Face to face with corruption (Part I)

Sign located at the tourist trap near the equator

Ask most Ugandans (or anyone living in Uganda for that matter) what the country’s greatest problem is and the most common response you’ll get is definitely corruption. As in many African countries, corruption permeates throughout society in Uganda. In fact, the country had the dubious honor of being declared the third most corrupt country in the world by Transparency Internation in 2001 (although in recent years it has improved - click here for the 2008 survey of 180 countries).

I managed to avoid any direct confrontation during my first few months in the country. Of course I still heard about bribes having to be paid, money disappearing within government, grades being bought at campus, etc. but I never actually was confronted with a situation where that was expected of me.

I haven’t been so lucky in the last few months. There have been two instances – beyond the usual "Muzungu price" and other "bonuses" that accompany my skin color – where I have been directly in a situation where I bribe was requested. I wish I could say that I was able to refuse paying the bribe both times and set the proper example, but that unfortunately isn’t the case.

The first instance happened in very early March, about a week before Tracy was to arrive. I had spent most of the day running errands to prepare for my experiments, which included spending copious amounts of time sitting in traffic that day. As a side note, I am thoroughly convinced that the "traffic police" over here actually slow traffic down more than they help it, especially when they consider themselves to be above the programmed logic of traffic stop lights. I remember that this was a day where I sat in my for 25 minutes without moving an inch as a police traffic cop "controlled" one of the main Kampala intersections. And by "controlled" I mean "let all other lanes of traffic flow smoothly while mysteriously letting traffic backup in one direction."

By the time I finally made it through the intersection, I was fairly agitated at the world in general (I have realized that wasting time - especially when stuck in poorly controlled traffic – is probably my single biggest pet peeve). I was running late but had one quick stop in the city center to pick up some luggage (another side note: luggage here in Uganda is ridiculously cheap…unfortunately, it’s quality is a bit reflective of that, so the 3 piece set I purchased will probably fall apart at the first real test of durability) before I was to head back to campus.

I found a parking spot - or what I believed to be a parking spot – jumped out of my car, and jogged the 2 blocks to the luggage store. After successfully bartering the luggage owner down to my price (which was probably still a rip-off, but I was happy with it) I took off, which gigantic suitcase in hand, speed walking back to my car.

When I got there, I found a big blue piece of paper stuck on my windshield. It said something along the lines of "Warning of past-due parking fees: Please present this paper at parking authority to clear fines or risk having car [immobilized]." Apparently, I had some parking fines which were unmet, which made zero sense to me since I had always paid parking costs upfront. Before I had much time to think about it, however, the nearby parking attendant had come up to me.

I immediately asked him to explain how I could have gotten the notice if I had always paid my fees, and he proceeded to tell me that I owed between 20,000-30,000 Ugandan Shillings (about $10-20) in parking fees, which was considerable knowing that each hour of parking costs $0.20. He also mentioned that I was parked illegally at that moment.

Normally, in a situation like this, I’m pretty level-headed and try to work through it. On this day, however, I was in no mood to deal with this and bluntly explained to the parking attendant that there was no way that was correct. I also asked him to explain how I was parked illegally if I was parked exactly like the other cars in front and behind of me and within the white outline on the road. He proceeded to show me a master list that did in fact list my license plate as having unpaid fees (which could have dated back to before I purchased the car) and told me that all of the cars in the area were parked illegally.

He further explained how I technically should have had my car wheels bracketed (the attendants basically lock your car in place with a large metal bracket around one wheel) but he had convinced them not to do so as he had seen that I was in a hurry.

Realizing that this guy wouldn’t be able to do much for me at that point, I opted to just leave the situation and figure it out later. I told him that I would take the paper to the parking authority and figure it out that way. He seemed to agree and then stepped back as I opened my door to get in a drive away.

At this point, the parking attendant loudly cleared his throat to regain my attention, looked at me, and then said "Sir, now for my lunch money."

I stopped, stood back up, and asked him to make sure I had heard him correctly. He repeated the phrase again.

After I registered what he was asking for, I incredulously asked why I should pay him anything. To this he explained how he had gone out of his way to prevent my car from being bracketed. At this point, I had had enough, and I launched into a mini lecture about how this was what was wrong with Uganda and partly why the country was stuck in the underdeveloped world, blah blah blah. Should I have done that? Probably not, but it didn’t matter either way because the guy wasn’t paying attention to what I was saying; he just wanted his bribe.

After stepping off of my soapbox I then asked what would happen if I didn’t pay him. I could tell he was a little taken aback by this question, and he didn't have any response beyond "Nothing."

Upon hearing this, I sat down in my car, wished the man a good day, and drove away. Winner of round one with African corruption: Chris.

While driving back toward campus, I came up with the following scenario to explain what had happened:

1. Parking attendant sees Muzungu park and get out of his car in an obvious hurry
2. Parking attendant checks master list to see if car is listed as having unpaid fees...bingo!
3. Parking attendant sets warning note on car and continues checking other vehicles, but keeping a close watch on Muzugu's car.
4. When Muzungu returns, parking attendant approaches to help "resolve the situation" quickly so Muzugu can be on his way
5. Makes up a story about how there is 20,000-30,000 in unpaid fines (my guess is that even 400 Shillings - $0.20 - in unpaid tickets showed up on that list) and how the car should have been bracketed
6. Claims that parking was done illegally, which is commonly the case in Kampala since nobody knows what is legal or illegal due to the markings being so poor
7. Muzungu calls attendant's bluff and he can't back it up

Is that what actually happened? I'll never know, but I haven't had any further problems (not yet at least) with parking since then.

That was my first brush with corruption on a very small scale. In a later post I'll explain a slightly larger run-in with corruption.

Hope everyone had a very happy Easter!

Cheers!
Chris