My opinion was first published in Daily Monitor on March 16, 2008
I read with a sigh of relief the front page Sunday Vision story that government wants 14 years in jail for corrupt officials in a new law it is proposing. I am however sceptical that the present government will actually follow through.
My scepticism is not unfounded. It is as plain government officials and top politicians have perfected the art of corruption. Corruption in Ugandans’ parlance is no longer a monster it should be regarded to be. Rather, the corrupt are hailed as “smart”.
But also, assuming for argument’s sake the minister’s plea is enforced, who would be the very first victims? I hope there would not be selective application of the law since all Ugandans are supposed to be equal before the law.
Unless we separate form from substance Mr Nsaba Buturo’s bill will never see the light of the day and even if passed it will never be enforced. I have taught political science in a university and the subject I enjoy most is constitutions and constitutionalism.
I always tell my students that a constitution and constitutionalism are related but the former is useless if it doesn’t lead to the latter. At best it remains a paper document merely for window dressing purposes. I strongly feel that law enforcement has eluded this country.
My emphasis is on political corruption which by definition is abuse of office by public officials, not because I condone corruption in private offices but because I have limited space, and it is public offices that should account to me given that they directly use my taxes. I also make the direct link between what one would call deliberate unemployment and corruption. And I say deliberate because there is no political will to fight unemployment.
Corruption can also mean any form of abuse and any aberration or moral decadence- sectarianism, cronyism, influence-peddling, forgery, perjury, vote-buying, bribery, marginalisation, foul play including Machiavellian politics.
But it should be broadened to cover the entire society because corruption is not exclusive to office bearers. Can anyone convince me that people who forge documents including Makerere University transcripts along Nkrumah and Nasser Roads are not corrupt? What of the unemployed bright Ugandans who do course works for students in order to survive? Unless, the root causes of the cancer are addressed the minister’s bill won’t go a long way.
What explanation can the government give for the high unemployment rates when people with university degrees are less than 0.5% of the country’s population yet government departments alone employ around 500,000 according to the figures from the Labour Market Information Bulletin from the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development? I have told my students a degree is intrinsic within the person, it is the knowledge attained in the course of study.
If you have course works done for you, you forge documents, or cheat exams you get a certificate which is a mere paper and not a degree.
I have never had a full time job ever since I finished Makerere University with very good grades in 2004 purely because of political corruption; because the offices some of us would occupy on merit are sometimes given on know-who and come-from-where basis.
I know of a family in this country where virtually all the sons and daughters upon completion of their studies are recruited into the police and they become District Police Commanders in a blink of an eye.
The problem of corruption in this country is structural. The government can hire me as a consultant if it genuinely wants to fight the monster.
The bible says what you sow is what you reap.
If fake people are the ones hired what stops them from perpetuating the system that saw them enter office? If one forged papers or cheated exams what would stop them from stealing public funds?
But also, if one was brilliant but failed to get a job because of corruption what happened in the recent police recruitment what would stop them from pursuing the end using any possible means? Corruption begets corruption.
Mr Nuwagaba is a political scientist, human rights scholar and activist
My scepticism is not unfounded. It is as plain government officials and top politicians have perfected the art of corruption. Corruption in Ugandans’ parlance is no longer a monster it should be regarded to be. Rather, the corrupt are hailed as “smart”.
But also, assuming for argument’s sake the minister’s plea is enforced, who would be the very first victims? I hope there would not be selective application of the law since all Ugandans are supposed to be equal before the law.
Unless we separate form from substance Mr Nsaba Buturo’s bill will never see the light of the day and even if passed it will never be enforced. I have taught political science in a university and the subject I enjoy most is constitutions and constitutionalism.
I always tell my students that a constitution and constitutionalism are related but the former is useless if it doesn’t lead to the latter. At best it remains a paper document merely for window dressing purposes. I strongly feel that law enforcement has eluded this country.
My emphasis is on political corruption which by definition is abuse of office by public officials, not because I condone corruption in private offices but because I have limited space, and it is public offices that should account to me given that they directly use my taxes. I also make the direct link between what one would call deliberate unemployment and corruption. And I say deliberate because there is no political will to fight unemployment.
Corruption can also mean any form of abuse and any aberration or moral decadence- sectarianism, cronyism, influence-peddling, forgery, perjury, vote-buying, bribery, marginalisation, foul play including Machiavellian politics.
But it should be broadened to cover the entire society because corruption is not exclusive to office bearers. Can anyone convince me that people who forge documents including Makerere University transcripts along Nkrumah and Nasser Roads are not corrupt? What of the unemployed bright Ugandans who do course works for students in order to survive? Unless, the root causes of the cancer are addressed the minister’s bill won’t go a long way.
What explanation can the government give for the high unemployment rates when people with university degrees are less than 0.5% of the country’s population yet government departments alone employ around 500,000 according to the figures from the Labour Market Information Bulletin from the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development? I have told my students a degree is intrinsic within the person, it is the knowledge attained in the course of study.
If you have course works done for you, you forge documents, or cheat exams you get a certificate which is a mere paper and not a degree.
I have never had a full time job ever since I finished Makerere University with very good grades in 2004 purely because of political corruption; because the offices some of us would occupy on merit are sometimes given on know-who and come-from-where basis.
I know of a family in this country where virtually all the sons and daughters upon completion of their studies are recruited into the police and they become District Police Commanders in a blink of an eye.
The problem of corruption in this country is structural. The government can hire me as a consultant if it genuinely wants to fight the monster.
The bible says what you sow is what you reap.
If fake people are the ones hired what stops them from perpetuating the system that saw them enter office? If one forged papers or cheated exams what would stop them from stealing public funds?
But also, if one was brilliant but failed to get a job because of corruption what happened in the recent police recruitment what would stop them from pursuing the end using any possible means? Corruption begets corruption.
Mr Nuwagaba is a political scientist, human rights scholar and activist
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
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