Uganda continues to maintain its standing as one of East Africa's relatively successful economies and has experienced rapid economic growth over the last few years. President Yoweri Museveni won his fourth term in office in the February 2011 presidential elections amid international and opposition claims of voter intimidation and widespread election fraud. The government declared a policy of 'zero-tolerance' towards corruption in 2006. However, political will to combat corruption at the highest levels of government remains weak, and despite various anti-corruption instruments, corruption cases remain pending for years. In October 2011, three cabinet ministers, including President Museveni's influential and long-serving foreign minister Sam Kutesa, resigned over allegations of abuse of office and financial loss. However, at the same time, a high-profile oil corruption probe, implicating important governmental figures, was halted by Uganda's Constitutional Court in December 2011.

Positive developments in relation to corruption and investment:

• The government has developed a long line of anti-corruption strategies as well as the Inter Agency Forum (IAF) to coordinate the activities of governmental anti-corruption institutions.
• The Anti-Corruption Act of 2009 is intended to set strict punishments for both public and private sectors corruption, including imprisonment for up to ten years.
• The Whistleblowers Protection Act, enacted into law in March 2010, provides high prison terms for people disclosing whistleblowers' identities and includes monetary incentives for reporting on corruption.

Risks of corruption:

• Corruption in Uganda is manifested by grand scale theft of public funds as well as petty corruption involving public officials at all levels of society, and widespread political patronage systems reaching into the private sector continue to be strong.
• Bribery is common in obtaining basic health care, in encounters with the traffic police and in large-scale procurement projects involving international companies.
• Ugandan anti-corruption legislation, regulations, and policies are in place, but much of it is not enforced and does not meet international standards as established in the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.