Clerics and political leaders in Kabale District have used Eid al-Fitr prayers to condemn the deepening corruption in Uganda’s public service, particularly the widespread sale of jobs within District Service Commissions (DSCs).
Their concerns follow revelations in a recent report by the Inspectorate of Government (IG), which exposes an alarming and escalating crisis of job-related corruption across the country. According to the report, nearly 3,000 complaints were registered with the Inspectorate between July 2023 and June 2024, a significant number of them linked to irregularities in District recruitment processes.
An earlier joint study by the Inspectorate of Government, the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), and Makerere University paints an even grimmer picture. The study found that between 2018 and 2022, job seekers were asked to pay bribes amounting to 78.7 billion Shillings, with actual payments estimated at 29 billion Shillings.The findings further reveal that bribes ranged from as low as 3 million Shillings for entry-level positions such as nursing assistants and primary school teachers, to more than 50 million Shillings for senior roles like heads of departments. Alarmingly, six out of ten successful applicants admitted to using bribery or personal connections to secure employment.
Speaking during Eid al-Fitr prayers at Al-Majid Jamia Mosque in Kirigime Ward, Kabale Municipality, the Kabale District Muslim Khadhi, Sheikh Kabu Lule, described the practice as systemic exploitation of desperate job seekers. He noted that in some cases, applicants are asked to pay up to five million Shillings for jobs that offer a monthly salary of just 500,000 Shillings, with the demanded bribe increasing depending on the competitiveness of the position.
Sheikh Lule also accused members of District Service Commissions of extorting money from multiple candidates for a single vacancy. “About 100 people apply for one job. Successful candidates are shortlisted for interviews, but you receive bribes from about five of them, even though there’s only one vacancy to fill. That’s theft,” he said.
The LCIII Chairperson for Central Division in Kabale Municipality, Sam Arinaitwe, echoed the Khadhi’s concerns, describing job selling as a long-standing and deeply entrenched problem in Uganda. He cited a recent case involving his nephew, an agriculturalist, who was asked to pay a 50 million Shilling bribe to secure a job in Buhweju District.
Arinaitwe proposed the centralisation of recruitment for district jobs as one of the possible measures to curb corruption within DSCs. He attributed the vice to the country’s high unemployment levels, noting that the desperation for jobs has made many applicants vulnerable to exploitation. “People are hungry for jobs and will do anything within their capacity to secure employment,” he said, adding that some officials perpetuate the cycle by trying to recover money they themselves paid as bribes to obtain their positions.
Leaders have now called for urgent reforms, stricter oversight, and accountability mechanisms to restore integrity in public sector recruitment and protect job seekers from exploitation. URN