Many people think that corruption is only financial or economic. When governments say they are fighting corruption they focus on financial or economic corruption. But corruption is far more that financial or economic.

Corruption in this article refers to changing something from its original naturally or publicly accepted form so that it is spoiled or damaged in some way or dysfunctional.

Therefore, if we target only economic and financial corruption alone, with our strategies to combat corruption, it is a drop in the ocean. All corruption is one with numerous intricately intertwined dimensions and needs to be combated holistically to make any meaningful progress in fighting.

In Uganda, the government has established many institutions to combat corruption. One such institution is the Inspector-General of Government (IGG) whose focus is on financial and economic corruption in government institutions. All other types of corruption are ignored. This explains why little progress has been made so far in the fight against corruption in Uganda.

The partial list below shows the extent to which corruption affects human society. It affects all aspects of human life and human endeavours.

• Political corruption
• Spiritual corruption
• Moral corruption
• Ethical corruption
• Cultural corruption
• Social corruption

• Academic Corruption

• Intellectual Corruption
• Mental corruption

• Scientific Corruption
• Policy corruption
• Legislative corruption
• Executive corruption
• Judicial corruption
• Budget corruption
• Energy corruption
• Food chain corruption
• Seed corruption
• Reproductive corruption
• Cyber corruption
• Biological corruption
• Health corruption
• Police corruption
• Military corruption
• Agricultural corruption
• Fisheries corruption
• Information flow corruption
• Resource base corruption
• Ecological corruption
• Corporate corruption
• Environmental corruption

I will concentrate on environmental corruption. But first, let me emphasise that the environment is everything but organised in four dimensions:  ecological-biological, socio-economic, socio-cultural and temporal. The dimensions are not mutually exclusive but mutually inclusive and dynamically interact. Each dimension constitutes 25 per cent or one-quarter of the environment and the dimensions penetrate each other. Of all the dimensions of the environment only the ecological-biological dimension is physical.

Environmental corruption has been on the rise in all the dimensions of the environment since time immemorial. In fact, all the other types of corruption can be assigned to the different dimensions of the environment and are thus integral to one or the other of the dimensions of the environment except the temporal dimension, which tends to penetrate the other dimensions of the environment, and whose abuse can be initiated by different types of corruption.

For the purposes of this article, I define environmental corruption as “the corruption of the environment in all its different dimensions: ecological-biological, socio-economic, socio-cultural and temporal”.

Corruption of the ecological-biological dimension of the environment of Uganda

The ecological-biological dimension of the environment is the physical dimension of the environment. It consists of everything physical including animals, plants and animals, bacteria, viruses, rocks, minerals, soils, lakes, rivers, swamps, etc. Since Man, Homo sapiens, is an animal, he belongs to this dimension. Since I defined corruption as “changing something from its original naturally or publicly accepted form so that it is spoiled or damaged in some way or dysfunctional”, Man,Homo sapiens, has been corrupting thr ecological-biological dimension in diverse ways and means, including: urbanisation, construction of dams, introducing foreign trees such as Eucalyptus and Cypress and genetically modified organisms (GMOs); foreign animals such as grade cattle, grade pigs and grade chicken; plastics in form of plastic cars, plastic buses, plastic cups, plastic plates, plastic mobile phones; and nylon and synthetic clothing; and is currently strategising to introduce a

nuclear plant in Buyende, to generate nuclear energy and by so doing pollute the environment with nuclear particles. In the environmental corruption of the ecological-biological we can include all types of corruption that are physical such as resource base corruption, military corruption, agricultural corruption, fisheries corruption, police corruption, biological corruption, seed corruption, reproductive corruption, food chain corruption and ecological corruption.

In Uganda ecological corruption is seen, for example, in land grabbing especially by people of exogenous origin who are destroying our time- tested agroecological systems of food and energy production.

Corruption of the socio-cultural dimension of the environment of Uganda

The socio-cultural dimension of the environment is the dimension that includes al the social and cultural perspectives of humanity, including its linkages and interactions with the physical and non-physical aspects of the environment. In this dimension is our genetics, culture, our linguistics our sociality, our diverse social ways of living, our natural indigenous groups, our ethnicity, our linkages to the land, our education system, our health system, our extended family system, our ethicality, our morality, our spirituality, our mentality, our sacredness, our indigeneity et cetera. When the socio-cultural dimension of the environment is corrupted, all these can be and have been corrupted. 

The 1995 Uganda Constitution engineered an artificial indigenous group called Banyarwanda and many indigenous groups such as Hehe and Nubi hitherto known to be indigenous elsewhere.  Cultural pollution has led to the erosion of our languages, thereby compromising conservation, which cannot be meaningfully and effectively done in foreign languages.

Political corruption, cultural corruption, spiritual corruption, Cyber corruption, moral corruption, social corruption, health corruption, academic Corruption, intellectual corruption, Mental corruption, scientific corruption, policy corruption, legislative corruption, executive corruption and judicial corruption belongs to the socio-cultural dimension of the environment.

Corruption of the socio-economic dimension of the environment of Uganda

The socio-economic dimension of the environment consists of all the social and economic aspects of the environment that together operate to transform the lives and circumstances of humanity. It includes social amenities and/or social installations. It also includes economic amenities and/or economic installations and the ways in which these are interlinked. It includes cooperative unions, cooperative societies, banks and corporates. 

Corruption in this dimension can disorient the dimension in favour of certain interests. For example, today, the socioeconomic dimension has been re-oriented over the years to favour Indians, Chinese and blacks of exogenous origin, and to a certain extent refugees at the expense of the indigenes.

Many hotels and industries in Uganda now belong to such people. If there are benefits accruing from such economic installation, it is a small group of people, frequently ethnically related that can celebrate. Corporate corruption belongs to this dimension.

Corruption of the temporal dimension of the environment of Uganda

This type of corruption is most exhibited when wrong time scales are attached to project or programme processes, or even if right time scales are attached to them, they are deliberately violated. This is done so that the managers and implementers of the projects and programmes can benefit financially. We have seen this happen with government projects such as construction of roads and hospitals and programmes such as Myooga and Parish development model. It is not uncommon, also uncommon to see many projects and programmes are denied money so that by the time the start again they are far more expensive than originally budgeted. The beneficiaries are the managers and their supervisors in government.

Conclusion

Environmental corruption is real but is not just economic and financial. To effectively combat corruption, we need to use an environmental approach so that all types of corruption can be assigned and analysed meaningfully and effectively from and within four different environmental dimensions. Unless we do this, we shall continue to be environmentally-illiterate and focus on only financial and economic corruption. If we remain environmentally illiterate about the sources of corruption, we shall continue to be central to corruption and provide wrong solutions to the scourge of corruption. Corruption is the greatest threat to civilisation in Uganda. While the governors are concentrating on primitive accumulation of wealth through corruption, the capacity of our environment to support life and our civilisation will continue to be eroded. When is eroded there is increasing threat to peace and security, but we won’t relate this to environmental decay and collapse. Then we shall do what we have habitually done: respond with guns and tear gas at great expense to the taxpayers.

For God and my country.

• A Tell report / By Oweyegha-Afunaduula / Environmental Historian and Conservationist Centre for – Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA), Seeta, Mukono, Uganda.

About the Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA)

The CCTAA was innovated by Hyuha Mukwanason, Oweyegha-Afunaduula and Mahir Balunywa in 2019 to the rising decline in the capacity of graduates in Uganda and beyond to engage in critical thinking and reason coherently besides excellence in academics and academic production. The three scholars were convinced that after academic achievement the world outside the ivory tower needed graduates that can think critically and reason coherently towards making society and the environment better for human gratification. They reasoned between themselves and reached the conclusion that disciplinary education did not only narrow the thinking and reasoning of those exposed to it but restricted the opportunity to excel in critical thinking and reasoning, which are the ultimate aim of education. They were dismayed by the truism that the products of disciplinary education find it difficult to tick outside the boundaries of their disciplines; that when they provide solutions to problems that do not recognise the artificial boundaries between knowledges, their solutions become the new problems. They decided that the answer was a new and different medium of learning and innovating, which they characterised as “The Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis” (CCTAA).

 Further reading

Asiimwe, George (2018). Corruption is killing our environment -Kabaka.  CHIMPREPORTS, May 4 2018 https://chimpreports.com/corruption-killing-our-environment-kabaka/ Visited on 24 April 2025 at 17:11 pm EAT

Linda Njoroge (2023). Oweyegha-Afunaduula: Why Effective Conservation requires Aligning environmentality with governmentality. Ultimate News, June 27 2023, https://ultimatenews.co.ug/2023/06/oweyegha-afunaduula-why-effective-conservation-requires-aligning-environmentality-with-governmentality/ Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:25 pm EAT.

Muhairwe Ramson (2024). Corruption fuelling rampant environmental destruction, warns Transparency International. Nile Post, October 11 2024 https://nilepost.co.ug/crime/220987/corruption-fueling-rampant-environmental-destruction-warns-transparency-international Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:50 pm EAT.

Mwenda, Andrew (2019). Is corruption the cause of our poverty? MUWADO, https://muwado.com/is-corruption-the-cause-of-our-poverty/?v=2a0617accf8b Visited on 24 April 2025 at 17:16 pm EAT.

Mwenda, Andrew (2020). Impunity and corruption at Bank of Uganda. MUWADO, July 10 2020 https://muwado.com/impunity-and-corruption-at-bank-of-uganda/?v=2a0617accf8b Visited on 24 April 2025 at 17:43 pm EAT.

Ngobi, Emmanuel (2024). Climate Change Report Indicates that corruption, politics aggravate environmental degradation. Nexus Media, October 11 2024 https://nexusmedia.ug/climate-change-report-indicates-that-corruption-politics-aggravate-environmental-degradation/ Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:56 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2022). The Political engineering of corruption in Uganda. https://www.watchdoguganda.com/op-ed/20220302/131201/oweyegha-afunaduula-the-political-engineering-of-corruption-in-uganda.html Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:37 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2022). 21st Century Uganda Needs Enabling Laws, Not Repressive or Repressive Laws. Watchdog, 2022 https://www.watchdoguganda.com/op-ed/20221016/144344/oweyegha-afunaduula-21st-century-uganda-needs-enabling-laws-not-repressive-or-oppressive-laws.html Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:34 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2023). The Engineering and institutionalisation of corruption by the Office of the Prime Minister. MUWADO, July 29 2023 https://muwado.com/the-engineering-and-institutionalization-of-corruption-by-the-office-of-the-prime-minister-of-uganda/?v=2a0617accf8b Visited on 24 April 2025 at 17:38 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2023). Why the NRm Government can never conserve and manage Uganda’s environment meaningfully and effectively. The Kampala Report, July 16 2023 https://www.thekampalareport.com/sports/2023071629074/why-the-nrm-government-can-never-conserve-or-manage-ugandas-environment-meaningfully-and-effectively.html Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:45 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2024).   Why the environment continues to decay and collapse despite enormous knowledge, awareness and concern. March 25 2024 https://muwado.com/why-the-environment-continues-to-decay-and-collapse-despite-enormous-knowledge-awareness-and-concern/?v=2a0617accf8b Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:29 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2025). How the Parish Development Model is destroying Uganda’s environment. MUWADO, March 6 2025 https://muwado.com/how-the-parish-development-model-is-destroyng-ugandas-environment/?v=2a0617accf8b Visited on 24 April 2025 at 16:40 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula and Charles Kawagga (2023). The Engineering and Institutionalisation of corruption by the OPM.  Uganda Radio Network, 31 July 2023 https://ugandaradionetwork.com/s/the-engineering-and-institutionalisation-of-corruption-by-the-opm/ Visited on 24 April 2025 at 17:06 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2023). Promoting Corruption through money bonanzas via the office of President of Uganda.  MUWADO, August 6 2023 https://muwado.com/promoting-corruption-through-money-bonanzas-via-the-office-of-president-of-uganda/?v=2a0617accf8b Visited on 24 April 2025 at 17:54 pm EAT.