NEWS: Uganda 3rd most corrupt — report

Uganda 3rd most corrupt — report

Thursday, 4th June, 2009 from NEW VISION

UGANDA is ranked among the countries most affected by petty bribe, according to the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer of Transparency International, an international watchdog. A total of 55% of Ugandan respondents said they or anyone living in their household paid a bribe in the past 12 months. Uganda scores the third-highest among 69 countries in Asia, America, the Middle East, Europe and Africa sampled. It shares the third place with Cameroon. Liberia tops the list, with 87% of respondents saying they paid a bribe in the past year, followed by Sierra Leone (62%). The judiciary is perceived as the most corrupt by Ugandans, with 36% identifying it as the single most corrupt institution in the country, closely followed by public officials and civil servants (34%). The media and the private sector are perceived the least corrupt, with 1% and 4% respectively marking it as topping the list of corrupt institutions. Ordinary people, in Africa and the rest of the world, do not feel empowered to speak out about corruption, the survey found. “Three quarters of all the people who reported paying bribes do not file a formal complaint,” says the just released report. “About half of bribery victims interviewed did not see existing complaint mechanisms as efficient.” In Uganda, less than half – or 48% - considered the Government’s actions in the fight against corruption as effective. However, corruption matters to Ugandans. More than 64% reported that they would be willing to pay more to buy from a ‘corruption-free’ company, among the highest in the world. “The message to the private sector from consumers is clear: being clean pays off,” says the report. “Not only does clean business create a level playing field while supporting long-term growth and productivity, it attracts customers.” Worldwide, bribery has gone up, particularly in the Police and the judiciary, Transparency International concludes. People who reported paying a bribe to court officials went up from 8% to 14% in the last 3 years. In addition, 15% of all respondents who contacted land authorities in the 12 months prior to the survey reported paying a bribe. “This figure confirms that corruption in the land management sector is a widespread problem that has been increasingly recognised as a government challenge,” the report notes.