The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), School of Law, Makerere University invites excellent and motivated candidates for a doctoral position in climate policies and law. The position is part of the DANIDA funded research project titled: “Charcoal Conflict in Climate Change’s Decarbonisation Dilemmas: Knots of Livelihood, Nutrition, Communities, Gender, Migration and Energy in East Africa”. The successful applicant will join a vibrant international research environment and enrol at the School of Law, Makerere University. The studies are expected to begin on 1 November 2023. The scholarship position is for 4 years ending on 30th November 2027.
The Project “Charcoal Conflict in Climate Change’s Decarbonisation Dilemmas” explores the conflict potential in green transitions in Uganda and Tanzania, with a special attention to the ways charcoal is embedded in local communities and therefore tied up with food, health, gender, youth, migration, ethnic relations and the informal economy. Local level field work in select regions within the two countries is connected to on the one hand analyses of the political and legal frameworks in the two countries and on the other hand the global climate management regime, formal and informal, that increasingly puts low-emission countries under pressure of energy transitions.
The candidate selected for the advertised doctoral position will principally contribute to the project by developing her or his original analysis of Uganda and Tanzania’s legal and policy frameworks as they relate to the social and economic dynamics of charcoal under the terrain of relevant laws and polices mapped out by global climate regimes. This will happen in close collaboration with the research teams in Uganda, Tanzania and Denmark, which include: one other PhD from Tanzania, Post-Doctoral researchers and senior scholars from the three countries.
The project is a collaboration between three partners: The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) a semi-autonomous department under the School of Law at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; St. Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT), a private University in Mwanza, Tanzania, contributing expertise in health, gender and peace studies; The Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC) at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, a hub for peace and conflict research in Denmark.
The Human Rights and Peace Center (HURIPEC) has launched the Transparency and Accountability of COVID – 19 Resources – (TACOR) report. The launch was officiated by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament. The launch took place at Imperial Royale Hotel.
A digital copy of the report is available via this link.
The Advocacy for the Accountability of COVID-19 Funds
“We have never been in a better position to end COVID-19 as a global health emergency…The number of weekly reported deaths is near the lowest since the pandemic began; And two-thirds of the world’s population is vaccinated, including 75% of health workers and older people,” World Health Organization Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on 23 September 2022 during the UNGA UNSG-hosted event: “Ending the pandemic through equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments”
The ministry health statitics too indicate that by 2nd August 2022, zero Covid death with only 25 new cases registered. Only five people were indicated as admitted in health facilities. According to John Hopkins University Corona Virus Resource Centre, Uganda has not registered any Covid 19 related death between July and August 2022. Similarly, Our World in Data, an organization that collects data from various sources indicate similar results as of October 9, 2022.
The WHO Director’s statement is a sigh of relief. The statistics are impressive and the less pronouncements from the government on Covid-19 is an indicator that the era of fear, panic and lock downs because of the pandemic is slowly getting behind us.
Underneath this joy, lies a lot of unresolved issues around the transparency and accountability of the hefty financial resources that were invested in not only containing the virus but in 22 other sectors including the health infrastructure, research, food relief, education, support to SACCOs, information dissemination, development of industrial parks among others. Fundamental questions still linger around the allocations of public meager resources whether they met the country’s objectives, priorities and if the input matches the output.
The government, since March 2020, has provided more than four trillion shillings in three financial years specifically on Covid-19 related expenditure. Over one trillion of this money was spent on health-related issues, more than two trillion spent on economic support interventions through the stimulus package while one hundred sixteen billion was directed to social protection.
Additionally, government received two trillion US dollars in loans, grants, cash and in-kind from various development partners according to a report on Public Debt, Grants, Guarantees and Other Financial Liabilities for Financial Year 2O21/22. One trillion and above was on-budget support of which 198 million US went to health and the rest to accountability and education. US $ 936 millions dollars came in as off-budget support of which 736 million dollars went to ministry of health for media monitoring.
Parliament inquires
Parliament, in exercising its oversight role, through various accountability committees has produced adopted four reports regarding management of Covid-19 funds. Recommendations to the executive have comprised a call for full accountability of public resources that were mishandled but no response has come through.
For example, the Parliamentary Task Force on National Covid-19 Response discovered lack of transparency in the management of 1.61 trillion shillings meant for the recapitalization of Uganda Development Bank (UDB), lend a hand to support small and medium enterprises affected by Covid-19, to support the youth through the youth fund and women via the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP) and Emyooga. The Committee noted that although the intervention was well intentioned to boost the private sector to withstand the Covid effects, it was “affected by lack of a transparent mechanism to ensure that the resources trickle down to the intended beneficiaries.” Parliament recommended that government, through ministry of finance submit full accountability of money including the list of beneficiaries. To-date, government has not complied.
In an interaction with several local government leaders in the four sub-regions of Buganda, Acholi, Teso and Ankole, HURIPEC found out that many SACCOs listed as beneficiaries, were not known to the alleged recipients. For example, many journalists SACCO in Greater Masaka, that “received” support such as Kabonera Journalist SACCO, were alien to the media practitioners. In Soroti, journalists were in shock to learn money had been disbursed to their association. A Special Audit report by the Auditor General??? of January 2022, shows a number SACCOs across the country which benefited from this intervention but it was difficult to verify its existence among them allegedly for journalists.
The Parliamentary Task Force noted that Ministry of Health received 3.3billion shilling as part of cash donations to put up a blood bank in Soroti. The health officials told the Committee that the money had been spent “towards the construction of a Blood Bank in Soroti.” .During an interaction on transparency and accountability of Covid-19 organized by HURIPEC in July 2022, in Teso region, many stakeholders, knowledgeable with issues were not aware of the said blood in spite of the fact that the ministry health told Parliament that the money was spent on the construction of the blood bank. Facts are yet to come out on what happened.
The Parliamentary Task Force noted that between March 2020 and June 2021, Ministry of Health spent almost one trillion shillings to procure fabric masks for 35.3 million people but the there were discrepancies in the number of people alleged to have received the masks. The Committee called the Minsiter of Health to explain the discrepancy. Similarly, the Auditor General noted in January 2022, regarding the purchase of masks worth more than 90 billion, that the absences a detailed activity plan from ministry it was difficult to determine the envisaged outputs. “ This impaired efforts to track and report on the performance of the COVID-19 intervention,” the Auditor General noted. Whether the fabric masks were procured as per the funds allocated, remains an unanswered question.
In November 2022, Hon Wandera Ogalo, former member of both the national parliament and the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), told members of parliament and civil society during a national platform meeting on transparency and accountability of Civd resources at Senate Building Makerere univeristy that the Parliamentary Task Force made 16 directives to government regarding accountability but it unfortunate that government has not acted on them.
In furtherance of it’s oversight role, Parliament through the Joint Committee on Public Accounts (Central and Local Governments) made a verification of the lists of beneficiaries of the Covid-19 relief funds amounting to 53.5 billions alleged to have been given out to half million vulnerable Ugandans. In its findings the Committee noted in their report dated November 2021, that the list of the beneficiaries provided by Prime Minister, had a lot inconsistencies regarding the serial numbers and the actual beneficiaries to the extent that the names that appeared on the list didn’t appear in the row data from the districts. It was further discovered that public officials fraudulently received the relief funds. The Committee recommended a thorough audit of the distribution of the funds and that Ministry of Gender, ensures that all officers that, through deceit, got the funds refund them.
As Covid ravaged the World, President Museveni thought it right to spear head scientific research on developing a vaccine and management of the spread of the virus. The
Presidential Scientific Initiative on Epidemics – (PRESIDEA) was established on the directives of the President to Identify research and development priorities required to lead the country towards containment of the COVID-19 public health security threat; to conduct rapid epidemiological analysis of evidence and recommend appropriate interventions against COVID- 19 at national level; to provide funding for local scientists to enable them to fast track the development and productions of biologics; harness the opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and the pathogen economy as a whole; and to think tank strategic research and analysis geared at strengthening policy and design socio-economic interventions as well as harnessing
opportunities for post-COVID recovery periods.
Over 70 billions were invested in the process but the progress remains unclear. Concerns over the development of the vaccine were raised that drew the attention of Parliament to ensure accountability of the public resources sunk into it. The Parliamentary Select Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation on Covid-19 Related Research for financial year 2019/20 to Financial year 2021/22 noted in its findings, in May 2022, failure by the initiative “to provide results within agreed timelines and budgets defeated the purpose for emergency interventions.” It further noted that although it was supposed to end within a given period it has continued operating under no clear legal frame work.
The Committee observed that a number financial anomalies were discovered such diverting money worth 3.5 billion meant for operational expenses was diverted into purchasing furniture, vehicles and moving money hundreds of millions of money from one project to another in total disregard of the financial procedures. The Select Committee observed that “UGX. 377.49 million was moved from project 11 (Stem Cell Research) and 12 (Therapeutic Intervention for COVID- 19 using Antivirals, Immune modulators and antiplatelet agents) to project 2 (PCR based Diagnostic assays). These virements are contrary to section 22 of the Public Finance Management Act 2015 as amended.”
It was also discovered that 1.4 billion shillings is said to have been paid in salaries to seven PRESIDE staff although the verified salary was 444 million shillings. Further financial anomalies were discovered including some projects under the initiative receiving more money than they budgeted for while others got less than they requested for and spending money not appropriated by parliament. Whether the Presidential initiative met the country’s expectations, is something that still lingers around.
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee-Central Government in its recent findings of August 2022, have further raised concerns over the management of Covid-19 resources. For example the Committee, in its report notes that Ministry of Health made procurement worth 191 billion shillings “out of which, UGX.184,690,133,633 was paid by 30th June 2021 using funds received as Covid-19 response,” in disregard of the Public Procurement and Disposable Regulatory Framework as the products aid for were not subjected to Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) checks. It was also observed that the Ministry of health has not produced the Covid-19 performance reports which has made it difficult to know how public resources were utilized.
Structures
The government, in an effort to manage and control the pandemic, came up with a Community Engagement Strategy (CES) through which top to bottom structures were established. Among these the Village Health Teams (VHT) were made vital and where supposed to be “paid a monthly allowance and provided with the following tools: back pack bag, thermometer, sanitizers, soap, face masks, gumboots, uniforms, smartphone, umbrella, relevant medical supplies, RDTs etc,” according to the CES.
Besides these promises, on 21 July 2021, the Prime Minister, Hon Nabbanja told parliament that 52 billion shillings was disbursed to Ministry of Local government to “facilitate Covid-19 responses at local levels across the country.” She noted that District local governments will get Shs l50 million, Cities Shs 150 million; Municipalities Shs 100 million; Village Health Teams (VHTs) Shs 300,000 per village and Village task force Shs 100,000 per village.
Unfortunately, VHTs apart from having worked had during the pandemic without the tools promised even the money allocated did not reach out to them. During the interactions organized by HURIPEC on transparency and accountability, several VHTs in Teso, Acholi and Greater Masaka were not aware of the said funds. A number of village chairmen express similar concerns on the 100,000 shillings alleged to have been given out.
Procurement of goods and services:
Huge sums of Covid-19 funds were secured and spent by various ministries, agencies and departments in procuring goods and services but serious concerns still remain on whether proper procedures were followed in tendering out the services, the selection of suppliers, the right quality and quantity of the goods delivered.
For example the Budgetary Monitoring Unit of Finance Ministry noted in their October 2020 report that Ministry of Health contracted M/S JMS to supply 1000 beds and mattresses, 2000 blankets and 2000 bed sheets at a cost 1.3 billions shillings. However when the Unit went to verify they found “only 331 beds and mattresses. The list of the rest of the beds was not availed…” The ministry procured 20 sleeper tents with a capacity of 100 people from M/s Lumious Uganda Limited at a cost 3.8 billion shillings.
“Although the contract stipulated 20 tents, only 13 were signed and installed at Namboole by time of monitoring in September 2020. All the tents procured failed and could not be used to accommodate patients as earlier anticipated due to their weak specifications and capacity. The users and stakeholders at Namboole questioned the suitability and quality of tents procured by the MoH,” the Unit noted in their report.
The Unit also revealed that a contract for the purchase of megaphones worth Ug Shs 2.9bn was signed on 11th May 2020 to be distributed to all parishes and sub-counties. “The MoH bought 108,863 megaphones at a unit cost of Ug shs 230,000 and 43,450 pieces of dry cells at Ug shs 10,000 each. These were expected to facilitate communication of COVID-19 messages in all parishes. The megaphones were delivered on 22nd June 2020, however, districts visited by the monitoring team in July, August and September had not received these items. These included; Oyam, Omoro, Apac, Agago, Gomba and Butambala among others.”
A review of financial documents submitted to Ministry of Finance, shows that Covid-19 procurement is still ongoing. For example in January 2022, Ministry of Health under procurement reference MOH/SUPLS/22-22/000130 placed an order for the procurement of aprons for VHTs under Covid-19 through restricted bidding to M/s Rwams (U) LTD at a cost of 1.583,276,800/= billion. The aprons, according to the document awaits delivery and the beneficiaries are indicated as Ministry of Health and VHTs across the country. A quick search of Rwams (U) Ltd on the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) yielded no results while the Google search indicated that the company is media and publishing company dealing in General Stationery and Supplies located at Nkurumah Road. The search further showed that the company deals in food, beverages and related products, office equipment, stationery and consumables, office furniture and furnishings, paper, paper products and packaging materials, cleaning and compound maintenance, garbage collection, secretarial, printing, binding and photocopying services, water collection, treatment and disposal activities and fumigation.
A further review of financial documents shows that by February 2021, the Ministry of Defence 26.9 billion shillings of Covid-19 related activities. Out of this more than 2.5 billion was paid to Vivo Energy (U) Ltd for supply of fuel for “Anti Covid -19 operations.” On the other hand, Uganda Police Force, by May 2021, had spent more than 14 billion shillings out which 2.933 billions went to National Enterprises Corporation, a business arm of Uganda People’s Defence Force, for the supply of posho grade 2, dry beans and mineral water to police officers. Biscuits worth 451 millions at a cost of 16,590 shillings per packet were also procured. The biscuits, in the procurement document were described as: wheat biscuits flour, vegetable and hydrogenated fats, sugar in airtight packaging cartons of 84g However, police officers interacted with feigned ignorance of the biscuits. Uganda Prison Services, in their accountability indicated that within the similar period they spent over 3 billion shillings on “special meals.”
In an effort to ensure that the education of young people is not affected by Covid-19, interventions were made through providing learning materials to the children. US dollar 14 million was raised through the World Bank Covid-19 Education Response Project to produce the materials. By April 2021 the Ministry spent more than 20 billion shillings to print and distribute school materials to Central, Northern, Western and Eastern regions of Uganda. The Ministry claims that 34231 learners in both private and public primary and secondary schools benefited. Local leader in Eastern Uganda, during a transparency and accountability meeting on Covid-19 resources noted that even though he was a higher position within the district, his own children did not benefit from this intervention. Same sentiments were in Western Uganda by variuos stakeholders.
Procurement concerns have been continuously raised. The Auditor General, in a thematic audit on Covid resources of February 2021 noted that “… procurement worth 143.84 billions” had anomalies. Nine procurement issues were identified including use of inappropriate procurement methods, non-prequalified suppliers, by passing of the contracts committees, failure to justify the use of direct procurements, procurement without signed contracts, failure to subject procured items to quality checks, failure to maintain procurement records and non-compliance to contracts terms and conditions. The culprits include ministry of Defence, Health, Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prison Services and several local governments.
In May 2021, procurement concerns were raised in parliament by the leader of opposition according to this Hansard excerpt of 21 May 2021:
“In 2020, the Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit reported that verified deliveries are fewer than what was paid for. For instance, Joint Medical Stores delivered 1,000 beds, but the monitoring team was only able to verify 331 beds. In other instances, it was noted that M/s Silverbacks Pharmacy was fully paid before making deliveries that were quoted as inflated. The company was contracted to provide two oxygen plants and 450 cylinders at Shs 6.4 billion and yet earlier, at the same cost, it delivered oxygen plants in 13 regional referral hospitals. Whatever changed in a very short time, probably the Prime Minister or the Minister of Health, at an opportune moment, should be able to explain to the country the sudden change of costing for these facilities.
“Separately, the Auditor-General, in his recent report of February 2021, noted that flouting of procurement regulations, mismanagement of quarantine centres, mismanagement of cash donations, ghost receipts of in-kind donations and mischarges, among others. These were problematic and noted as accounting gaps.
“Based on the above, the public is generally concerned and very suspicious that Government will continue to prey on public funds. Borrowing a leaf from one of the recent transparency conditions on accessing International Monetary Fund loans, all details of contracts of COVID-19 procurements should be published on the website of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. The published list of procurements should detail winning bidders of contracts of any money above Shs 500 million for works as well as above Shs 200 million for goods and services. The list should detail the items procured, method of procurement, service provider, the shareholders, contract value, status of procurement, source of funding, among others. These will give confidence to the citizens that there is a government that cares and it is accountable.”
Although it posed a serious threat to lives, Covid-19, also presented a chance to Uganda to work on its health infrastructure given the amount of resources injected. Unfortunately this was not the case. The accountability issues remain hanging. Could it be that some people took advantage of the suffering of others to make themselves rich as one journalist noted that “Çovid started as a pandemic but ended up as a carcass for public officials to share.”
Accountability of these resources continue to bother quite a number. Dr. Zahara Nampewo notes that the Uganda government, should account to for the money it sent and also recieved from donors.
“Over 1500 donors including individuals, businesses and organizations made generous contributions amounting to huge sums of money to the fight the pandemic. Some of these were personal savings from individuals, others were grants from tax payers’ money from other countries. It is unfortunate that accountability is missing.”
Hon Wandera Ogalo opines that Parliament in addition to Committee reports. MPs should carry out a performance audit and also demand from government a comprehensive report on the management of the pandemic.
To resolve the accountability issues, we may borrow leaf from the United Kingdom that established a commission inquiry to examine the COVID-19 response and the impact of the pandemic and produce a factual narrative account on the public health and economic response across the country.
The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC or the Centre) was hosted by the Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC) at the University of Copenhagen (UoC) in Denmark to speak on preliminary findings from a joint project between HURIPEC and CRIC. The two institutions are collaborating on research about the role of Uganda’s security sector in national development and peace.
From HURIPEC, Dr. Zahara Nampewo (Director HURIPEC) and Dr. Sylvie Namwase (a Research Fellow with HURIPEC) were hosted by CRIC at the Department of Political Science at the UoC between the 11th and 13th October 2022.
Dr. Sylvie Namwase during the presentationsDr. Zahara Nampewo delivering her presentation
The duo presented their findings before staff of the university including Masters students of Approaches to International Conflicts – From Theory to Methods at the Department and their lecturers Mathilde Kaalund, and Professor Ole Wæver who is scheduled to present two guest lectures on “Security Theory and Securitization” (open to the public) and “International Peace and Security. A world Analysis” (for masters’ students at the School of Social Sciences, College of Humanities) all at Makerere University on the 14th and 16th November 2022.
While at the UoC, Dr. Zahara was also hosted at the School of Law, where she made a special presentation on the migration patterns into and out of Uganda with specific focus on labour externalization from Uganda to the Middle East.
HURIPEC will continue to research on contemporary issues and is particularly honoured by the partnership with CRIC to research on the role of Uganda’s security sector in national development and peace. The findings from the research will be published once ready for dissemination.
Some of the recordings from the presentations will be made available on the website.
The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) invites the general public to two guest lectures by Professor Ole Wæver at Makerere University. Ole Wæver is a Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, founder of CAST (Centre for Advanced Security Theory) and Director of CRIC (Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts).
Professor Wæver coined the concept of ‘securitization’ and co – developed what is known as the Copenhagen School in security studies. Beyond security theory, his research interests include climate change, conflict analysis/resolution, the history and sociology of the international relations discipline, philosophy of science, sociology of science, religion in international affairs, politics of technology and conceptual history speech act theory.
The first guest lecture titled “International Peace and Security. A world Analysis” will focus on global security dynamics before and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will take place on 14th November 2022 (Monday), from 9:00am to 11:00am, at Lecture Room 2, School of Social Sciences, College of Humanities (CHUSS), Makerere University. This lecture was organised by the masters students of CHUSS, and will not be open to the public.
Guest Lecture on International Peace and Security. A World Analysis
According to the Professor, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises questions of both what global structure enabled the war and the effects of the war on the global constellation of regions and powers. He will be presenting an attempt at analyzing the current structure of global security according to “regional security complex theory” that was originally published in the 2003 book “Regions and Powers”.
The second guest lecture titled “Security Theory and Securitization” will focus on security theory and securitization beginning by asking the question “what is security?”. It will take place on 16th November 2022 (Wednesday), from 4:30PM to 7:00PM at the Lower Lecture Theatre, School of Law, Makerere University. This will be open to the public.
This discussion will focus on a debate over narrow and wide concepts of security to various concrete threats that are handled as security threats. It will be followed by discussions about what is at stake when some challenges are lifted above national politics as questions of necessity and survival and will also touch upon global security dynamics on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Guest Lecture on Security Theory and Securitization
The Human Rights and Peace Center (HURIPEC), a semi-autonomous department of the School of Law, Makerere University will be hosting a National Platform Meeting under the auspices of its Transparency and Accountability of Covid – 19 Resources (TACOR) project – an academic – led effort (that started in April 2022) to bolster citizen engagement and (to) promote accountability in the use of public resources, and increase the capacity of Parliament to defend people’s interests in times of crises. The project is inspired by HURIPEC’s recognition that “transparency and accountability of public resources in Uganda and beyond remains an important priority and a focus of democracy and human rights scholarship”.
The meeting is a continuation of the engagements that the department has continued to have with legislators under the TACOR project. The other engagements include among others engagements at the launch of the event in Parliament in May, and the two budget review meetings that have so far been carried out under the project.
It is hoped that from the meeting, HURIPEC will consolidate on the gains that have been made from the previous engagements with several stakeholders on the conversation of COVID – 19 funds and spending as well as harness lessons and opportunities that the pandemic presents to shape current and future emergency responses. HURIPEC will also be able to share key evidence – based findings on COVID resource management across the country, and using those findings to draw “feasible strategies for (the) implementation of parliament resolutions and decisions on COVID – 19 inquiries…” that have been conducted.
Among the invited guests of the meeting are key national actors including the Members of Parliament, Civil Society Organizations working on policy and accountability, members of the academia, donors and other development partners.
The activity is scheduled to take place on the 4th November 2022, at the Makerere Senate Building Level 4 (Conference Hall), Makerere University, Kampala, starting at 8:30 am.
The meeting will be streamed on a number of online platforms whose links shall be shared examining the theme “Enabling Accountability of COVID – 19 Resources Through Execution of Existing Parliamentary Mechanisms”.
For any inquiries and reservations, kindly contacts Jackson Odong on +256 392 592 400 or via email jackodong2009@gmail.com.
The Human Rights and Peace Center, (HURIPEC) of the School of Law, Makerere University, under a research initiative ‘Transparency and Accountability of COVID Resources (TACOR)’, is exploring how resources including money mobilized for the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic has been utilized and what lessons can be drawn to address any future emerging crises like the resurging Ebola and landslides that the country continues to grapple with.
Delegates pose for a group photo in front of the HURIPEC Boardroom
As part of data collection HURIPEC held a second Budget Review Platform meeting on 21st September 2022 held. This was attended by a cross section of Members of Parliament from select committees including health and budget, as well as Civil Society Organizations like the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information (SEATINI), Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), and the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) among other dignitaries. This engagement took place at the HURIPEC boardroom, at the School of Law, Makerere University.
This meeting was a follow up to the first Budget Review Platform Meeting that was held on the 8th July 2022. Through these meetings and a series of other engagements, HURIPEC has ignited a conversation around the expenditures of the COVID 19 resources by the relevant stakeholders.
Organized under the theme “Seeking Accountability for COVID funds through the lens of Budget analysis”, the TACOR research team at HURIPEC presented some of the preliminary findings from the field studies that had so far been conducted in the four regions of Uganda, that is; (North, East, West and Central) in the districts of Gulu, Soroti, Mbarara and Masaka respectively. These regional engagements raised critical views from various stakeholders in the four districts in Acholi, Teso, Buganda and Ankole subregions on how COVID – 19 funds were received and utilized. In addition, the meetings offered insights on the various actors involved in the response to the pandemic that still continues to date, albeit with limited attention and scrutiny. Preliminary findings from the district level experiences in the fight against COVID-19 presented at the Budget Review Platform meeting stimulated conversations around budget performance of the COVID-19 budget appropriations, disbursements, utilization and accountability as Parliamentarians and other participants shared their perspectives and insights on some of the findings.
The Delegates during the deliberations
ACODE, through its research fellow, under the Monitoring and Evaluation department, Eugene Gerald Semakula, presented findings from a study that had earlier been carried out under the title “The Performance of the COVID – 19 district task forces in Uganda: Understanding the Dynamics and Functionality”. A report from the study was developed and compiled by Jonas Mbabazi and Fred Kasalirwe from ACODE. Specific presentations at the meeting were also made by the Director of HURIPEC, Dr. Zahara Nampewo and Odong Jackson (a Research Associate at HURIPEC and the TACOR Coordinator), while the rest of the dignitaries had an interactive engagement in light of the presentations that were being made in the day.
Eugene Gerald Semakula presents the report from ACODE
According to Odong Jackson, some of the emerging issues from TACOR studies include; delayed disbursements of COVID-19 funds, contravention of procurement guidelines, politicization of COVID-19 resources, diversion of funds, and the information deficits that obscure accountability of COVID-19 resources in Uganda. Notably, these kind of field studies are among the ways that Makerere University engages communities to cure some of the problems that Prof. Christopher Mbazira, the Principal, School of Law says “research is created for”. While closing the meeting, Prof. Mbazira noted that universities were accused of concentrating on theories, ignoring field work and not being out there in the public domain to engage communities and policy makers to influence change. In his remarks, he was glad that HURIPEC and specifically through TACOR was undertaking such kinds of initiatives that required communing with the wider public.
Odong Jackson presents preliminary findings on the study.
The members of parliament present were particularly advised on some of the areas that needed parliamentary oversight during the onslaught of the pandemic (even if it was not done to the expectations of the citizens of the country) to include having oversight over quarantine centers, hospitals and other health facilities, accountabilities of government institutions, funds and information about COVID funds. However, it was revealed that parliament has had a limited involvement in holding persons under the relevant sectors and departments to account in light of the COVID – 19 Pandemic, even though some of the members of parliament present differed in opinion.
The dignitaries also commended HURIPEC and the School of Law for the research and urged that they continue “… contributing to the body of knowledge” with the research and findings, feeding members of parliament with information.
Dr. Zahara Nampewo advised members of parliament that they needed to improve in the areas of accountability of COVID – 19 funds, in how to work with the law such as the Public Finance Act, use of ICT to enhance information sharing and coordination, enhancing partnerships with Civil Society, the academia and wider community. These she hoped would be able to solve some of the weaknesses identified in the systems such as weaknesses in the legal and policy frameworks during COVID to handle issues of disbursement, procurement, information sharing and coordination, uncoordinated complementary government initiatives, lack of clarity in reporting and accountability and proliferation of entities.
This is something that the Principal School of Law agreed with when he said that the lack of accountability had been sustained by the failure to adhere to the Rule of Law.
“I agree that our laws have some weaknesses, but we also have laws that if implemented can achieve a lot”, Prof. Christopher Mbazira remarked, “the problem is alluded to politics and if not fixed, we shall lament for long”. He feared that “we (were) overseeing institutional capture. Parliament is under capture at both macro and micro levels”.
Hon. Michael Kakembo, Member of Parliament for Entebbe Municipality advised civil society organizations to research, review existing laws, provide solutions that bite and to advise on a law for oversight to create compelling obligations by the law to hold people accountable.
The members of parliament in an effort to protect themselves from the biased scrutiny advised that all public officials should be scrutinized, not just parliament, “we have become punch bags, we are bogged down”, referring to complaints about how much parliament earns and yet there were many uncriticized public officials who received more money than they did.
Member of Parliament, the District Woman MP for Soroti District, Hon. Anna Adeke Ebaju noted that there were no clear-cut channels on use of public resources, implementation of the law and the systems in place was opaque, there was no political mandate to provide the required scrutiny. “parliament” she said, “does not have power to prosecute or power to order refund of misappropriated funds”.
A shared sentiment from the meeting was the worry that Ebola was now here and the appetite for public resources was now out.
TACOR continues with COVID-19 accountability discourse, answering some of the tough questions that were posed at the Budget review platform meeting, especially one from Hon. Michael Kakembo who asked, “Where did the COVID-19 billions go? referring to the unaccounted for COVID funds. Other questions revolved around why political heads like the LC5 and other political leaders were left out of the COVID – 19 engagements, “If there (were) systems in place, why not follow them?”“Do we need to review the constitution to give parliament more power beyond making laws?”,“Should I (Principal of Law) be paid to churn out lawyers who will not do anything because the country has no rule of law. Is it worth it?”
The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) of the School of Law, Makerere University in collaboration with the Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC) will produce a special edition of the East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights (EAJPHR). The East African Journal for Peace and Human Rights (EAJPHR) is an international, peer-reviewed, bi-annual scholarly publication of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) of the School of Law, Makerere University. The Journal aims to stimulate research and thinking on contemporary governance issues, problems, challenges and policies. Its primary aim is to provide a platform to scholars, practitioners and activists in the fields of Human rights, Constitutional law, Rule of Law, among others, to share knowledge and experiences.
In recent years in Uganda, there have been increasing levels of militarisation manifested in various forms across different sectors of the society. While there has been consensus among development partners on the importance of building strong state institutions, including the military, as part of peacebuilding efforts, qualitative democratic change has been harder to achieve and is still a challenge in academic debates (Paris and Sisk, 2009; Chandler, 2012). Although military control over resources and implementation can be regarded in some contexts as a step towards achieving development, it may also undermine a country’s economic performance and could lead to increased instability, particularly in developing countries, where the oversight of military budgets and activities remains extremely opaque (Transparency International, 2011).
This journal issue seeks to showcase reflective academic commentary on the experiences of utilising a militarised approach as a strategic lead in Uganda’s development and how this is linked to SDG 16 on security, peace, development and strong institutions. It aims to highlight recent trends, practices and emerging issues in the area of militarisation in Uganda.
We are therefore inviting abstracts for submissions in the form of articles, original research and analytical case reviews with the goal of producing a critical assessment on the role of the military in Uganda’s development. Papers examining the role of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces in regional and national stability as well as national elections are also welcome.
The word limit for the abstracts is between 250-500 words and should comply with the following;
Be submitted in English;
Include a title of the article / commentary;
Give a short description of the topic (background and summary of the problem; verview of the issue to be explored) and proposed solution/expected findings;
Be concise, informative and complete
Attach a brief Bio of the contributor including contact details.
Interested authors should submit their abstracts to the following address not later than 10th November 2022.
Dr. Zahara Nampewo Dr. Sylvie Namwase Managing Editor Post Doctoral Researcher East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights Human Rights & Peace Centre Email: zahara.nampewo@mak.ac.ug Email: syl.nams@yahoo.com
Yesterday (the 22nd September 2022) was the Peace Day. Ugandans have faced insurmountable levels of violence tracing back to the precolonial to colonial and post-colonial times. An increasing number of studies in epigenetics and sociology support the idea that generational trauma can be passed down through epochs of time and even affect entire communities or nations, including holding them bonded to low self-worth and indignity. As Ugandans our healing from violent pasts will involve leaming about these pasts in more honest, objective, deeper and intimate ways than we have been taught in school, understanding the many ways in which these experiences affected our predecessors and tracing how they show up in our present reality. This holistic approach can lead us to more compassion for each other and to new ways of seeing and acknowledging each other’s dignity regardless of where we come from. It would lead us to a more collective consciousness that these pasts should not be repeated or sustained and that we all owe each other a duty to heal as a nation. This is a powerful safeguard against violent conflict as it transcends many of the limitations we put on our humanity as Ugandans.
To this end, it is necessary that Ugandans continue to reject any and all ideologies that seek to instil and entrench feelings of worthlessness or indignity including suggestions that victims of violence including police violence or security forces’ excessive force, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, disappearances, among other such violations deserve what they get, or that violence is the only language they understand” or suggestions that fifty or one hundred victims of such violence is no cause for concern. These are perspectives starkly commensurate with the colonial times where Ugandans were regarded by a foreign colonising force as subhuman, and are a reflection of the collective trauma from state violence passed down through that turbulent history into the present day We can and must extricate ourselves from this past. To remain silent would be to acquiesce to dictations of our worthlessness and indignity. Many scholars of the subject agree that inaction including on the part of victims of violence-be it state violence, intimate partner violence, or structured violence-is a critical part of the process of normalising it. Thus, protest against violence however minimal is necessary to reaffirm to oneself and assert to one’s violator, one’s sense humanity, self-worth and dignity, To this end, calls should continue for the investigation and prosecution of unlawful killings perpetrated through the use of excessive force by Ugandan security forces during the November riots, the walk to work protests, the 2016 violence in Kasese, the Apaa land conflict and violent disarmament in Karamoja, among other such recorded excesses.
The necessary work of our healing would also require a varied array of actors including academia, media, civil society, security forces and religious leaders, among others. A multidisciplinary approach from academia would especially be insightful with historians, lawyers, anthropologists, philosophers, sociologists, psychologists among other disciplines informing robust dialogue and debate with emotional intelligence, publications and dissemination on the question of violence in Uganda and pathways to dignity and durable peace. Lawyers have some very foundational work to do relating to reform and clarification of the law particularly as it relates to the use of force by state security forces as one of the main legacies of violence at a macro level. Here is it important to reassert that the law on the use of force by security actors in Uganda is grounded in the preservation of the right to life which is accorded an especially high threshold of protection under the 1995 Constitution. Moreover colonial standards that have purported to indemnify the police for deaths or harm arising from excessive use of force have been struck down by the Constitutional Court in Moses Mwandha versus Attorney General Constitutional Petition No. 5 of 2007 Lawyers should explore ways in which these adjudicated decisions and principles can be implemented through law reform and how similar old colonial laws which bear the blue print for our collective maltreatment and indignity are expunged from the standards which govern human life in Uganda With such expunging, we can inscribe new standards on how the state can apply force to implement the mandate given to it to maintain law and order without abusing its power and while protecting human life and dignity, which is inherent in all Ugandans.
Finally, for our reflection on this Peace: As part of a global black collective which continues to experience some of the most extreme forms of violence across the world, how can we continue to demand for dignity when we cannot accord it to ourselves within our own local domains of power and control?
Sylvie Namwase is a Post Doctorate researcher, at the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), Makerere University.
The above text was published in the New Vision on the 21st day of September 2022 to commemorate the Peace Day.
The Parliament of Uganda has released a report titled “Report of the Committee on Human Rights on the State of Human Rights and Human Rights Violations in the Country from January 2020 to – date” where the members of the Committee on Human Rights of parliament (the “Committee”) sought to inquire into the human rights and human rights situation from January 2020 to June 2022, and the prolonged detention of the Royal Guards of the Obusinga Bwa Renzururu who have been in detention since 2016.
In order to come up with its findings on the issues, the Committee held meetings with a number of ministries, departments and agencies, political parties, Non – Governmental Organizations, informal groups of persons and several individuals who provided memoranda on the same.
The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) was among the institutions that provided an insight on the issues understudy. These findings are presented under Section 4.5 of the report for a perspective on Civil Society Organizations. We provided insights on a number of issues that affected the enjoyment of human rights in Uganda in the period 2020 – 2020 both in the areas of civil and political, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. These focused on abductions, deaths and extra judicial killings, the narrowing civic space, the right to privacy and management of personal data, persistent use of torture and disregard of the right to bail by state security agencies and the effects of COVID – 19 on human rights enjoyment.
