The Rot in developing economies; why good services still elude Africa’s populace

Sylvia Nankya- Kampala Uganda;


Reading through research works by Richard Dudley “The Rotten Mango; The Effect of Corruption on International Development Projects” gave me an inspiration to put this together.

According to him, a big percentage of the billions of dollars spent annually for international development loans is wasted. “The vice is widespread and has left serious impacts in developing countries where badly needed development funds are often in short supply” he notes.

In agreement with his statement, I looked back through the years and realized that despite the constant inflows of loans and grants from our development partners, many of our countries remain pitiable.

We have the worst physical infrastructure, weak governance structures and probably the worst service providers; several questions rhyme through my mind; is there anything we can learn from others to put our systems right? How long shall we continue offering lip service to the much needed fight against corruption?

During this term [2006-2011] I have realized that Parliament in Uganda has spent much of its time debating motions authorizing government to borrow money for various projects. They include the following;

1. Motion; for a resolution of parliament authorizing government to borrow $130 million for financing of the health systems strengthening project.

2. Request by government to borrow $10.05 million for financing the east African public health laboratories network project

3. Request by government to borrow $ 120 million and another SDR 9.3 million for financing of the Uganda agricultural technology and agribusiness advisory services.

4. Request by government to borrow $ 18m as supplementary financing to support the implementation of the district livelihoods support programme.

5. Request by government to borrow us $ 17 m as supplementary financing for on going activities under the community agriculture infrastructure improvement project

6. Request by government to borrow the equivalent in Korean won of up us $26.8 million to support 5 business, technical and vocational education and training institutions as complementary financing for education iv-post primary education and training expansion and improvement project

7. Motion for a resolution of Parliament to borrow an additional US $ 1,059,125 and US $ 15,391,511 for phase II and III respectively of the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and E-Government Project

These are just a few cases of the many loans that we have acquired as a country but whose role to the development of the country remains to be seen. Do we ever get this money to do the right work for the country? I bet many of the would-be beneficiaries have no idea on the projects for which this money is being borrowed.

I wouldn’t say much for my colleagues in Kenya and Tanzania, because I am not in the know to the extent of Uganda, but at the same time we need to work as a bloc to eliminate the cancer that’s eating up our economies.

In 2006, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni announced a policy of zero-tolerance to corruption, but four years down the road, the vice remains endemic at all levels of governance yet at the same time the culture of impunity still reigns.

“The Big fish” quite often cited in abusing the systems remain at large; not even the prominent trials have yielded results for this country. My disappointment is mainly on persons, who reportedly swindled GAVI and Global Fund Monies, whose trial takes a new twist almost every year; and as a result our hopes fade away each day that goes by.

Beside the Global fund and GAVI scandals, Parliaments Public accounts committee [Uganda] has spent a bigger part of this year investigating the misuse of funds meant for preparations for the heads of Government meeting that we [Uganda] hosted in 2007.

The project which has consumed a lot of our time has turned out to be “a white elephant” because as things turned out, all ministers implicated by the Auditor General and by the Public accounts committee were eventually exonerated by Parliament.

Where does our hope lie then?

The media industry in which I work has also not helped much because as you realize in 2010, two major scandals put a dent to the media struggle. They involved senior journalists extorting money from government officials, purportedly to cover up for them. The outcome of this would be that corruption turns into a vicious circle.

The other source of worry for me is that the integrity and advancement of honest employees in many organizations, agencies and companies is being compromised.

This is especially so because it’s now clear that Promotions and salary increments no longer depend on performance but on payoffs and loyalty to corrupt officials. Like Dudley says; honest employees, who would have difficulty finding alternate employment, must consider effects on their family. If they wish to avoid serious financial difficulties they must go along with a corrupt system.


This is my honest appeal; we can work together to make a difference in 2011 and I can pledge my unrelenting commitment to support whoever is working for a corrupt free world.

Happy New year to you all.