Scrapping
off Bail not a solution to the fight against Corruption
By
Adellah Agaba
During the 27th
NRM Liberation anniversary celebrations at Nyakasanga play ground in Kasese,
His Excellency renewed his call for scrapping off bail for officials suspected
in capital offences stating that it hampers the fight against corruption. He
stated that the Judiciary is making his work difficult by giving bail to every
suspect.
As much as we agree
with you Mr. President on making the corrupt lose appetite of stealing
government public funds meant for service delivery, scrapping or denying bail
to the suspects will not reduce corruption levels unless it’s complimented by
other factors.
The
right to Bail is based on the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a
competent Court of Law. S. 77 of the
Magistrates Courts Act states that on an application for bail, Court considers
some factors to determine whether or not to grant bail. These include nature
and gravity of offence, severity of punishment, accused person’s antecedents (
as far as are known) whether s/he has a fixed place of stay; possibility of
interfering with prosecution witnesses, advanced age of the accused, whether
s/he is sole bread winner of the family,
his/her role in the community. The entitlement to apply for bail is a fundamental right and
freedom which is protected by the Constitution, denial of which amounts to robbing the suspects’
fundamental rights. Bail can
only be scrapped or reviewed by an Act of Parliament and the judiciary will
have no choice but to follow suit.
The Presidents pronouncement came
after most of the suspects in the theft of billions of money meant for service
delivery were granted bail by the courts of law. Recent corruption scandals opened citizens’ eyes to the
growing levels of corruption in Uganda as billions of shillings were stolen and
misappropriated by the public officials. The Pensions scandal in the Ministry
of Public Service with the loss of 100 billion shillings meant for retired
public servants, the rot in Prime Minister’s Office and matters are not helped
by the fact that Uganda’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking by
Transparency International revealed Uganda’s position at 130 out of 176
countries with a score of 29.
However,
scrapping and denial of bail alone will not reduce the high levels of
corruption that has made service delivery in hospitals, schools, roads hard to
achieve. Government efforts
towards elimination of corruption must include a policy to improve salaries of
government workers. The Police and teaching remain the least paid and most
ridiculed profession, living in squalid conditions in
an attempt to make ends meet. The judiciary has to be well remunerated in order
to dispense off their work with transparency and to avoid bribes at all levels.
Selective prosecution
must be condemned because you cannot simply pick one person and leave others. Relying on selective prosecution to eliminate
corruption and to act as a warning for other people in influential positions is a myth.
The fight
against corruption is not a preserve of government institutions. Fighting
corruption involves a concerted effort from all stakeholders. There is need for a quick passing of the Anti-corruption amendment
Bill so that officials implicated in these corruption scandals are effectively
brought to book, and all their assets acquired from the stolen money are
confiscated and liquidated to replace the misappropriated funds in respective
offices. This way, tax payers’ hard earned money is not used to pay off other
peoples’ fraudulent losses but instead be used in ensuring proper service
delivery in the country.
The writer works with Uganda Debt
Network
aagaba@udn.or.ug
