Should Uganda summarily execute the corrupt or strengthen its systems to defeat their vice?
Corruption is a serious evil which President Yoweri Museveni named in his budget day speech as the last “bottleneck” to national transformation. Corruption is broad in its forms but in the mind of the public, it presents as theft of public resources and bribery. Theft of public resources depletes money that should be available to serve the citizen or tax payer.
On the bribery account, it means that “he who pays the piper calls the tune.” Anyone who cannot offer “something” doesn’t get a service while those with means can get their way including eluding justice for their corrupt ways. Bribery empowers the undeserving while locking out the deserving. This breeds gross inequality in society. Think of cases reported in initiatives such as PDM where those above the target category would pay bribes to be included as beneficiaries while leaving out the target groups. It also means that holders of office have turned their posts into clearing houses and casinos.
Corruption destroys lives and communities, and undermines countries and institutions. It spawns widespread anger can destabilise societies and exacerbate conflict. It is, therefore, for the sake of national stability that we should aim to destroy bastions of corruption, both in the public and private sector. The question is, how (strongly and quickly can we do that)?
The latest Corruption Perceptions Index, the global indicator of public sector corruption, that I have seen, puts Uganda at 141 out of 180 countries, with a score of 26. No matter the position in these rankings, something must be done.
Recently, there was a clip circulating of Mr. Abbey Ssewakiryanga aka Basajjamivule in which he proposes that the corrupt should be beheaded-and that the job should be given to him (Uhmmmn! Place an emoji there). Basajjamivule’s stance is as radical as it can get and I think a number of citizens hold similar views. If Uganda resorted to the “Saudi Arabia model”, for example, where common thieves have their hands amputated, and China where certain categories of offenders are executed, it would be a new phase in the fight against corrupt and would be a stronger deterrent to other potential offenders.
In Saudi Arabia, because of the sharia law, theft is uncommon and if you forgot something somewhere, you would be sure to recover it because no one will pick it and carry it away.
However, if we resorted to summary executions, the democracy and rule of law protocols we enjoy would be greatly eroded. It would mean reversing the democratic and human rights space Ugandans are accustomed to. It would also mean acting with anger and emotions rather than with reliable facts.
But the corrupt are few and can be isolated accurately and effectively, leaving the majority of free and law-abiding Ugandans at peace. To impose a (mandatory) death penalty on the corrupt may sound decisive but comes with the side effect of likely introducing a reign of terror which could be misused to settle personal and political scores and cause unnecessary fear among citizens who ought to be partners in the fight against the vice. The death penalty in Uganda, though exists in the statute books, is not mandatory even for murderers. It would take a legal revolution for it to make it expressly applicable to the corrupt.
Therefore, Basajjamivule may speak out of a frustration and anger at the apparent lenience in dealing with the corrupt but let’s not get carried away and create a situation that could lead to unnecessary shedding of blood when we could simply activate our systems to deal with the thieves properly.
Today’s Uganda is not like that of Amin who acted by decree; he had little regard for democracy, rule of law and human rights. His word was death, if he wished so. He had no second thought to humiliate or kill anyone, but did his actions rid Uganda of corruption? He didn’t have systems for effective checks and balances but acted on quick notes provided by his “sergeants”. Needless to say, many innocent Ugandans were butchered on various unsubstantiated claims, and we don’t want to imagine what would have happened had he stayed on for ten more years.
What Uganda needs is not cutting off the heads of the corrupt, but for the agencies in place to do a thorough job and to be seen biting. The laws are there and the agencies have done some commendable work. It’s only that when a scandal breaks out and it involves high profile persons, in the eyes of the public the agencies have been sleeping and only waking up too late. If the anti-corruption agencies listed the number of cases that have been detected and prosecuted, there would be reassurance that with or without the death penalty, Uganda is no place for the corrupt.
Even with the “soft” approach, I don’t know of any case that has come up in court and the president directs a judge to release such and such a suspect. Neither have i seen any correspondence barring anybody on whom critical information is available from being called to face the law.
The anti-corruption agency heads should stand and act more firmly under the current legal framework to fish out the corrupt of all sizes. Before we think of executing them, can we smoke them out accurately?
Uganda has adopted legislative and other measures to criminalise corrupt activities at all levels. It has established and maintained independent national anti-corruption bodies – IGG, ISO, SHACU, CID, Parliament, etc. There are measures to ensure that citizens and activists (like Basajjamivule) report instances of corruption without fear of reprisal. The anti-corruption agencies should also do system introspection among their staff to ensure that they are the crème de la crème of integrity, intelligence and courage for them to set a noticeable pace.
The corrupt are few and cannot disorganise the majority if we act accurately and decisively. Nevertheless, if ever it’s empirically determined that existing laws no longer cause reformation among offenders, I cannot guarantee that extreme measures shall never be instituted in future.
The author is the Deputy Press Secretary to the President of Uganda
Contact: kirundaf2@gmail.com
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