By Spy Uganda
A week-long anti-corruption campaign across the Bunyoro Sub-region has laid bare deep-rooted governance and service delivery challenges, with citizens raising concerns over corruption in land management, procurement, recruitment, the Parish Development Model (PDM), and delayed implementation of government projects.
The Joint Anti-Corruption Caravan, spearheaded by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) alongside key accountability institutions and civil society partners, concluded on Friday after traversing six districts in the region.
The campaign brought together the Inspectorate of Government (IGG), the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity, ActionAid Uganda, and Transparency International Uganda in a coordinated effort to engage citizens and strengthen accountability.
The caravan kicked off in Kiryandongo District on Monday before moving through Masindi, Buliisa, Kikuube, Kagadi and finally Hoima District.
Designed as a citizen-led awareness campaign, the initiative combined community barazas, courtesy visits to district local governments, inspections of public service delivery facilities and radio talk shows to give residents an opportunity to directly engage anti-corruption agencies.
Officials conducted spot checks at several government-funded institutions, including Kiryandongo General Hospital, Buliisa General Hospital, Sir Tito Owiny Seed School and Kijunjubwa Seed School, to assess the implementation of public projects and service delivery.
Throughout the engagements, residents cited inadequate funding for public programmes, delayed completion of government projects, corruption in land administration, procurement irregularities, manipulation of recruitment processes and persistent understaffing in public institutions as some of the major challenges affecting service delivery.
Citizens also expressed concern over alleged corruption in the implementation of the Parish Development Model, difficulties associated with hybrid government projects and limited access to information from public offices, which they said undermines transparency and accountability.
According to the participating agencies, the concerns raised across the six districts pointed to corruption as a continuing obstacle to effective governance and development in the region.
The institutions observed that tackling the problem will require a coordinated approach that combines preventive measures, effective law enforcement and active citizen participation.
At the conclusion of the caravan, the participating agencies and local leaders committed to strengthening inter-agency collaboration to improve oversight of public resources and enhance accountability.
Among the agreed priorities were intensifying monitoring of government projects, addressing staffing and recruitment challenges, improving land governance, strengthening supervision of public contracts, enhancing dialogue with stakeholders and ensuring timely feedback to citizens on reported concerns.
Officials also pledged to sustain public awareness campaigns aimed at empowering communities to demand accountability and report corruption.
The Joint Anti-Corruption Caravan forms part of ongoing efforts by government accountability institutions and civil society organisations to promote transparency, improve public service delivery and encourage citizens to play a more active role in the fight against corruption.
Participants expressed optimism that sustained collaboration between government agencies, development partners and local communities would help address systemic governance challenges and improve the delivery of essential public services across the country.
