How theft of public resources has been used to build a broad multi ethnic coalition that sustains Uganda’s political system

The last Quarter of 2011 in Uganda was filled with one corruption scandal after another. Yet in spite of many corruption scandals unearthed, the mass media were only reporting a small part of it. Across ministries, local governments and other public institutions in the country, corruption is the essence of the political system in Uganda. Politics is a vehicle for promoting the privileges of a few elites at the top at the expense of the many masses below; and the so called democratic process is a mechanism through which elites in Uganda have captured and privatized the state.

Corruption is debated in mainstream media as a criminal act whose primary objective is to enrich individuals involved in it. Although it manifests itself this way, this is a residual part of the problem. The real issue about corruption in Uganda is that it is the essence of how political power in the country is organised, exercised, allocated, distributed and reproduced. Corruption is actually our system of government.

To win an electoral majority, the NRM co-opts powerful individuals from our different ethnic and religious factions. These individuals command a following among their constituents. They act as a bridge between the NRM and the masses. But the NRM does not co-opt them for free; if offers them public sector jobs with official privileges in exchange for their support and that of their followers. But it also allows them opportunities to profit through corruption.

Uganda’s multi ethnic elites lack a shared vision for national transformation. So the divided elite come to the state in search of particularistic advantage. The alternative to hostile stalemate in this coalition is the exchange of material favours – otherwise called corruption. Hence, corruption is the glue that holds this multi-ethnic coalition together. It is possible that if Museveni ruthlessly fought graft, he could cause his government to unravel. So government is actually a national coalition for corruption.

Even the struggle against graft in the mass media and the parliament is actually the way corruption survives, not the way it is undermined. Corruption creates many public sector dysfunctions in Uganda: hospitals and schools crumble under the weight of disrepair; roads and bridges break down with cracks, potholes and broken pavements; healthcare delivery is clumsy as medical workers don’t show up and when they do, it is for a few hours; medicines are diverted from public health units to private clinics where they are sold; teachers in school are in class for only 18 percent of the time; money meant for textbooks, desks and laboratory equipment is stolen with impunity; agricultural extension officers spend their time in towns, not farms etc.

These failures create widespread public discontent. So when one isolated case or corruption involving a high profile politician rears its ugly head in the mass media, in a parliamentary investigation and in a commission of inquiry, the public raise in unison demanding the head of the accused official. The government may initially put up some impotent gestures of protest – appearing to stand by a minister-thief in the face of public outrage. But after weeks of public debate and acrimony, it relents and throws up a sacrificial lamb: so the minister falls, a few people are dragged to court for trial and an angry public feels something has been done and cools down.

It is these rhythms of mind-boggling theft of public resources leading to disastrous public goods and services, then repressed public anger, followed by an isolated case of someone caught with their finger in the till (like Kabakumba Matsiko). This single incident generates mass hysteria. In Uganda’s largely liberalised and free media, the theatrical outplay of this especially among our pretentious elites borders on drama. Then that official is surrendered to the public as a sacrificial lamb. With such a gesture, our elites feel a sense of victory, their anger cools down and they return home to sleep as public officials proceed with their loot. Through these rhythms, the NRM has actually given Uganda’s chattering classes an illusion of empowerment.

Even at personal level, schemes abound. A Member of Parliament raises his profile by championing the cause of corruption. He may mobilise a coalition of other MPs to support his cause. However, this only makes him attractive for a ministerial position. Once he gets that, like Henry Banyenzaki today and Basoga Nsandhu before him, the MP goes silent. Was the MP positioning himself for a job when they began the fight against corruption or did he get captured along the way? Historical experience shows that whenever they do, they get a ministerial appointment. For now, let us watch Theodore Sekikubo, Gerald Karuhanga and Elly Tumwine.

President Yoweri Museveni’s greatest triumph has been to organise corruption on a broad-based scale. By expanding cabinet, the number of presidential advisors, increasing the number of districts, creating many commissions and autonomous government agencies and by establishing many security outfits, he has created highly diversified centers for corruption. Even the opposition has districts where they can goad themselves. Where in other nations corruption has been explosive, in Uganda it has been integrative.

Yet as the country urbanises and the population gets more educated, it seems the explosive tendencies of this strategy may begin to outweigh its integrative value. And if this happens, we are likely to see a national rapture. How this may play out is difficult to foretell. Will it be a mass movement from below led by the educated youths championing a liberal democratic politics? Or will it be the charisma of a demagogue seeking dictatorial power by leveraging social discontent as Adolf Hitler did in Germany in 1933? Or will it be a slow process of internal change through incremental reform rather than sudden revolution?

Anything is possible. For now, we can say that the political equilibrium created in 1986 through a coalition of corruption is entering disequilibria. To stave off violent contest, the status quo needs to be open to internal reform lest it risks external revolution. Of course in the short term oil revenues may give it breathing space to expand patronage networks without having to reform. But oil revenues could also increase internal contestations thus making the system vulnerable to external pressures.

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Comments (21)

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Promising
written by Rajab Kakyama, January 10, 2012

Well done Mwenda! After days of rehearsal you have come out with one fair article though without fault. Uganda's multi- ethnic elites do not lack a shared vision for national transformation, it is rather the NRM that lacks any vision. So NRM came to State House in search of particularistic advantage. Hence corruption became the glue that holds the NRM together. It is therefore, very possible that if Museveni ruthlessly fought graft, he would cause his government to unravel. Thank me for helping you stand on your legs and not your head, Mwenda.

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Beware of the counter fight by corupt elements
written by Tekakwo Alex, January 10, 2012

Andrew, though we foucs our attention on analysing the causes and way coruption functions, I think we leave out a very relevant link and that is the counter fight that corupt elements stage against those who fight them. Corrupt elements will also paint a picture that no one is clean and that even those fighting corruption live by it and point at those fighting corruption as enemies of the state and hence grant them all sorts of names like “economic saboteurs”, “rebels” among others. Because of swindled resources corrupt elements are very powerful, So they have the resources to lodge an effective counter fight as we in constitutional court pettitions, voters being taken to state house etc. To me this is the biggest threat in the fight against coruption.

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written by Tobias , January 10, 2012

There is corruption in every country. That's why TI has one extra activity to justify it's existence and certainly budget. What we see in Uganda is senior level of the act. Call it "Corruption Inc." ... it's so well orchestrated; perhaps even better than clean mainstream biz. If it (corruption) is "too big to fail" then let's just make it quasi-legal. Perhaps the money, stolen from the public, may just start trickling down to the same public. What would such a BOLD move say about our morality??? Well, nothing more than Amsterdam's red-light districts say about the morality of the Dutch

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written by Lt Col Adam Kifaliso, January 10, 2012

Andrew , happy new year bytheway , it seems you are also enjoying the fruits of corruption in Uganda , oil revenues will never prolong the life of a regime you hate to love ,NRM is now experiencing multi-organ failure...just about to die from chronic kleptomania . Andrew are you one of those who believe m7 must rule ,spoil and plunder Uganda forever ?Amama sent Bukenya to jail , m7 also acted and sent Kabakumba home....the real political game is between m7 and Amama camps ....Amama's wife is now a presidential advisor .......settling bills ......but the economy is collapsing

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Corruption
written by Obee, January 10, 2012

Corruption in Uganda is no longer news and many people have now accepted it a a way of life. discussions on corruption is no-longer whether is there or not, not even the magnitude cause we know it is unprecedented, people took the discussion to which region is the most corrupt and many have concluded the western region and know people are discussing which clan is the most corrupt and soon we shall be discussing which family is the most corrupt.

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corruption was sowed in the mustard seed
written by kgafabusa, January 11, 2012

Mwenda as an investigative journalist you were asked to enlighten us how M7 acquired Kisozi ranch a farm that was bought using public funds for UPDF, but you kept mum either by commission or omission. The impunity of corruption stems from the head, once you learn your boss's trade it is business as usual. When the leader grabs others follow the loot, and the moral authority to stop it is lost. This does not smack of a visionary, a quarter a century and electricity issue is once than it was at independence, after two decades in power all past leaders mistakes are inconsequential, it is the ineptness of the incumbents.

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Proper diagnosis, strange interpretation!
written by Musinguzi Denis, January 12, 2012

Andrew, your analysis of Uganda’s corruption is both exciting and bizarre. It is exciting due to your exact, consistent and impressive analysis of it; but bizarre in terms of strange interpretation of how it works. It is true the theft of public resources has sustained Uganda’s political system, but it has done so in the face of pathological deterioration in the delivery of social services. This does not illustrate the ideal of political and administrative dispensation; it explains the ultimate extortion by Museveni’s regime of the citizenly it fought to liberate.

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written by Musinguzi Denis, January 12, 2012

Politics has been derogatively described as a dirty game due to the dirty politicians captaining state affairs; and your description of it tends toward this distortion. Politics is not, as you state –but has been used as –a vehicle for promoting a few elites, painfully at the expense of the populace. What we see in Uganda is the counterfeit of democracy, wittingly impressed upon the illiterate and impoverished citizenly through economic muscle and political force by the few beneficiaries of its distorted version.

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written by Musinguzi Denis, January 12, 2012

Uganda’s multi ethnic elites do lack a shared vision for national transformation; they selfishly subordinate the vision for transformation under their personal gains. This complicates corruption and undermines national transformation. Unfortunately, the government’s impotent gesture at fighting corruption does not reflect commitment to their political pledge and responsibility. Rather, it signifies total and utter betrayal of people’s trust.

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written by Musinguzi Denis, January 12, 2012

I absolutely agree that “NRM has actually given Uganda’s chattering classes an illusion of empowerment”. Incidentally, your particular analysis doesn’t seem to improve the status quo; it appears more conformist than reformist. What you call Museveni’s triumph in reference to exploded cabinet, presidential advisors, districts, security outfits, etc is in fact the foundational mayhem that steadily eats into the achievements tagged on his moribund regime.

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written by Musinguzi Denis, January 12, 2012

What you seem to “applaud” as integrative effect of effect of corruption may not necessarily improve its utility. A few more individuals gaining access to it may not necessarily mean improved public benefit. On the contrary, it may perpetuate deterioration of majority public facility as more money is committed to corruption. Museveni’s stay in power only exacerbates the fragile balance. The corruption strategy will buy his prolonged stay in power, but the agitation against it will grow unabated.

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written by Musinguzi Denis, January 12, 2012

In my considered view, a deliberate exit strategy is useful for his eventual retirement than uncontrolled unfolding of events. To be credible, such a strategy should entail committed fight against corruption, not condoning it. It should also entail a strategy for improving implementation and distributive efficiency in the delivery of social services is pertinent. Once seen as genuine and credible, such strategies would guarantee a more accommodative response than trial during his retirement. Deliver my humble advice.

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Editing option
written by Musinguzi Denis, January 12, 2012

Andrew, would it be possible to provide option for editing our comments online upon posting? The state of mind sometimes doesn't safeguard us from writing mistakes. Some mistakes make discomfortable readinng, some distort the message, while others are too shameful for public consumption! I hope the august readers do understand!

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Musinguzi Denis
written by Omeros, January 13, 2012

Denis - I always read your contributions with joy. Like you, I am left dissatisfied by this article - not, however, because I disagree with Andrew's characterisation of the workings of corruption and of its political utility, but rather because of the suggestion, conveyed by the rhetoric of the piece, that all elites who are self-avowed critics of the regime, bear as much responsibility for Uganda's delinquent governance as the feckless regime politicians they criticise.

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written by Omeros, January 13, 2012

We see this in the condemnatory language employed to describe political opponents of the regime who are elites. Such people are characterised not only as morally fastidious and somewhat precious in their oppositional stance but, most of all, these upscale adversaries of government are portrayed as ineffectual: they are the effete 'chattering classes'. Their anger against government is, in this narrative, synthetic - insincere frothing whipped up by a cynical mass media - as quick to recede as it is to flare up. Their insincerity marks them as a species of dishonest, political hypocrite.

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written by Omeros, January 13, 2012

And who, says this story, are the figureheads of these monied malcontents? Cynical political turncoats, like Banyenzaki. See how, by dint of their antagonism to the regime, Ssekikubo and Karuhanga, the government's current gadflies, are prospectively damned for the apostasy we are encouraged to believe that each will surely commit when eventually their silence is bought with the offer of a position in Cabinet - an offer surely neither can resist - and see how each is therefore implored to be treated with suspicion, to be cautiously 'watched'.

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written by Omeros, January 13, 2012

In this version of political reality, morality is inverted, or so one would assume by the fact that the 'pretentious' are not the self-regarding narcissists in government who think nothing of stealing half a ministerial budget without any thought of the human cost of that theft. Rather, the 'pretentious' are those complaining, opposition-minded elites whose outrage is dismissed as mere 'drama', their discontent an act of political gamesmanship - 'theatre', indeed. And what of for ministers outed as thieves? In this narrative, they are 'sacrificial lambs'. Pity the thief.

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written by Omeros, January 13, 2012

Of course all of this is a canard. There is no need for those who genuinely despair of Uganda's political dysfunctions to put up with this kind of condescension. Elite opposition to government corruption is not the moral equivalent of the government's predatory behaviour, as the rhetoric of this piece implies.

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Omeros
written by Musinguzi Denis, January 15, 2012

Omeros, I find Andrew's overall analysis of the political value of corruption bizarre because he presents it as if it were an acceptable form of political dispensation. He falls short of directly condemning it; he instead remains indifferent to it!! I find this indeed strange a stance from an ardent fighter of corruption in Andrew's order!

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the political value of corruption
written by asaku richard, January 16, 2012

Denis,when Andrew uses that kind of tone or way of writing its now you to judge whether uganda is in the wright direction for the benefits of all ugandans or it needs a special you to come up tall and take it to the right dierection

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Role of corruption
written by Moses Musinguzi, January 24, 2012

Corruption is small compared to some of the kleptocratic dynasties, Its spread has been aided by the politics and vice versa, it is only now that they are heavily intertwined. If the analysis is true then it means that corruption should be massively promoted.

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