{UAH} How kickbacks are stifling local government service delivery
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How kickbacks are stifling local government service delivery
A fish landing site on Ssese island in Kalangala. The district has seen slow development because money meant for infrastructure is reduced and taken as a kickback by civil servants. Photo by James Benedict
In November 2016, Agnes Namyaalo was eight months pregnant. Before the nine months were over however, the mother of three felt unwell and went to Bukasa Health Centre IV, in Kyamuswa Sub County. Namyaalo walked straight from her garden, as she was feeling pain within her womb, to the health centre.
When she arrived, the nurses noted that she needed to be cleaned up and taken to the theatre where she would receive treatment. However, the health facility had no water. A health attendant had to run to Namirembe landing site, about a mile away, to get water in two jerrycans.
The health worker took almost an hour to return to the facility. After Namyaalo was cleaned up and a scan done, it was found out that she had to be operated on. This posed a problem. The theatre in the health centre wasn't yet operational since the construction had not been completed by the contractor. Namyaalo had to be rushed to Entebbe for immediate attention. She died on her way there, on the boat she was being taken. She was later buried in her ancestral home in Gomba.
A boat built by fishermen on Ssese Island. Kalangala District local government constructed latrines at a cost of Shs33million on Kachanga and Kasekulo landing sites in 2016 , yet three years ago, latrines in the same sites were constructed at a cost of Shs5.3m each.
A few days later, the area councillor, Wilberforce Kakooza complained to the Kalangala district executive about how the health centre did not even have water and that the theatre wasn't operational. The district leaders wondered why this was the case as they had approved funds to have the theatre completed.
"How can we have an incomplete theatre and then lie to our people that we could have surgeries done at this facility? We need to know why the theatre is not functioning," Kakooza said.
When the contractor who was meant to complete the theatre was called, he couldn't give an explanation yet when many of his assistants who were asked for an explanation intimated that most of the funds requested for, to construct, were not only taxed but also shared amongst the people who award contracts.
"For our boss to get the contract, he had to first approve that he could share some money with them [district officials who award the contract] if he needed the job. Of course if you share the money, the work won't get done since resources would be depleted," Denis Lukyamuzi, one of the workers who handled the site said.
This is just but one of the many examples where money meant for a particular activity is diverted.
Such dealings have constrained the take-off and construction of key service delivery points like fish plants, schools, health facilities and roads within different rural settings in different districts and as a result, many contractors meant to receive pay for the work done get way with colossal sums of money yet the infrastructure is not in place. It is one of the reasons that access to basic services remains a far off dream in the Masaka sub region.
Such tends to happen mainly in the local governments that face limited supervision from key government installations meant to fight corruption, and Kalangala is one of the districts that suffers this vice.
In 2014, two senior civil servants, Mr Frederick Balemeezi the former principle administrative secretary and an accountant William Nyakaana were interdicted at the Kalangala District local government after embezzling money donated by the Iceland International Development Agency to develop the tourism sector.
This led to the immediate halt of the development of the Kalangala tourism infrastructure, and the immediate withdrawal of the foreign agency from funding basic development programmes within the area. According to the Kalangala district chairperson, Willy Lugoloobi, the information given to them about the embezzling of funds led to an investigation into the methodology of how money was stolen by different civil servants.
How the corruption is done
When money is remitted to the district bank accounts, the district procurement departments are mandated to open bids for different contractors to come and express interest to do work on behalf of the district engineering department. During this process, known bidders are requested to increase the prices of operation with a suggestion that construction work in different islands is difficult since the areas are hard to reach.
"Of course most of the money that is inflated is to be shared between concerned civil servants after it is remitted to accounts of the different contractors who share it, so as to get more bids. If one fails, he will not be awarded contracts in the future.
Such civil servants are the influential leaders in the local government administration, who hold key offices to payment of the work done and those who award completion certificates," reads part of a report, titled "The Good and Bad of the Health Service Delivery in Kalangala" released in October last year by a consortium of civil society organisations on island districts.
An example is when Kalangala District local government in 2016 constructed latrines at a cost of Shs33million on Kachanga and Kasekulo landing sites, yet three years ago, latrines in the same sites were constructed at a cost of Shs5.3m each.
The civil society organisations led by the Information and Research Centre, in the report, also wondered why several of the companies that bid for contracts aren't awarded while the same companies that produce shoddy work have always been rewarded, through being awarded more contracts.
"Actually this has caused deficiencies and some buildings like those in Lwabaswa Primary School have collapsed. There isn't any difference in constructions and yet most money is always paid at an inflated price. We kindly request for an audit into the findings of the report so as to help improve societal development," said Richard Mugame the coordinator Information and Research centre during the launch of the report.
The report indicated that solar panels that were to be installed at the primary school were not seen. Toilets constructed had fallen, yet Shs17m was released to put up the pit latrines. The report however, did not indicate the name of the contractor who did the shoddy work.
In another case, Richard Ssebisubi, a local contractor in the Ssese Islands quarrelled in the district boardroom during the awarding of contracts of Shs36m to different companies that were to construct latrines and school dormitories, of the inclusion of the withholding tax on an amount of money they were to share with different civil servants including the chief administrative officer amounting up to Shs11m.
"Actually when you do not give in the money, you are not given the contract. If you try making noise [reaching out to different offices for help], you are asked to start construction but you are never paid until you strike a deal to have a portion of the money divided between the awarding authorities," he said.
Such cases have repercussions as noted by Mugame. "The story of the increasing asking of kickbacks by different civil servants in the procurement and finance departments within the Masaka sub region, is a factor that has led to the construction of dilapidated structures in the health and education sectors thereby failing service delivery development," he says.
For instance, many children in the Masaka region do not go to school. Some fail because schools which were budgeted for and funds disbursed but were not constructed while others that were constructed are in a dilapidated state.
Unfortunately, it is not only kickbacks that are frustrating service delivery initiatives. Among the funds shared between civil servants and contractor are the local revenues collected from different people across the sub region. Such funds are meant for development of community projects.
"Actually that is one reason why many people in the remote areas, despite paying tax remain with dilapidated infrastructure yet the money they pay for service delivery is taken without serving the purpose of its collection," Swaibu Makumbi, a Human Rights activist in Masaka District says.
In the last 10 years, the auditor general's reports published, indicated that different local governments within the Masaka sub region failed to deliver on targeted local revenue generation due to embezzlement of funds by revenue collectors who report to district accounts departments, less money than actual amounts collected from the different businesses in their areas of operation. Also much more money has been lost from the government in the form of capitation grants (money given to different local governments fixed to funding a given government project in the social service sector).
The reports also indicated that in most cases, the civil servants that awarded themselves contracts did not meet their obligations.
"We are actually getting worried; it is against the Local Government Act for the different civil servants to own companies that bid in given districts for contracts. However, many civil servants work hard to get bidding of their personal companies, one reason work isn't done and money is paid," said Rajab Ssemakula, the Deputy Speaker of the Kalangala District council.
The Local Government Act cap 243 indicates that no civil servant should engage in getting contracts to work in a given district as it would jeopardise procurement processes and also compromise work of civil servants in the given areas since they are meant to play oversight in the given areas of operation.
Masaka Sub region has a total of eight districts: Masaka, Rakai, Bukomansimbi, Kalungu, Lwengo, Ssembabule Lyantonde and Kalangala. However, all districts have similar challenges in the construction of different infrastructure meant to provide services to the people within the sub region.
When contacted, the inspectorate of government spokesperson Munira Ali said the institution has handled several cases involving the asking and giving of kickbacks, one reason many civil servants engaged in the finance departments have been arrested for allegedly committing the crime.
"As an institution, we are mandated to probe and we have. And many people are still under investigation. We have tried as much as we can to ensure such incidents do not happen through teaching people the effects," she said.
The coordinator Human Rights Defenders in the Masaka sub region Shifa Kateregga in an interview with the Daily Monitor indicated that, "Such vices of asking and giving kickbacks has greatly affected the sub region while many of the trapped engaging in the illicit acts have always gone scot free yet the tax payers money isn't refunded. Unless government acts immediately, people will continue to die due to lack of good health services while our children will remain illiterate as they study in the worst schools because the funds meant to construct good schools are embezzled."
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