- Two-thirds (66%) of Ugandans say corruption in the country increased during the year preceding the survey, including 51% who say it increased “a lot.”
- Corruption ranks fifth among the most important problems that Ugandans want their government to address, up from 12th place in 2005.
- Two-thirds (68%) of citizens say “most” or “all” police officials are corrupt. Majorities also see widespread corruption among tax officials (59%), civil servants (57%), and judges and magistrates (56%), while almost half (47%) perceive “most” or “all” MPs as corrupt. o The share of citizens who think that “most” or “all” judges and magistrates are corrupt rose by 27 percentage points between 2012 and 2024. Perceptions of widespread corruption in other key institutions also increased over the period.
- Among Ugandans who report having contact with key public services during the previous year, three-quarters (76%) say they had to pay a bribe to obtain police assistance, while half paid bribes to avoid problems with the police (52%) or to get an official document (51%) and four in 10 (41%) did so to obtain medical care.
- Almost three-fourths (72%) of Ugandans say the government is performing poorly in its fight against corruption.
- More than eight in 10 respondents (83%) believe that citizens who report corruption to the authorities risk retaliation or other negative consequences, a 6-percentage-point increase since 2019.
In 1988, Nigerian columnist Pini Jason Onyegbaduo formulated a thesis that would come to be known as “Jason’s Law of Corruption.” According to this principle, “The decibel of an average Nigerian’s public outcry is directly proportional to his distance from the opportunity to do exactly what he condemns.” In other words, the closer people get to procurement contracts and other opportunities for graft, the less likely they are to speak out about corruption.
Hardly unique to Nigeria, this phenomenon may help explain Uganda’s poor showing – at No. 141 out of 180 countries – on Transparency International’s (2023) Corruption Perceptions Index. According to the Inspectorate of Government, corruption costs the Ugandan government at least 9.1 trillion Ugandan shillings (U.S. $2.3 billion) annually, or around one fourth of the country’s budget (Independent, 2021; Mugisha, 2022). The inspectorate recovers a small fraction of that sum.
High-profile government figures in Uganda have come under intense scrutiny recently for their involvement in corruption scandals. In 2023, 26 ministers, including the vice president and prime minister, and 31 legislators, including the speaker of Parliament, were implicated in a scandal over embezzled iron sheets meant for the destitute Karamoja region (East African, 2023; Bagala, 2023; Kazibwe, 2023). Three of the accused ministers are now on trial in the anti-corruption court, and the United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on Speaker Anita Among and two of the ministers facing trial (Odongo, 2024; Katusiime, 2024).
In May 2024, four parliamentary commissioners, including the former leader of the opposition, were accused of irregularly allotting themselves UGX 1.7 billion (U.S. $440,000) under the guise of “service awards” (Mutaizibwa & Madoi, 2024; Nabakooza, 2024). And in June 2024, one independent and four ruling-party members of Parliament (MPs) were among those remanded for defrauding the government in two separate cases (East African, 2024; Independent, 2024).
Corruption scandals in Parliament have not only caused rifts among legislators but also ignited public protests. In July, a group of young Ugandans marched to Parliament to demand the speaker’s resignation and the prosecution of those accused of corruption (Ajuna, 2024). More than 80 protesters were detained, several of whom alleged physical and sexual abuse by police officers. This was followed by a dramatic half-nude protest by three women voicing their demands for accountability (Kigongo, 2024).
The actions of senior authorities underscore the complex and perilous nature of the fight against graft in Uganda. For example, President Yoweri Museveni ominously warned demonstrators that they were “playing with fire,” while Among has been rallying support for the accused MPs (Chothia, 2024; Observer, 2024; Serugo, 2024).
The most recent Afrobarometer survey suggests that much work remains to be done in the battle against corruption.
Two-thirds of Ugandans say corruption increased in the country in the previous year. And perceptions of widespread corruption among key government officials and elected representatives have risen significantly over the past decade.
Citizens also confront corruption in their daily lives. Among respondents who sought selected public services during the previous year, substantial proportions report having to pay a bribe to the police, to government officials, or to health-care personnel.
Corruption now ranks as the fifth-most-important issue that citizens want their government to address, up from 12th in 2005. Yet most citizens say the government is doing a poor job of fighting corruption and believe people risk retaliation if they report incidents of corruption to the authorities.