Individual Corruption

The provision of public services and the issuance of licences and permits involve several approval stages and extensive red tape, which provide fertile ground for extracting bribes at every level. This has a particularly negative effect on poorer segments of the Ugandan population who may either not be able to afford certain services or who, unable to make the necessary unofficial payments, will have to wait substantial lengths of time to receive services. As, according to Transparency International's Global Corruption Report 2008, a utility connection in Uganda equals a year's salary for the poorest 20% of the population. Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2010 also notes that paying bribes in order to get connected to public utilities is relatively common in Uganda.

Furthermore, Global Integrity 2009 reports that bribery and corruption practices are highly pervasive also within Umeme, the national power distributor. Hence, according to the report, almost everyone in the country has paid bribes to get connected to the national grid. In fact, Umeme is ranked as one of the most corrupt institutions in Uganda in Transparency International East African Bribery Index 2010.

According to a February 2010 article by The New Vision, corruption within Uganda's primary education sector is rampant. The article states that a quarter of the surveyed parents reported paying unauthorised fees for textbooks or other services, while a smaller part claimed that bribes had been demanded from them in 2009. Accordingly, petty corruption pervades the everyday dynamics at the classroom, school and district level. These corrupt practices and teachers' susceptibility to corruption have been explained by low teacher salaries.

Business Corruption

Despite Uganda's growing role as a transport and services hub in the Great Lakes region, infrastructure, in general, is inadequate in Uganda, and services remain poor and corruption widespread in several sectors, such as telephone services and electricity. According to the business executives surveyed in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011, inadequate supply of infrastructure is among the most problematic factors for doing business in Uganda. The World Bank & IFC Enterprise Surveys 2006 notes that obtaining an electricity connection is the service most likely to require a bribe, followed by obtaining a telephone connection. It normally takes more than two months to get connected to a telephone line, and companies are reported to have to pay more than twice the stated cost, while getting an electrical connection is similarly time-consuming and expensive.

Political Corruption

Corruption is pervasive in the higher echelons of Uganda's public utilities administration. This is well illustrated among others by Global Integrity 2009. According to the report, the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) has revealed that the former Managing Director of the Social Security Fund (NSSF) David Chandi Jamwa has embezzled over USD 37,000 from the Fund. In addition, Jamwa received salary advances for over USD 127,000 plus gratuities, all totalling USD 172,172, even though he was not supposed to receive such advances because he was not a contributor to the Fund. Jamwa was suspended at the request of President Museveni in December 2008.

According to the US Department of State 2009, the government has suspended the Ministry of Health's chief accountant, Nestor Gasasira, after an Inspectorate of Government (IGG) investigation revealed that Gasasira's expenditures were incommensurate with his earnings. The IGG recommended sacking Gasasira for failing to publicly account for his wealth.

According to a 2010 news article by AllAfrica, Uganda loses a minimum of UGX 394 billion annually due to the bureaucratic processes in collecting start up business licenses. Apart from enabling graft, the total loss from the heavily bureaucratic process is equivalent to 1.3% of the county’s GDP.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2011:
-Dealing with a construction permit requires a company to go through 18 procedures and spend 171 days to obtain the required licences and permits, at a cost of 1288% of income per capita.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011:
- Business executives give government administrative requirements (permits, regulations, reporting) in Uganda a score of 3.9 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'burdensome' and 7 'not burdensome'), constituting a competitive business advantage for the country.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 49% of households who had contact with registry and permit services in 2009 report to having paid a bribe.

- 39% of households who had contact with the utilities services in 2009 report to having paid a bribe.

- 49% of households who had contact with the medical services in 2009 report to having paid a bribe.

Transparency International: East African Bribery Index 2010:
- Umeme, the national power distributor, is ranked as the seventh most corrupt institution in Uganda, out of 28 institutions in the country.

-The average size of bribe reported as paid by a household respondent is UGX 129,217.

-Of all the bribes reportedly paid by the household respondents, 5.6% was paid to Umeme.