By David Mafabi
Nov 3, 2003
BUSIA - Government loses Shs 200 billion every year in corruption, a leading civil society official has said.
Mr Zie Gariyo, the executive director of the Uganda Debt Network, said the money is lost through bribery, tax evasion, smuggling and payment for sub-standard and shoddy works by central government and local government councils.
Gariyo said this during the launching of a regional anti-corruption mural at Busitema in Busia district on Saturday.
"The statistics collected in 15 years are so crude because they reveal that Uganda loses Shs 200 billion every financial year in corruption; this means that Uganda can't achieve her budgetary expectations of every financial year," Gariyo said.
The official said Uganda must fight corruption in order to achieve the desired economic growth of 7 percent per year for fighting poverty.
He said corruption has restricted the current growth rate to 4 percent. Gariyo said that although Uganda has moved away from being the 3rd most corrupt country in the world to the 17th in the corruption rankings by Transparency International, poverty reduction and corruption remain the greatest challenges to government.
He warned that the country risks losing donor funding if corruption continues unchecked.
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
