Over 12,000 Gen Zs join graft fight

Some of the anti-graft protesters who were charged at Buganda Road Court and remanded to Luzira Prison on July 23, 2024. Photo | Abubaker Lubowa

Several hundreds of Gen Zs on July 27, participated in virtual and physical protests over rising corruption in Uganda. On that day, 12,925 youth, all in Generation Z, from across the country actively joined the fight against corruption.

Organised hierarchically using the bottom-top approach, from village to parish, sub-county, county, district, sub-region, regionally, and nationally, this group of Gen Z pledges to fight corruption technologically, ideologically, and not biologically.

We believe that our approach is not only Acceptable, Feasible, Achievable, Safe, and Sustainable (AFASS) but also realistic, effective,

and efficient in this digital age.

We are young but very mature digitally and technologically. We envision and know the future that we want and fully deserve. A future where our national resources are fully put to full, effective, and tangible use. A future that assures us of jobs and better social services.

A future that we can fully participate in respectfully, fully, peacefully, and ideologically. Today, we fully and actively join the anti-corruption fight using ideology and technology. Do not look at us biologically as young, adrenaline-driven, and ignorant of the future than we deserve.

Look at us patriotically, technologically, and ideologically. It’s not 1999. It’s Gen Z time. We are using and harnessing the power of technology and innovation to build dynamic and continuous exchanges between key stakeholders: government, citizens, business, civil society groups, media, academia, etc in a more vigorous, safe, non-violent, acceptable, and result-oriented modus operandi to defeat corruption in Uganda. We are using the ‘data revolution,’ and technological innovation to tackle corruption in Uganda.

We are using big data to defeat corruption: Technology can be used to create transparency across organisations by increasing automation, accuracy and frequency across processes.

Traditionally it has been difficult to expose corruption due to large quantities of data. Gen Zs are now able to detect patterns of suspicious transactions in areas including taxation and health-care and with real-time detection, we will be able to detect and stop fraud.

We are using data mining in public procurement to audit and monitor when governments are issuing bids and to identify red flags, patterns of collusion, and false information. Our Gen Zs are now able to identify' corrupt intent' in payments for transactions through data visualisation.

Gen Z are using anti-corruption software tools designed specifically for detecting and responding to fraud, including “intelligent mining” of data sets and administrative procedures.

Our team already uses mobile applications to harness data and gain faster insights into corruption practices. We will empower both Gen Z and Millennials (also known as Generation Y) in urban and remote areas to make information more accessible in the fight against corruption. We are creating more apps and websites to detect and deter corruption. 

This will give citizens and Gen Z access to government projects and the opportunity to immediately report on concerns of fraud and corruption. We will collect and share relevant information through digital exhibitions of photos of half-built schools or recordings of bribes and ferociously demand action and accountability.

We demand immediate application and use of forensic tools for auditing in Uganda. We demand the Offices of the Auditor General, Bank of Uganda, and the Parliamentary Commission to urgently start use of Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) tools to combat corruption risk.

These tools are increasingly sophisticated enough to handle data velocities as they can involve real-time analyses of transactions, predictive modelling, anomaly detection, and risk-scoring algorithms that seek to flag or stop potentially improper payments much sooner in their procure-to-pay process.

Gen Z is the first generation to grow up surrounded by digital devices, and we expect everything surrounding us to be digitalised. We choose to and demand the use of ICT to ideologically, effectively, safely, and efficiently fight and defeat corruption in our country.

We are much more adapted to life and what life has to offer in a digital age than the millennials. We are easily frustrated by what 

appears to be outdated and often old and non-result-oriented ways of fighting corruption. We believe we can finish the corruption fight quickly and effectively through use of ICT, digital means, and extensive non-bureaucratic mass collaborations while taking advantage of every Gen Z’s diverse skills.

We will push for the use of new, scientific, technological, ideological, patriotic, pan-Africanist, and other innovative, safe, peaceful, and effective means to make Ugandans and Africans feel and smell the bad face of corruption.

Underestimate us at your peril. We are future-oriented and focused on the new digital-age future that supports the fulfilment of our ambitions. A brighter future for the future children of the current and future Gen Z.A future that works for our parents, the millennials, and other generations to come. A future that moves Gen Z towards the attainment of Uganda’s Vision 2040 and Africa’s Agenda 2063. 

We use ideology to advocate for sustainable development and a ‘’Uganda We Want’’.