Uganda today is engulfed in what many leaders politely call ‘corruption.’ Local Government Minister Balaam Barugahara has launched a nationwide crackdown, and for that he deserves commendation. But let me be clear: I strongly disagree with the language he uses. To call it corruption is to sanitise it. To call it corruption is to soften the blow. What we are witnessing is not corruption. It is grand theft. And those who perpetrate it are not corrupt officials, they are thieves.
When we say ‘corruption’, it sounds like a technical problem, a bureaucratic hiccup, something that can be solved with a few reforms. Theft is criminal. Theft is immoral. Theft is punishable. A thief is not a corrupt technocrat; a thief is a criminal who belongs to prison.
Uganda has been robbed blind by individuals entrusted with public office. They steal from hospitals, from schools, from roads, from the very lifeblood of our nation. And yet, because we insist on calling it ‘corruption’, we allow them to hide behind euphemisms. We allow them to walk around in suits, attend conferences, sit on front rows in church and mosques and pretend to be respectable.
Let us not deceive ourselves. The theft happening in Uganda is not petty. Billions of shillings vanish into private pockets while ordinary Ugandans struggle to afford basic necessities.
When funds meant for roads are stolen, it is not corruption; it is theft of lives. When roads are impassable, farmers can’t reach each market.
Every accident on our dilapidated highways is blood on the hands of thieves. When money meant for medicine is stolen, it is theft of health. Every child who dies in a hospital without drugs is a victim of grand theft. When funds meant for schools are stolen, it is theft of the future. Every generation denied education is robbed of opportunity.
The reason I insist on calling them thieves is simple: thieves provoke outrage. Thieves are despised. Thieves are punished. But corrupt officials? That phrase almost sounds respectable. It allows society to tolerate them. It allows them to remain in office.
If a man breaks into your house and steals your property, you call him a thief. You do not say he is corrupt. Why then do we use softer language when the theft is done in broad daylight, with pens and contracts by men and women in government offices?
Minister Barugahara’s crackdown is a step in the right direction. For once, there is energy and momentum in confronting this national cancer. But the crackdown must go further. It must stop treating these criminals as ‘corrupt officials’ and start treating them as thieves. Arrest them. Prosecute them. Jail them. Seize their properties. Return the stolen money to the people.
The cost of this grand theft is staggering. Uganda borrows billions from international lenders, only for the money to vanish into private accounts. Projects stall, costs balloon and deadlines are missed. The Busega-Mpigi Expressway is a perfect example: a project that should have cost Shs600 billion now stands at Shs1.3 trillion, with completion pushed years into the future.
And who pays the price? The ordinary Ugandan. Ugandans must stop tolerating thieves. We must stop glorifying them. We must stop inviting them to weddings, to parties, to church services. We must stop electing them. We must stop clapping for them when they donate stolen money to our communities.
A thief who donates stolen money is not generous; he is mocking us. He is buying legitimacy with our own resources. We must reject this culture of silence and complicity. Between 2022 and 2025, I traversed the entire country; people were all complaining about poor service delivery.
Uganda’s problem is not corruption. Uganda’s problem is theft. And until we call it what it is, until we treat the perpetrators as thieves, we will continue to suffer. Minister Barugahara’s crackdown is commendable, but it must evolve into a war on theft.
Dear Mr President, it’s not corruption but grand theft by people entrusted to serve the *wanainchi*. Imagine someone building a village home bigger than a hospital yet their source of income is government salary. Corruption should be treated as treason.
Let us stop hiding behind polite words. Let us call them what they are. They are thieves. And thieves must be treated as such.