Government Can Reduce Opportunities For Corruption By Increasing Risks

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs. Corruption corrodes the fabric of society.

It undermines people’s trust in political and economic systems, institutions and leaders. It can cost people their freedom, health, money – and sometimes their lives.

For instance, Uganda is the 151 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International and with this kind of records, we are for sure headed for worse times and all MUST be done to reverse the trend.

Some scholars believe that corruption cannot be eradicated. Another assumption made by several scholars is that, changing political or economic system could solve the problem of corruption. I wonder if this is what leaders in Uganda are waiting for. Deng (1985, p 59).

There are some types of corruption that exist in every political system and changing the political system does not eradicate corruption. According to Holmes (1993, p.49) “Although it is accepted that corruption rates vary and that they may and do alter with changing circumstances, and although it is accepted that corruption may be more or less under the control or out of control, the notion that it can be eradicated is rejected.

According to the World Bank; institutional strengthening is a key part of country anti-corruption strategies. One of the most important strategy is a professional and well-motivated civil service. The selection and promotion in civil service should be merit based rather than patronage.

Pay of civil servants is also very important issue. The longer the pay remains inadequate, the more bureaucratic corruption becomes entrenched. For example, we have the experience of Singapore which had dramatically reduced corruption by increasing salaries. And Singapore is the only Asian country, which is in the ‘top ten’ least corrupt countries by Transparency international’s Index.

Thus, civil service reform is one of the most important part in fighting corruption. The other important strategy is to reform the judicial system. Enforcement of anti-corruption legislation requires an efficient, accountable judiciary. Reform of judicial system should concentrate on the independence of this branch. The procedures for selection and removal of judges should be defined properly, there should be improved court administration and cash-flow management which in some countries may last months. The courts will be effective, if there is strict mechanisms to enforce judgments.

The strict enforcement of rules and regulations is very important in combating corruption. If an official knows that rules and regulations are strictly and consistently enforced he/she will less likely engage in corrupt behavior.

The Budget Reform is the other factor combating corruption. Government should undertake only what it can do well within its resource constraints. Government should develop well-functioning budget processes, allocate resources strategically, and enable programs and projects to be implemented efficiently and effectively.

There should be frequent reports to the legislature on budget implementation that enable comparisons to be made between budgeted and actual revenues and expenditures. A legal framework for public expenditure management should combine legal principles with economic consideration as well as management rules. It should ensure that public resources are used within the limits set by the Legislative Branch and in compliance with the allocation schedule authorized in the budget document.

Good financial management system is also a powerful instrument for preventing, discovering, or facilitating the punishment of fraud and corruption. They allocate clear responsibilities for managing resources, reveal improper action and unauthorized expenditures facilitate audit by creating audit trails, and protect honest staff.

By reducing opportunities for corruption and increasing the risks of detection, good financial management systems help change corrupt conduct from ” high profit/low risk” to “high risk/low profit Audit and control are viewed as a valuable instrument for improving government fiscal management and for increasing the efficiency in the allocation of public financial resources.

The introduction or reinforcement of auditing would be particularly important because it intervenes before resources are committed. Therefore, corrupt activities could be stopped before they would have an impact on the use of resources. Current budgetary practices in many countries suggest that after the completion of the budgetary cycle-budget preparation and implementation-results must be assessed retrospectively so that officials can be held accountable for results achieved.

Tax and customs departments as we have seen are the locus of major fraud and corruption and thus are candidates for inclusion in national strategies to control corruption. Tax system must be reformed to reduce the tax burden.

The tax law should be simplified and strictly defined because imprecise drafting and ill-defined terminology give tax inspectors a large margin of discretion and facilitate corruption. Organizational restructuring, for example, separating the tax assessment function from the collection function and staff rotation can also help to reduce opportunities for corruption. State should launch anticorruption campaigns. Several post-communist states – including Bulgaria, Czech, Poland, Russia and Slovakia – have launched so-called ‘Clean Hands’ campaigns. Such campaigns can have a legitimizing effect, in that they usually suggest that the state is serious about fighting corruption.

Civil society and governments should promote laws that focus on access to information. This access helps enhance transparency and accountability while reducing opportunities for corruption. It is important, however, for governments to not only invest in an appropriate legal framework for such laws, but also commit to their implementation. Governments and businesses should proactively disclose relevant public interest information in open data formats. Proactive disclosure of relevant data, including government budgets, company ownership, public procurement and political party finances allows journalists, civil society and affected communities to identify patterns of corrupt conduct more efficiently There are some countries that have succeeded in their anticorruption fight.

For example Hong Kong and Singapore have shifted quickly from being very corrupt to being relatively clean. In addition to this Bostwana is regarded as one of the least corrupt countries, Chile, Malysia, and Portugal have undergone significant improvements over the past years. And also, Bolivia, the Philippines, Poland have also scored successes recently, I believe Uganda can also reduce corruption if everyone takes it upon himself to fight it In conclusion therefore, we have seen that high levels of corruption have very harmful effects on economic and political development of a country yet its deeply rooted in many societies and there is really no limit to the extent to which corruption, once it is unleashed, can undermine the stability of the state and organized society.

Tax inspectors will extort businesses; the police will kidnap innocents and demand ransom; the prime minister will demand payoffs to make himself available for meetings; aid money will disappear into the private offshore bank accounts of senior officials; the head of state will demand that particular taxes be credited directly to his personal account. Investment will come to a standstill, or, worse, capital flight will lead to disinvestment. In countries like Uganda where corruption seem to have become intertwined with domestic politics, separate centers of power will emerge to rival the power of the state and this we have seen through emergency of several opposing formations.

At that point, the chances that the government will actually be able to do anything to control corruption will disappear and the state will mutate into a kleptocracy, hoping we haven’t degenerated to this level the eighth circle of hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy we can as a country avoid reaching this level by acting now.

The true social cost of corruption just like it is in Uganda today, cannot be measured by the number of bribes paid or even the amount of state property stolen which is really at an alarming level here. Rather, it is the loss of output due to the misallocation of resources, distortions of incentives and other inefficiencies caused by corruption that represent its real cost to society. And in addition to these output losses, corruption can inflict additional welfare costs in terms of adverse effects on the distribution of income and disregard for environmental protection.

Most importantly, corruption undermines public trust in the government, thereby diminishing its ability to fulfil its core task of providing adequate public services and a conducive environment for private sector development. In extreme cases, it may entail the DE legitimization of the state, leading to severe political and economic instability. The resulting general uncertainty is detrimental to private business’ willingness and ability to commit to a long-term development strategy, lack of which makes sustainable development hard to achieve as we strive for lower middle-income status, we all must combine effort to fight corruption.