Apac has an army of Independent Budget Monitors

Shoddy construction work at Anwangi Primary School, Nambieso Sub-county, Apac District - {TAAC filephoto}

Since 2004, the Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition has trained a virtual army of 120 independent budget monitors (IBMs) to monitor and evaluate the use of public resources in their local community.

It does not require exams and degrees. Anybody can become an Independent Budget Monitor (IBM).

The IBMs are ordinary people who go about their daily life at grassroots level, using their ears and eyes to verify whether projects are being properly planned and adequately implemented, whether services are being satisfactorily provided, and whether offices at lower government levels are being used in the interest of the public.

IBMs offer specific concerns

The monitors submit their monthly reports to The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition and in turn receive a fee of Shl. 8,000 per month. The reports raise a wide range of issues that affect the everyday life of families in Apac: from Universal Primary Education graft and shoddy building works to internal theft of medicine, the conduct of police officers, or abuse of office by sub-county politicians. The strength of these reports lies in the particularity of the issues described: the IBMs do not report about a general problem, for instance the overall quality of health care provision; rather they write about specific issues concerning a particular health centre: the latrines may be dirty or certain drugs are never available.

Follow up on cases

After compiling and analysing all these specific reports, it is up to The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition to take the issues to a higher and more general level. Mr Tom Opwonya, Coordinator of The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition, says that the IBM reports enable him to follow up cases with the relevant district authorities or the police. As the Coalition has mobilised 12 monitors in each of the ten sub-counties in Apac, the district has 120 IBMs. Each group is headed by a team leader. Mr. Okullo James Moses is one such leader for the Aduku sub-county team of monitors.

Drugs disappear

Mr. Okullo is one of the IBM veterans. He has been involved in monitoring public institutions as schools, the police and health centres, and the UPE, NAADS and NUSAF development programmes.

Currently, Okullo James is investigating the performance of the local health provision.

- Some staffs take drugs to their private clinics then they refer patients to these clinics. They may tell you, ‘The drug is now over, go to the private clinics,’ pretending the clinic is not theirs, Okullo James explains.

20,000 for police bond

Suddenly, during the interview, Mr. Okullo’s phone rings. After a short conversation, Mr. Okullo disappears for five minutes. “Someone called me and said he had been arrested and the police was demanding 20,000 {shillings} for a police bond. This is how we handle it: Tom [Opwonya] will call the police over the phone. Should they fail to comply, another step will be taken. This man is now getting his bond freely” he states. The arrested knows that the police bond was supposed to be free of charge; that is why he thought to call the Team Leader. But many other do not possess such knowledge about their rights and obligations. The IBMs in Aduku therefore also educate their local community. “I normally sensitise people if there is a gathering, like a meeting, a funeral, or weddings” Mr. Okullo says. “I can even ask to be given time. Even 5-10 minutes are enough. Or I call my own meeting.”

Reports

In another part of Apac, the team leader for the IBMs in Inomo sub-county, Ruma John Edward, is reading through the reports written by the Inomo IBMs.

- I cross check the reports and if they are relevant I stamp them,” he says. Mr. Ruma is the proud keeper of a stamp saying ‘The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition – Independent Budget Monitor – Inomo Sub County’. “I keep it in a secret place” he adds. Mr. Ruma finds that their work has led to improvements.

“Head teachers have begun to utilize the UPE money. In one primary school, Agweiciri Primary School, performance used to be so poor. It used to be one of the worst performing schools. But in 2005 it received four first-graders; it execelled in the league of 2005. through our labour, we told the teachers you teach effectively”. Mr. Ruma adds, “we encountered problems, but in the end we really achieved”.

Danger

Performing the role of an IBM can be dangerours.

- We are stopping the corrupt people from ‘eating’ government money,” Mr. Ruma explains. "We were threatened several times. Many of us have been bewitched, charmed. Often we are not invited to workshops [in the community], to cut us off from the facilitation allowance. I was also threatened with a gun, by a man who embezzled about 4 million shillings.”

Mr. Okullo has the same experience:

“Some will hate you. Others will promise you death; they say: ‘since you are handling my future…’”

Lack of follow-up

“Sometimes we are scared because we are being intimidated by the culprits,” Mr. Ruma says and continues: “That is when the people concerned are not apprehended, and no action is taken. We ask: ‘what is then our work?’ It becomes meaningless because they are not prosecuted. This [lack of follow-up] is tantamount to people saying ‘let them write reports about us nothing will happen’”. This is clearly a problem which The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition encounters frequently: No Action is taken after the top administration of the district has been alerted. Mr. Opwonya cites six cases from 2005 worth more than shl 62 million which The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition took to the district administration; three are today partly resolved and three led to no further action.