KAMPALA – When a young teacher or nurse dreams of serving their community, the expectation is simple: study hard, qualify, and compete fairly for a post. But in Uganda, those ideals collapse at the doors of the District Service Commissions (DSCs), the bodies meant to guarantee merit-based recruitment. A new study suggests the cost of entry is not competence but cash.
Released by the Inspectorate of Government (IG) in collaboration with the Economic Policy Research Centre at Makerere University, the study lays bare an entrenched culture of bribery, favoritism, and political interference in local government recruitment. It is a system, the researchers argue, that rewards the least deserving, punishes the qualified, and costs Uganda billions in wasted public funds.
The figures are staggering. Between 2018 and 2022, job seekers were asked for bribes amounting to nearly Shs 79 billion. Of that, Shs 29 billion was actually paid, roughly Shs 5.8 billion every year in just 20 sampled districts. Spread across all 146 districts, that’s Shs 42 billion annually.
Bribes varied by rank. Senior posts, such as heads of department, carried price tags of Shs 40–50 million. At the lower end, Grade III teachers and nursing assistants paid around Shs 3 million.
The health sector topped the list of actual bribe payments (Shs 12.9 billion), while the education sector faced the highest requests (Shs 36.9 billion). Male applicants reported paying more than female ones, Shs 22.2 billion compared to Shs 6.9 billion, though the report notes women were no less targeted.
One key informant put it starkly: “One has to surrender the salary for a whole year to secure a job.”
Where Corruption Runs Deepest
Regional disparities tell their own story. In eastern Uganda, 36 percent of applicants reported being asked for bribes, the highest in the country. The west followed with 26 percent, the central region at 15 percent, and the north at 11 percent. Interestingly, no northern applicants admitted to paying, perhaps a sign of lower ability, or willingness to meet the demands.
The practice doesn’t stop at recruitment. Teachers and health workers reported paying to secure transfers to urban areas or to avoid postings in remote districts. “Localization” of jobs, tailoring vacancies to benefit locals, further distorts opportunities.
Political interference compounds the problem. The appointment of DSC members themselves is often influenced by patronage, undermining their independence. Underfunded, poorly trained, and in some cases not fully constituted, many commissions simply lack the capacity, or the will, to resist corrupt practices.
Behind the numbers lies a story of broken systems. When an unqualified teacher buys their way into a classroom, children pay the price. When an incompetent nurse secures a hospital job, patients suffer.
“Corruption in recruitment of public officers by District Service Commissions is an endemic and rampant problem,” Inspector General of Government Beti Kamya Turwomwe warned in her foreword to the study. “These practices undermine the quality of employees hired, compromise service delivery, and lead to significant financial losses.”
It is a vicious cycle. Incompetent workers fail to deliver services, communities lose faith in government, and the credibility of public institutions erodes further.
Not Just Uganda
Uganda’s crisis is not unique. Studies from across Africa and beyond link patronage in public service hiring to weak governance and poor development outcomes. Jobs become rewards for loyalty or cash, not competence, hollowing out the very institutions meant to deliver progress.
Yet Uganda’s numbers are among the most sobering. The study tracked complaints lodged with the IG about recruitment corruption: from just over 200 cases in 2019, they soared to 637 cases in 2022. Even President Yoweri Museveni acknowledged the rot, castigating DSCs during the 2023 NRM Liberation Day celebrations for “selling” jobs.
Uganda’s public service laws already demand transparent, merit-based recruitment. In practice, the safeguards are ignored. The study outlines urgent reforms, including changing how District Service Commission members are appointed to limit political interference and raise qualifications, ensuring adequate funding and timely pay to reduce incentives for bribe-taking, rolling out electronic recruitment systems to minimize face-to-face dealings between applicants and recruiters, and strengthening oversight by the Public Service Commission while training commission members to uphold professional standards.
These are not new ideas. They echo long-standing recommendations from governance experts. What has been missing is political will.
Uganda’s public service is the frontline of government, teachers in classrooms, nurses in clinics, and engineers in local works departments. If these roles are bought and sold, what remains of accountability?
The IG’s study leaves little doubt: corruption in recruitment is no longer an open secret; it is an open wound. Healing it will take more than reports and speeches. It will demand action, from reforms in how DSCs are staffed to a cultural shift where public office is earned, not purchased.
Until then, every shilling a desperate applicant hands over is not just a bribe. It is a tax on hope, and a receipt for poor service delivery that citizens across Uganda cannot afford.
