Kampala. After lying low for several months as the mood of the nation was strictly against corruption and fraud, the dishonest bureaucrats and politicians have now concluded that coast was clear and they could start asking for bribes without attracting public outrage.
“Corruption has won again, almost,” a corrupt official told Kiwani Post on condition of anonymity. When asked how he could be so sure when he preferred anonymity in the public life, the official said that anonymity had nothing to do with validity of an assertion.
“Everyone who leaks information to the IGG is always anonymous, right?” he argued, “And all those ‘sources’ that your journalists mention all day long are always anonymous. So let’s not argue over that.”
People would soon find this statement a matter of fact, without any sense of irony or sarcasm, corrupt people confidently claim.
These officials, most of whom are middle level government employees, have decided to go back to the good old days when they could ask for bribes without feeling awkward.
“Not that small fishes like us were netted by the investigating agencies, but we, as part of this society, felt a bit embarrassed asking for a bribe when everyone was speaking against corruption,” said an upper division clerk in a ministry.
“But times have changed, People have adjusted and corruption has survived,” he said. “In fact, corruption has adjusted and people have survived,” he added as an afterthought.
Officials say that the recent address to the nation by the President about fighting corruption does not make any sense to them, corrupt people believe the mood in the nation should be to move on from scams and controversies and focus on earning money, because money doesn’t grow on trees.
The corrupt officials further claim that the nation had “moved on” from corruption thanks mainly to those who were supposed to be fighting and exposing it.
Disclosure: A sum of UGX 100,000, in cash and unaccounted, was paid to anonymous corrupt people quoted in this report to come up with truth.
