got out of the race.

This group has benefited from knowing that they cut off the contacts with one’s donor and when one checks with his or her bankers, the question they pose is: “Can you provide proof for money having been sent to you?”. That is where Uganda has graduated to!

When you have people who are tempted to do wrong simply because they are near power circles, what do you do?

I did not know that 2010 was the beginning for me never to access funds from outside Uganda though I believe I am one of the best at fundraising in the country.

Uganda is most unfortunate. With a Public debt at shs 72 trillion, we have policy makers who do not give Ugandans with the ability to raise funds from outside the country opportunity to access such money because many such people if not converted NRM members, they are an enemy to the current Government! As far as I am concerned, this is being short sighted. What does it cost to monitor what a person spends such money on? Where the money we are unable to access when from outside sources goes, only heavens can tell.

As I write this article, I have made 5 attempts at fundraising where I am one of the beneficiaries. Where this money goes, only God knows. That is Uganda with NRM in power for 36 years!

The NRM Government is proud of having increased collections of funds to fund the budget. I think what is important is where the money is put. Having spent 36 years in Government, if the NRM leadership does not address the patronage scheme, the country will not go anywhere. The 529 Members of Parliament should be reduced to at least 150  when the country gets to the 12th Parliament. NRM should focus on developing the country vis a vis remaining in power endlessly for years.

The corruption in Uganda is institutionalized. Some people who have greatly benefited from corruption have assets whose source remains a puzzle. Corruption cannot be addressed when many in power are corrupt and are beneficiaries from corruption. There is no need for NRM Government to celebrate 36 years of majority poverty. The abuse of human rights in Uganda is unprecedented. We see people being arrested by security personnel and kept in the equivalents to “torture houses”, surely this is not what Ugandans expect from Government.

In a nutshell, the NRM Government needs to rediscover the role it is supposed to play to enhance sound development for the country instead of a handful being beneficiaries.

Uganda Remains Among Most Corrupt Countries Despite Heavy Investment In Fight Against The Vice

BusinessFocus ReporterJanuary 25, 2022

Uganda has remained among the most corrupt countries in the world over the last year, with global indices showing not much change from recent years.  

According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021, Uganda scored 27 out of 100, which is below the Sub-Saharan average of 33 points, and below the global average of 43 points.  

The study that used information from 13 global sources, targeted a total of 189 countries 49 of them in Africa. In Africa, Seychelles, Cape Verde and Botswana performed the best scoring between 55 and 70, while South Sudan, Somalia and Equatorial Guinea scored the lowest, between 11 and 17.

In East Africa, South Sudan and Burundi were the worst performers followed by Uganda and Kenya, while Tanzania and Rwanda came top of the EAC countries. In terms of raking, Uganda moved down two places to 144th from the 2020 ranking.

The Executive Director of Transparency International Uganda, Peter Wandera encourages efforts targeting younger people and those still in school to embrace transparency at a young age, as one way of tackling mindset change. He also calls for openness in government departments and the public sector as a whole but also urges that anti-corruption agencies be given their independence.

The government of Uganda and departments or sectors named as the most corrupt in Uganda have always dismissed the corruption or transparency reports as mere perspectives not showing the true image.   The Executive Director, however, says that this study is a compilation of data from different local and international reports and surveys on a country, and is globally accepted. He says even the study done by the Inspectorate of Government (IG) corroborates the data always presented by the Corruption Perception Index.