Kampala — Anti-graft activists yesterday opened a special book to register and shame corrupt government officials, as an Anglican bishop in Kampala claimed that bribery had become the currency of transacting official business in the country.

The Rt. Rev. Zac Niringiye, the assistant bishop of Kampala said, "(government) decisions are made quickly only when there are interested parties and corruption is the driver of this decision-making."

"Even religious institutions are not corruption-free; I hope you will name (and shame) some bishops. Here is a tragedy where we cannot even trust the Judiciary," he said. The cleric accused journalists and editors of taking bribes to 'kill' stories against certain influential public officials or publishing malicious propaganda calculated to destroy genuinely hardworking and prosperous nationals.

The "Name and Shame" book project is an initiative of the Anti-Corruption Coalition-Uganda (ACCU) an umbrella body of over 70 civil society organisations across the country, seeking to restore "humility and honesty" among Ugandans.

The corruption claims come at a time when Transparency International, a global corruption watchdog, indicated in its Corruption Perception Index report released last month that Uganda had slipped further into the pack of most corrupt countries. Uganda now occupy the 126th position out of 180 countries surveyed worldwide, backsliding by 15 positions from last year's 111th ranking.

It emerged yesterday that the identities of disgraced public servants, entered in the national records of shame, will be made public early next year.