The Struggle of Building Public Trust and Governance in Uganda 1962-2025: Deterioration Factors and Future Prospects

Submitted: 22 July 2025
Accepted: 24 November 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.70139/rolacc.2025.2.5

Robert Mukobi
Accountability Systems Lead, Research Triangle Institute, Uganda
mukrobb@gmail.com
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9276-2522

Pregala Pillay
Professor in the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University, South Africa
pregala@spl.sun.ac.za
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2101-962X

ABSTRACT
This article examines the dynamics of citizen trust in government in post-independence Uganda, highlighting recurring cycles of hope and disillusionment as the country struggles to build a stable and effective governance system. Since independence in 1962, Uganda has experienced nine regimes without a single meaningful peaceful transfer of power, leaving citizens facing persistent uncertainty and limited alternatives. Using a qualitative historical approach, the study traces how public trust has been built, undermined, and maintained across successive governments, and identifies the key events and factors that have shaped its evolution. The findings show that while independence initially inspired optimism and a sense of self-determination, successive governance failures marked by political turmoil, economic hardship, institutional decay, and social conflict have steadily weakened public trust. Political leaders often ascend to power through people-centered rhetoric claiming to serve the public interest, thereby securing public support and legitimizing their regimes. However, hope in new government quickly fades as the self-centeredness of elites takes center stage, compromising the pursuit of the common good. The popular will of the people become neglected and suppressed, with regime legitimization often sought through militarization, coercion, manipulation, and corruption. Citizens, confronted with limited alternatives, frequently comply with ruling regimes despite declining well-being, reflecting a persistent betrayal of public trust. This poses a significant challenge to the pursuit of democracy and good governance, which are key to the Ugandan transformation agenda. The article concludes with recommendations for coordinated and targeted reforms to rebuild trust and strengthen state legitimacy, including deepening democratization, reinforcing the rule of law, promoting inclusive economic development, expanding citizen participation, enhancing oversight and accountability, intensifying anti-corruption efforts, and improving public service delivery.

Keywords
Trust; public trust; corruption; governance

© 2025 Mukobi and Pillay, licensee LU Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cite this article as: Mukobi R. and Pillay P. The Struggle of Building Public Trust and Governance in Uganda 1962-2025: Deterioration Factors and Future Prospects, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center Journal, 2025:2, https://doi.org/10.70139/rolacc.2025.2.5

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