Uganda Forum Against Corrupt Entities

I am Isingoma Peter. I am a Ugandan lawyer employed as an Investigator at the Inspectorate of Government Uganda (Uganda's constitutionally created anti corruption agency). I am passionate about combating corruption and promoting the rule of law in Uganda and I try bring about the change that I want to see in Uganda one investigation after another. I am also a website designer and an unpublished author. I seek this prize to provide a citizen led alternative to combating corruption in Uganda not through just advocacy but through citizen led investigations and prosecutions. I have in the last six years been a lecturer, investigator and tutor. I have lectured and tutored law at university level for more than two years and I have been an investigator for more than 3.5 years. 

Corruption in Uganda is a plague that has infected the whole population including children and pensioners. The vice is so entrenched and institutionalised that it is openly glorified. The first thing most Ugandans in public office think about is how much money will i get from the initiative on the table.  It is termed as "nfunirawa" (how will I benefit?). Corruption is so entrenched that even donor agencies including United Nations Agencies are victims. There are many organizations in Uganda working on corruption but they are plagued by the same corrupt tendencies and none of them directly get involved in private investigation of corruption. On top of education, advocacy to strengthen anti corruption laws, UGFACE seeks to directly investigate and prosecute corruption. The benefit to humanity is that reduced levels of corruption free up resources for heath care, education, job creation and poverty eradication and improves the rule of law. 

Corruption in Uganda is so entrenched and institutionalised that it is openly glorified. It is so entrenched that even donor agencies including United Nations Agencies are prone to it. In 2018, Uganda was ranked as the 171 most corrupt in the world by Transparency International but it in 2019 it improved slightly to 156th most corrupt Country in the world. I do not know about other countries but in my experience as a citizen and an employee of an anti corruption agency, the improvement to 156 is overly generous. In my opinion, either other countries have become more corrupt or the survey was flawed. Every year in Uganda, there is at least ten high profile corruption scandal as documented by Transparency International Uganda. Those are just the scandals that people know about because many corruption scandals in the military and state house are never reported. No one reports the tax evasion corruption and the fact that legislators receive bribes from the executive from the very money that they appropriate to the executive should show the extent of the problem. 

UGFACE has five focus areas,  the first one being to inspire the public to reject and speak out against corruption. Secondly to demand and advocate for deterrent punishments for corruption including the death penalty. Thirdly to lobby for funding to asset registration to ease recovery of proceeds of corruption, fourthly to lobby for a corruption readjustment tax to get back some of what has been robbed from the people of Uganda and fifthly to investigate and prosecute corruption cases under the legal framework in place in Uganda. Investigations and prosecutions are not enough to reduce corruption in Uganda. The people should be able to reject corruption and demand for action. Punishments for corruption must be deterrent enough to make corruption unattractive and asset recovery must be strong emphasized to ensure that benefits of corruption are traced and confiscated. Asset recovery requires that a majority of assets be registered and that nominees face steep penalties when discovered. In addition to these interventions, there is need to reset the status quo by reclaiming what has already been stolen.  This is best accomplished by a none discriminatory tax target assets exceeding a certain value. 

The project addresses the needs of more than ninety percent of Ugandans who are not beneficiaries of corruption. The tragedy of corruption is that most of the corrupt individuals in Uganda do not reinvest the proceeds of corruption in projects that are beneficial to the community at large such as factories or other large scale projects that would generate state revenue and create employment opportunities. Most illicitly acquired wealth is either invested in real estate (which benefits a few land owners) or hidden in offshore safe havens to put them out of reach of anti corruption agencies. There are a few who invest in productive ventures but the majority live the high life on the back of the poor. Uganda is highly indebted as a result of the need to raise finances from which the corrupt can get their cut. In the circumstances the project serves Ugandans both and young who lack basic healthy care,  unemployed youth who can not find a job due to lack of investment in job creation or get quality education due to failing schools and an irrelevant education system. The project seeks to reduce corruption and free up resources to invest in service delivery.

Reducing corruption frees up resources to invest in education, health care, infrastructure, investment, job creation and it improves the rule of law by reducing corruption in the judiciary. Asset recovery eases the confiscation of illicitly acquired wealth and makes corruption unattractive. Deterrent punishments make corruption unattractive and high risk. A corruption readjustment tax is a cheap way of recovering illicitly acquired wealth from those that are politically connected and overcome challenges of cash economy, to recover assets registered to nominees and recover illicitly acquired property that is unregistered. 

As an investigator and lawyer I see how difficult it is to investigate corruption. I see the challenges faced in investigating connected persons. I see how difficult assets tracing and recovery is. I see the extent of the problem of corruption in Uganda from the nature of complaints investigated and report. I seek the weaknesses in the state's response to corruption and its half hearted and weak commitment to anti corruption agencies. I am aware of the funding deficiency faced by anti corruption agencies in Uganda. As a lawyer I see the weaknesses in the law and the loopholes exploited by the corrupt entities. I understand the challenges of confiscating illicitly acquired property and the opportunities provided by a tax rather than going after one thief after another. In the circumstances I decided that maybe if citizens took part in the fight against corruption and if we proposed a new course of action, maybe some progress can be made. 

I believe that life is about more than just survival. I believe that life should encompass living a world better than we found it. It is easy to just keep quiet, work hard, live our lives and finally rest in the great beyond. I have been advised that I have a good job,  I earn good money and therefore, I should just work, earn my salary and investment as much as I can instead of trying to be a hero.  However,  I can not find peace when I see the country being robbed blind as youth rot on the streets without jobs,  as a majority of the population lack basic health care and as citizens are tortured and abused by unaccountable state institutions. Everyday i ask myself,  what have we failed to do as an institution that is tasked with eliminating corruption and promoting the rule of law in Uganda. Everyday i see us fall short of the vision I have for my country. The country i want my child to grow up in. 

I have the necessary experience in investigating corruption. I know the challenges and the weaknesses in the legal framework. I know the tactics that the thieves employ to get away with corruption. I know the weaknesses of the anti corruption agencies. As a lawyer I have researched the interventions that the project seeks to implement.  As an individual am passionate about combating corruption and I am committed to ensuring that every dollar raised is used to combat corruption in Uganda. As a citizen I have seen the effects of corruption on service delivery and on the rule of law in Uganda. I have heard the stories and seen the callousness of public servants and politicians in Uganda. For example recently, the state requested that workers contribute to the Covid 19 fund in spite of the fact that it received millions of dollars in donation, then a day later it was reported that the executive had bribed the legislators with twice the money it was asking workers to contribute. In addition, I have a zero tolerance to corruption and therefore whereas civil society organisations in Uganda and donor agencies have succumbed to corruption, UGFACE for as long as I am in charge will not be infiltrated by the thieves. 

I feel as a failure in my work because though I perform my work to the best of my abilities, I have been unable to make any inroads against corruption because decisions as to strategy and methodology are not up to me. I have made attempts to influence change from within but it is a complicated and slowing endeavour. I will continue to do this but I have decide  to create the UGFACE initiative to implement the vision that I have for the institution. I know it is a long short but I am committed to seeing it through and I am going to fund the initiative as much as I can till I get more funding.

I have been able to convince my bosses to implement some useful changes in methodology used in investigating corruption. Specifically, I have convinced my director to develop internal expertise among the staff in auditing to reduce expenditure on external experts and avoid the long delays it causes. I have convinced the Director of another Directorate that deals with assets declarations to use tax law to recover some illicitly acquired wealth that is declared as rental income or business income or brokerage fees on which no tax was paid. This would ensure that the state at least recovers thirty percent of the illicitly acquired wealth than nothing at all.