Business Corruption

According to Global Integrity 2009, company inspections by Ugandan government officials to ensure public environmental standards are not always carried out in a uniform and even-handed manner, since the officials sometimes extract bribes from companies in exchange for favourable treatment or expedited processing. The institutional capacity to carry out inspections is quite limited as they are understaffed and underfunded. Corruption and lack of capacity reportedly fuel poor and hazardous working conditions as well as environmental degradation, particularly in the agricultural and mining sectors.

Furthermore, Uganda's oil contracts reportedly lack transparency, both on the part of the foreign oil companies and the government, according to a March 2010 article by AllAfrica. According to the source, this might enable corruption and environmental degradation on the part of the oil companies.

Political Corruption

There have been concerns about transparency in Uganda’s oil contracts on the part of the government as well as concerns that these contracts would be flawed, according to a March 2010 article by Inter Press Service. Allegedly, this is the reason why the Ugandan government does not want to disclose their contents. Concerns have also been raised over the fairness of oil deals after details emerged that President Museveni held direct talks with oil investors without including government agencies. According to a 2010 report by PLATFORM in partnership with the Civil Society Coalition for Oil in Uganda, there are currently three pending lawsuits against the Ugandan government for keeping secret the oil production sharing agreements (PSAs) that it has signed with various international oil companies. The report further states that by keeping the PSAs secret, it further fuels unnecessary social consequences, among others, corruption and environmental degradation.

Fish breeding spots on lakes George and Edward in Uganda are threatened due to illegal fishing fuelled by corruption, as reported in a December 2009 article by The New Vision. According to the article, public officials in the Kasese district fisheries department are fully aware of these illegal practices, but regularly accept bribes in order not to interfere.

Furthermore, forest destruction is a serious problem in Uganda, and deforestation mostly happens on privately held land, which accounts to 70% of the country’s forests. A 2008 news article by AllAfrica reports that corruption within the environmental institutions and double standards of politicians are to blame for forest destruction in the country. The article further reported that some forestry authority officials have turned a blind eye to a small amount of bribes.

According to the US Commercial Guide 2010, in 2007, president Museveni faced domestic and international criticism from environmental groups for trying to allocate protected forest reserves to investors for expansion of projects, such as sugar cane and palm oil production.

Frequency

Inspectorate of Government: The 3rd National Integrity Survey 2008:
- 33% of companies identify the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) as dishonest and nearly 25% reported that the services it provides are poor.