Navigating everyday life in Uganda requires dodging a mountain of red tape and a worrying amount of corruption, according to a major new public opinion report released this Friday.<\/p>\n
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The study, published by the independent research network Afrobarometer, reveals that while Ugandans desperately want the government to focus on basic public services like healthcare, education, and clean water, trying to access those services is often a bureaucratic and expensive nightmare.<\/p>\n
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Health is by far the biggest worry for ordinary citizens, with 51% pointing to it as the top priority for state action. Education, roads, and water supply follow close behind. But when citizens actually try to get help, things quickly fall apart.<\/p>\n
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Among those who tried to deal with public institutions over the past year, an overwhelming 69% found it incredibly difficult to get assistance from the police, 65% struggled to get medical care, and 58% faced an uphill battle just to get a standard identity document.<\/p>\n
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Worse still is the cost of getting past those barriers. The report exposes a massive surge in bribery since 2017. A shocking 74% of people who dealt with the police said they had to pay a bribe just to get help. Half of those trying to get an ID had to pay under the table, and 41% reported being forced to bribe public workers just to receive medical treatment.<\/p>\n
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The data paints a deeply conflicted picture of how Ugandans view their wallets versus their public infrastructure. Exactly half of the population say they would prefer lower taxes, even if it means getting fewer government services. Yet, when it comes to the essentials, that sentiment flips completely: 75% say they would happily back higher taxes if they knew the money was directly funding schools, and 74% would do the same for healthcare.<\/p>\n
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When things go wrong, Ugandans are far more likely to turn to their local grassroots leaders than national politicians. If faced with a public service breakdown, 43% say they would approach their elected local councillor first, compared to just 14% who would bother reaching out to a Member of Parliament.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica\/Afrobarometer–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34049,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-39900","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"New report exposes Uganda's broken public sector","published_date":"2026-07-17 19:26:21","news_description":"New report exposes Uganda's broken public sector","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39901,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39900\/revisions\/39901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=39900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}