practices, the implementation of regulations to protect workers' rights and industry standards, etc. There is also widespread perception especially among members of Uganda's civil society that the dealings between businesses and regulators are shrouded in secrecy, giving rise to suspicion of complicity and unethical behaviour on the part of public servants. The APR Panel thus recommends that Government undertake a comprehensive review of the institutional arrangements, mandates and competences of public agencies mandated to fight corruption and develop and disseminate a strategy by which to engage society in the fight against corruption. 5. 7 SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT xxxvi. The discussion on this thematic area is premised on the major challenges of Socio-economic Development that Uganda currently faces. Uganda has made significant strides in this thematic area since the previous review, the most notable being: the government's capacity and political initiative to develop and implement innovative national public policy; an effective poverty reduction strategy as evidenced by the fall of the national poverty rate from 56% in 1992 to 19.7% in 2012/13, although this rate has gone back up to 27% according to the Ugandan National Household Survey for 2016/17. Furthermore, significant progress has been made in promoting equality of women and gender empowerment. xxxvii. Nevertheless, the Country Self-Assessment Report (CSAR 2017), the four different progress reports and the CRM research suggest that some underlying challenges still persist in the country's quest for fostering human development. These challenges have been identified, prioritized and put into the six broad categories of: (i) infrastructure development; (ii) land tenure and land conflicts; (iii) sustainable environmental and resource management; (iv) rapid population growth; (v) youth unemployment; and (vi) management of diversity. xxxviii. One of the key recommendations of CRR 2008 was that the Government of Uganda “enhance publicprivate partnership (PPP) initiatives in the development of specific infrastructure projects.” The Government has acted on this and other relevant recommendations relating to infrastructure to lay a solid foundation for its long-term economic growth and development. It has increased the volume of paved roads from 3,200km in 2009 to 3,795km in 2013/14, expanded the rural electrification programme, improved the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure such that the number of mobile phone subscribers has increased to 18 million in 2016, and augmented investment in agriculture through the National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) programme. xxxix. However, and despite this show of commitment and determination, it will take a while for Uganda to have the type of infrastructure it requires for its sustainable development. Conditions similar to those in the period prior to the base country review persist in Uganda's socio-economic efforts and are still salient. For example, while the conditions of the pre-2008 period depicted poor and inadequate physical infrastructure due to the brutality of war, the current conditions are premised on “slow accumulation of modern infrastructure”, which hampers the drive to lower the cost of doing business and the level of competition for Foreign Direct Investments just as the existence of poor infrastructure contributed to inhibiting the country's then private sector-led economic growth strategy. xl. With a rapid population growth rate of about 3 percent per year and over 70 percent of the population being subsistence farmers living in the rural areas, land in Uganda is of critical importance and a burning issue in political and social discourse. Land is not just another commodity or a means of subsistence in Uganda. The social, institutional and political dimensions of land make it an asset different from all others in Uganda. Indeed, land in Uganda has been a major source of conflict and social strife over the years, in no small part due to the country's colonial legacy and how the current mix of land tenure systems of customary tenure, the mailo, the freehold and the leasehold came to take its present form. This form has led to lengthy, costly, and overly centralized land registration procedures and challenges of illegal land grabbing and resulting conflict. xli. Similarly, the county is facing sustainable environmental and resource management issues. Uganda is endowed with a weather condition that supports rich biodiversity, fertile soils, rich and untapped mineral and oil and gas resources and great attractions for tourism. But, this “pearl of Africa” is under a serious threat from land degradation and deforestation due to a rapidly expanding population, extreme weather