KAMPALA — Civil Society Organisations have commended social media activists who spear headed the recently concluded NGO, Security, Health and Kampala potholes exhibitions.
The exhibitions, started by academician and cartoonist, Dr Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, were basically aimed at holding the respective institutions accountable.
They have so far yielded some good results despite backlash from a section of ‘apologists.’
For instance, the Kampala Pothole Exhibition prompted President Museveni to order the Finance Ministry to release UGX. 6 trillion for a quick rehabilitation of the potholed roads in Kampala City.
Launching the National Citizens Integrity Awards on Wednesday, Xavier Ejoy, the ActionAid International Uganda (AAIU) country director, told reporters that “we need more of those to hold office bearers accountable”.
“That is an excellent demonstration of citizen participation and I think that is just the ingenuity of those who are leading that process. We want to see more of that not just on social media, but we want to see them in water points in the villages, and markets. We want to see them in council halls and so forth,” Mr. Ejoyi said.
He added: The exhibitions for us [Civil Society] we’re in real admiration and those who are leading the exhibitions really deserve to be commended for doing that, because sometimes the official narratives of fighting corruption leave out a lot of things. So for us, that is another level of initiative around citizen participation, especially against poor service delivery and against corruption”.
He said that leaders in civil society recognize what went on and that they have taken note of the issues raised there because they are concerning issues”.
He said civil society leaders through the NGO Forum have appointed a committee of independent and highly standing individuals to further investigate and receive specific complaints from the members of the public who have issues against NGOs.
“We feel that we need to dig deeper into those issues, to ensure that these types of issues that have been brought up about the conduct of leaders in the NGOs, the conduct of staff, and different actors need to be brought out concretely so that we can determine what next course of action can be taken,” he said.
National Integrity Wards
Mr. Enjoy said that anti corruption organisations including Uganda Debt Network and Transparency International Uganda working with the Inspectorate of Government will honour outstanding public servants that have served their communities with a high degree of integrity.
Mr. Ejoyi said the awards to be held on July 11 as part of the African Anti-Corruption Day are aimed at building and breeding the culture of transparency, accountability and integrity among civil and public servants, the private sector and the public in general.
“The initiative started in early 2000, where ActionAid International Uganda and its partners introduced citizen audits to inform the naming and shaming of public officers to put citizens at the center of the fight against corruption. Communities were supported to vote for the best and worst public officers and holders of government contracts,” he said, adding that learnings from such citizen-led initiatives informed the development of Integrity and Service Delivery Awards 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 that recognized individuals and organizations fighting corruption in Uganda.
Christine Byiringiro, Program Manager at Uganda Debt Network said there’s need for the public to continue demanding for accountability and transparency in the public resources even as the government shows little interest.
Byiringiro told reporters that winners will be selected through a systematic and transparent process that has kicked off.
“It began with the nomination of candidates who have distinguished themselves as men and women of integrity in public office for not less than five years. We shall have three categories in these awards. They will include Frontline service providers (service obligation), Management Obligation and Political Obligation.”
She said the vetting committee will rate nominees on a scale of 1-5 based on specific Act of Integrity, Consistency and Sustainability and
Influence on Society.
She called upon citizens to actively participate in nominating public officers of integrity by providing details of nominees that meet the above criteria.
“We call upon citizens to support us identify and reward men and women of integrity. For nominations, please visit our social media platform and fill the attached form.
Twitter handle @actionaiduganda and follow the #actionacounts, #standagainstcorruption and # integrity awards 2023”.
Nominations close on Friday 7th July, 2023.
