| 48 |
Are employees protected from recrimination or other negative consequences when reporting corruption (i.e. whistle-blowing)? |
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48a:
In law, civil servants who report cases of corruption, graft, abuse of power, or abuse of resources are protected from recrimination or other negative consequences.
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YES |
NO |
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Comments: There are efforts to introduce a Whistle Blowers Protection Law. Currently the Whistle Blowers Protection Bill has been developed, but this is yet to be passed into law.
The Whistle Blowers Protection Law will beef up the protection of informers already provided by the Inspectorate of Government Act and the Leadership Code Act.
The law will specifically offer protection to witnesses, who are afraid of testifying against corrupt people. The current anti-corruption legislation does not explicitly address the issue of protection of whistle blowers, and this is the gap the whistle blower protection law will bridge as law that shall exclusively tackle the question of protection of whistle blowers.
References: Section 34 (1) of the Inspector General of Government Act, 2002; 34. (1) A person who provides information to the inspectorate shall be protected, and his or her identify shall not be disclosed and may be rewarded for his or her information and paid an amount of five percent of the money recovered consequent upon his or her information to the inspectorate.
Section 44 (1) of the Access to Information Act, 2005: No person shall be subject to any legal, administrative or employment-related sanction, regardless of any breach of a legal or employment obligation, for releasing information on wrongdoing, or information which would disclose a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, as long as that person acted in good faith and in the reasonable belief that the information was substantially true and disclosed evidence of wrongdoing or a serious threat to health, safety or the environment.
Peer Review Comments: Whereas whistle-blowing is mentioned, there is no provision in place to protect the whistle-blower.
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48b:
In practice, civil servants who report cases of corruption, graft, abuse of power, or abuse of resources are protected from recrimination or other negative consequences.
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100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: While the IGG Act and Leadership Code Act make provisions for protection of whistle blowers, and while a whistle blower/protection bill was drafted, it has not yet been enacted.
A study by the Rwenzori and Teso Anti Corruption Coalitions indicated that most of persons who report cases have been issued death threats and some have been tortured, particularly at local levels.
References: Successes and Challenges of regional anti-corruption coalitions programes in Uganda-Random survey, conducted in Teso and Rwenzori regions, commissioned by the Rwenzori and Teso Anti Corruption Coalitions between 2002 and 2008 to assess the local communities' contribution in the fight against graft.
Interview with Angella Byangwa, Coordinator Rwenzori Anti corruption Coalition. Aug. 4, 2009
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48c:
In law, private sector employees who report cases of corruption, graft, abuse of power, or abuse of resources are protected from recrimination or other negative consequences.
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| Score: |
YES |
NO |
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Comments: There are efforts to introduce a Whistle Blowers Protection Law. Currently the Whistle Blowers Protection Bill has been developed, but this is yet to be passed into law.
References: Section 34 (1) of the Inspector General of Government Act, 2002; 34. (1) A person who provides information to the inspectorate shall be protected, and his or her identify shall not be disclosed and may be rewarded for his or her information and paid an amount of five percent of the money recovered consequent upon his or her information to the inspectorate.
Section 44 (1) of the Access to Information Act, 2005: No person shall be subject to any legal, administrative or employment-related sanction, regardless of any breach of a legal or employment obligation, for releasing information on wrongdoing, or information which would disclose a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, as long as that person acted in good faith and in the reasonable belief that the information was substantially true and disclosed evidence of wrongdoing or a serious threat to health, safety or the environment.
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48d:
In practice, private sector employees who report cases of corruption, graft, abuse of power, or abuse of resources are protected from recrimination or other negative consequences.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: While the IGG Act and Leadership Code Act make provisions for protection of whistle blowers, and while a whistle blower/protection bill was drafted, it has not yet been enacted.
A study by the Rwenzori and Teso Anti Corruption Coalitions indicated that most of persons who report cases have been issued death threats and some have been tortured, particularly at local levels.
References: Successes and Challenges of regional anti-corruption coalitions programes in Uganda-Random survey, conducted in Teso and Rwenzori regions, commissioned by the Rwenzori and Teso Anti Corruption Coalitions between 2002 and 2008 to assess the local communities' contribution in the fight against graft.
Interview with Angella Byangwa, Coordinator Rwenzori Anti corruption Coalition. Aug. 4, 2009
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| 49 |
In law, is there an internal mechanism (i.e. phone hotline, e-mail address, local office) through which civil servants can report corruption? |
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49:
In law, is there an internal mechanism (i.e. phone hotline, e-mail address, local office) through which civil servants can report corruption?
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| Score: |
YES |
NO |
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Comments: To ease the process of enabling people to submit complaints or report cases of corruption, the institution of the Inspector General of Government created a phone hotline and opened up regional offices through which people can report corruption. Other agencies that have opened up hotlines for people to report corruption include the Uganda Police and the Uganda Revenue Authority.
References: Section 24. (1) of the Inspector General of Government Act, 2002 provides that a complaint or allegation under this act may be made by an individual or by any body of persons whether corporate or not, and shall be strictly confidential and addressed to the Inspector-General.
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| 50 |
In practice, is the internal mechanism (i.e. phone hotline, e-mail address, local office) through which civil servants can report corruption effective? |
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50a:
In practice, the internal reporting mechanism for public sector corruption has a professional, full-time staff.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: The IGG has limited staff right from the top to the lower level officials. On Aug. 4, 2009, while appearing before the legal and parliamentary affairs committee of Parliament to discuss the budget and funding gaps, Rapheal Baku, the Acting IGG called on the government to expedite the appointment of a substantive IGG and two deputies. He further added that attracting, recruiting and retaining qualified staff is a challenge, citing poor remuneration as the cause for the high turnover of staff, especially lawyers and accountants.
The Inspectorate has 13 regional offices and ideally each is supposed to have at least six investigative staff. Presently, however, regional officials have only three investigative staff. This is coupled with a high turnover, estimated at an average of between five and 10 people per year.
References: The New Vision, Aug. 5, 2009 Interview with Simon P. Opolot Okwalinga. Principal Inspectorate Officer/Head Media, Communications and Public Relations, Aug. 25, 2009.
Peer Review Comments: There have been queries about the kind of staff that is recruited to work for the Inspector General of Government (IGG) and many clarifications have been sought.
Peer Review Comments: The Inspector General of Government (IGG), the agency in charge of corruption, has a limited staff.
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50b:
In practice, the internal reporting mechanism for public sector corruption receives regular funding.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: The funding is not sufficient and has been reduced over the past three years. For example in 2007-2008 year, the institution received 25 billion shillings (US$13.3 million), in 2008-2009 financial year, it was reduced to 17 billion shillings (US$9 million ) and for 2009-2010, the inspectorate has been allocated only 13 billion shillings (US$6.9 million). This is equivalent to the institutions wage bill.
References: The Daily Monitor, July 21, 2009 Interview with Simon Opolot Okwalinga, Principal Inspectorate Officer/Head Media, Communications and Public Relations, Aug. 25, 2009
Peer Review Comments: Not much funding is dedicated to the fight against public sector corruption.
Peer Review Comments: The public sector corruption agency is regularly funded through the national budget but the funding is insufficient.
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50c:
In practice, the internal reporting mechanism for public sector corruption acts on complaints within a reasonable time period.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: Complaints take long to be acted upon for example, of 3,400 corruption complaints in the 2008-2009 financial year, only 813 were investigated and completed. Of the 58 cases in court last year, only 10 were concluded, five of them resulting in conviction and five in acquittals.
This is partly attributed to staffing challenges and huge case backlogs. While in some cases prosecution takes too long.
For example, the case involving two former ministers for the abuse of Global Fund, reported in 2006 has yet to be disposed of as of Sept. 28. And there yet been fixed to hear a petition by three former health ministers challenging the power of the Inspector General of Government to prosecute them in connection with Global Alliance Vaccine for Immunization (GAVI) money.
References: The New Vision, Aug. 5, 2009 www.accu.or.ug
Peer Review Comments: Very few complaints have been registered in comparison to the massive number of incidents of corruption.
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50d:
In practice, when necessary, the internal reporting mechanism for public sector corruption initiates investigations.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: The IGG has been quite fast on initiating investigations both single-handedly or through collaborations with other institutions such as the Anti-corruption squad and others.
Some of the recent cases include among others investigation of Jinja Mayor Mohammed Kezaala, for corruption and abuse of office, the investigation into sale of Naguru estates, the mismanagement of NAADS (National Agricultural advisory Services) funds, and investigation into the collapse of the Makerere University wall, constructed at a whopping 1 billion shillings (US$533,000).
References: www.accu.or.ug ( anticorruption caoalition of Uganda) Daily Monitor, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 New Vision, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 Interview with Simon Opolot Okwalinga, Principal Inspectorate Officer/Head Media, Communications and Public Relations, Aug. 25, 2009
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