Building Parnerships in the fight against theft of our money
A CSO Statement on the Black Monday Movement and Call for Action Preamble
Last year, we launched a renewed citizen drive in a rebranded effort to fight maleficent theft of public money and donor aid, dubbed the BLACK MONDAY MOVEMENT. We believe that the current efforts by Government to fight corruption are ineffective.
In 2013, we returned with even more determination to make our campaign against theft of public money count for all Ugandans. We have continued to dress in Black every Monday and hold an activity every first Monday of each month in light of increasing awareness about the scourge. Most importantly, we have committed to producing a free monthly Black Monday Newsletter that is circulated countrywide.
We strongly believe that these actions and several others that we will be unveiling are efforts that support Uganda’s policy on Zero Tolerance to corruption and the Ruling Party own commitment to Zero Tolerance to corruption. We firmly believe that all Ugandans should embrace efforts that will culminate towards a corruption-free country. This should be our vision as Ugandan citizens and it is also consistent with the President’s public pronouncements on zero tolerance to corruption.
Amidst these efforts, several challenges have been faced that cannot go without mention. The Uganda Police Forces have for instance, arrested CSO leaders and civic activists engaged in the process of vending the free Black Monday Newsletter. Five of these activists have charges preferred against them – that include; inciting violence and spreading of wrongful propaganda. These actions indicate the need for a better understanding of our efforts by the general public and all stakeholders in the fight against theft, especially the Police and other security forces.
Today, 17th January, 2013; we gather here to make a clear explanation of the “Black Monday Movement” and call upon all Ugandans and arms of Government to side with us in this struggle.
Understanding the Black Monday Movement
The Black Monday is social movement against the theft of our money, much more by government officials and leaders. We are all affected by this theft through bad health services, schools, roads, jobs and several other failures in providing public goods to citizens.
Several CSO Leaders, civic activists, Members of the Private Sector, and a myriad of Public Officials who understand and identify with this noble cause have already agreed to dress in Black every Monday and join in an agreed upon action every first Monday of the month.
We have also agreed to reject any and all acts of corruption at all times and report all incidences of corruption.
We have agreed to shun all thieves of our money by not inviting them to our social functions and denying them special treatment in places of worship; boycotting and avoiding businesses known to belong to or run by the thieves.
A Black Monday Newsletter has been conceived and will be produced on a monthly basis to provide space for dissemination of information about corruption. Our interventions become a rally call for all citizens to reject theft of public funds. A couple of actions will be announced in the last week of every month in preparation for the first black Monday of the next month.
A Call for action
In support of the President’s Commitment and Government of Uganda on Zero Tolerance to Corruption, we call upon all Ugandans in their diversity, Government Agencies, the Media, Private Sector, and Friends of Uganda to join us. Play Your Part to end theft of our money through the Black Monday Movement. We specifically make the following calls:
A. The Government of Uganda
- We are greatly honored by the work of key government institutions like the Office of the Auditor General and the CIID for continuously exposing the corrupt, and call upon all other institutions to emulate them.
- We shall be visiting all anti corruption agencies to formerly present this campaign to them and ask them to be part of the efforts we are spearheading. We therefore request that they embrace this action wholeheartedly so that they are in solidarity with the citizens of Uganda who they serve as public servants.
- We also call upon the Uganda Police Forces to desist from wrongfully arresting and detaining Anti Corruption Crusaders engaged in the BLACK MONDAY MOVEMENT Activities. In the past one week, we had about 10 of our civic activists, and CSO leaders detained and charged with unrealistic charges. We should not be seen to fight each other since we are Ugandans fighting corruption. We are all on the same side – fighting corruption though the tactics vary. Respecting and appreciating the actions of civil society is important so that citizens can find confidence and resolve to fight corruption and not do so under fear of being arrested.
B. Media
- We invaluably appreciate the efforts made by the media to profile this campaign and for continuously exposing corrupt individuals and scandals. We call upon the media to continue with this spirit and generate more evidence that can help the Black Monday Campaign deliver this country from the cancer of corruption.
C. Civil Society
- We are humbled and inspired by the resilience and commitment from citizens who have associated with this campaign. We encourage you to continue with this and mobilize your families, friends and acquaintances to become part of the campaign to end theft of public money. We want to appreciate the millions of citizens who are working tirelessly to spread the work and share the information provided through the Black Monday Movement.
D. Development Partners
- We laud the actions taken by the Development Partners to put pressure on Government to return stolen funds meant for development programmes. We, however, are concerned about some development partners accepting refunds with money wrongfully drawn from the Consolidated Fund. While we understand the fact that there are contractual agreements between Government of Uganda and Development Partners and indeed the Busan Outcome Document that replaced the Paris Declaration [para 33] observes that; ‘Corruption is a plague that seriously undermines development globally, diverting resources that could be harnessed to finance development, damaging the quality of governance institutions, and threatening human security’; we also call upon Development Partners to mount pressure on the Government to charge suspected thieves quickly and recover stolen money and use it to refund development partner funds. Government should not stand in for thieves, but rather let them pay for their actions.
- As civil society organizations we stand ready to work with all Development Partners and front line service delivery Government institutions to ensure that we develop alternative methods that ensure money meant for development work reaches the actual beneficiaries. We call upon development partners to start looking at these alternative modalities so that vulnerable citizens do not continue to suffer because of the sins of duty bearers.
E. Citizens
Ugandan Citizens should realize that corruption affects them in both the long term and short term. They should therefore embrace such actions as the Black Monday Movement and Play their Part by:
- Wearing Black every Monday as a sign of discontent against the theft of public resources.
- Citizens should shun and avoid all economic establishments that were set up and are owned by thieves.
- Reject Leaders that have been implicated in corruption and theft scandals, and only vote for those with a proven record of integrity and moral standing
- Reject any and all acts of corruption at all times and report all incidences to the address below.
- Finally we call upon all citizens to desist from glorifying the corrupt, shun them as well as stop inviting them for social functions. Do not give them special privileges such as front seats in churches and social gatherings
- All of us in our personal capacities should reject all forms of corruption in our social life.
Conclusion
Ugandans should be courageous, bold, and shed off fear to generate interest for active participation in the governance of our country. Everyone has a civic duty conferred by our Constitution, and thus should be de¬termined to restore sanity within the stewardship of our money, and be com¬mitted to the realization of a corrupt free nation.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
For further information, please contact: info@ngoforum.or.ug or call 0414 510 272
FaceBook: Black Monday Movement
