IN THE RECENT edition of ‘Uganda Government Officials Can Say Anything And Journalists Will Report It Fwaaa’ is the headline shouting: “85% of Uganda’s civil servants hired through bribery, says IGG Kamya.”
The statement is seemingly not misleading; it was said by the Inspector General of Government, Beti Kamya who “disclosed this finding during a media engagement with non-state actors in Kampala.”
The media, as irritatingly usual these days, tends to regurgitate statements like “non-state actors” without questioning what they really mean. Most news stories that come our way these days prove that not enough is being done about the infectiousness of intellectual laziness.
Back to the story, the news report said, “Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya has revealed that a staggering 85% of government jobs at the district level are secured through bribery, undermining merit-based recruitment and contributing to widespread corruption within Uganda’s public service.”
The word ‘staggering’ is appropriate there, especially since this figure is not just a claim or a guesstimate or the result of some session in a poorly lit hut being operated by a traditional scientist or brightly lit stage holding a miracle-working pentecostal pastor.
She “revealed” this figure for real.
“Citing a scientific study conducted by the IGGs office across over 20 districts, Kamya stated that only 15% of district civil servants were employed based on merit.” reads the news report.
Did the journalist using the word ‘scientific’ read the actual report to establish the methodology used? Be serious.
Of course, at this point most sensible people recovered from the staggering and went to the IGGs website to find this ‘scientific study’.
We bounced.
On igg.go.ug we found a tab labelled ‘IG Reports’ (https://igg.go.ug/publications/reports/) and assumed logic was at work, but…the most recent report was published June 30, 2023 and is titled ‘Report on investigations into allegations of mismanagement, abuse of office, and corruption by the former Managing Director of NSSF’.
The one immediately before that was published on March 25, 2021.
It is at this point that you think to yourself, Isn’t the IGG’s office part of the government? If so, could the 85% figure be applied there by way of logic…?
The ‘scientific study’ reportedly even found that many of the 85% had used fake academic documents “sourced from Nasser Road, an area known for selling forged certificates.”
A government office actually wrote, in their report, that there is an area known for selling forged certificates? Have they notified the other government offices that are supposed to put a stop to such criminal activity?
Well, here we are: the government has basically declared that the vast majority of their employees are unqualified for their jobs and only in positions because of bribery and corruption.
So please come and invest in Uganda and take Ugandans seriously.
“The research indicated that those with genuine qualifications are not getting employed, and this is negatively impacting service delivery across the country,” the IGG reportedly told the ‘non-state actors’ at the event.
Using a little bit of logic to indulge in some hopeful, positive thinking, we should imagine that on discovering these scientific facts, the IGG got in touch with the Uganda Police Force and the Ministry of Public Service to fix things.
What chance is there that the only action taken so far is staging this event and making such a grand announcement bringing the reputation of Uganda’s entire civil service into serious question? 85%?
Firing those 85% corrupt people who are in their jobs without qualifications should not be a problem at all, since the IGG herself reportedly announced that we DO have qualified people, but they get frustrated and leave the country.
The ‘scientific study’ covered 20 districts of Uganda, so that’s a good place to start. All those whose academic and other credentials were found, through the science of study by an office mandated to fix such things, should be fired immediately.
Their replacements? We have celebrated tens of thousands of university graduates over the last ten years who should be deployed on the same day.
Simple, eh?
Of course.
The IGG’s own website states that their mandate is:
“The powers as enshrined in the Constitution and IG Act include to; investigate or cause investigation, arrest or cause arrest, prosecute or cause prosecution, make orders and give directions during investigations; access and search – enter and inspect premises or property or se”
In fact, at this point we should urge all qualified youth out there who are jobless and hunting to head over to the IGGs office and get a copy of this ‘scientific study.’
That’s the first step in identifying which districts will be advertising jobs very, very soon.
Meanwhile, one section of the IGGs office should organise an event where they can announce good news to wipe out this national reputation stain from their earlier announcement.
Practice headlines like “IGG Cleans Up Uganda Civil Service; Employs Professionals” and “Uganda Finally Recruits Efficient, Competent Civil Servants To Deliver Services.”
Luckily for all of us, our media will report that fwaaa, as usual.
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Simon Kaheru
Jambo (Hi)! I’d be happy to hear your thoughts so…say something here?