When
the Embassy of the Royal Kingdom of Netherlands called me on 5/12/11 to request
that I meet up with the Netherlands deputy Ombudsman, Adriana Stehouwer, I knew
that a chance to put agenda of citizens on top IGG’s business had arrived. Yet I am also aware that
enduring change in our institutions cannot be fully driven by outside partners
but by citizens themselves. I asked that Adriana meets me at my office on
14/12/11. We held cordial discussions that gravitated on ways in which citizens
can fully engage with the institution of the IGG. Our discussions summed around
the following issues;
Citizen
debates, discussions, blog dashboards, brethren sermons etc, in Uganda seem to
illuminate IGG as an institution whose role is to investigate, arrest,
prosecute and put corruption suspects behind bars. Yet a quick check at IGG
website (http://www.igg.go.ug/), one notes that IGG is also mandated to create mass
public awareness not only about what it does but also what citizens can do to
promote transparency through reporting, speaking out, doing proactive citizen
investigation, citizen journalism etc. One also notes that the office of IGG
seem to be fossilized and out of touch with citizenry – at least from
expressions of citizens. It is apparent that the institution needs to open up
to citizen engagement and pursue innovations to reach to citizenry through a
feed forward and feedback communication integrated system. Why is the IGG not
doing this? Is the institution cash stressed? Is this enough excuse, or rather
there could be other natural and cheaper ways of easily reaching out to
citizens?
For
example, the language of the IGG is largely legalistic and not liberated for
citizens to engage with it fully. Most times, all you see are huge annual
reports that are difficult to navigate- at least for millions of citizens. Yet if
the IGG democratized their information in formats that are simple and easy to read/digest–
and also used unorthodox networks of change like mobile phones, facebook, faith
networks etc to reach out to citizens, more debate and unfettered interaction between the office of the IGG and citizens would make it more effective and
responsive to citizen interests. Data from International Communications Union
shows that in Uganda, 10,400,000 citizens have mobile phone access, 3,200,000
are using internet and 228 radios are on air, localized and broadcasting in
myriad local languages. The inspectorate
can harness the power of these communication technologies to create buzz around
their work and garner citizen feedback and comment. This is how IGG will be a
truly citizen institution. This is how IGG will enhance its legitimacy as a
true servant of Ugandans- working with them to contain and eliminate
corruption.
By
engaging in the foregoing, the quality on now expanded services will deliver
quality outcomes. Public monies will come under greater scrutiny, with citizens
not merely participating in budget processes but also monitoring and tracking
their money.
Morrison
Rwakakamba
Chief Executive Officer
Re-imagining agricultural and environmental policy
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