Change your work ethic in order to achieve government goals.

By John Kusolo.

This was during a national workshop organized by the Ministry of Local Government with Chairpersons and Mayors invited to review the last 9 months performance.

During the meeting, the district leaders cried out over inadequate funding, poor pay and lack of transportation to help them fulfil their duties. He also took the chairpersons through their roles and responsibilities in service delivery. He also revealed that the Ministry of Local government has created a procurement and inspection department.

Benjamin Kumumanya also warned that unless there was a change in their work ethic, they would fail to achieve the NRM mandate as highlighted in their manifesto.

Since 1992, Decentralisation in Uganda has changed in form, shape, perception and image. It has seen Local Governments (LGs) evolve from political mobilisation structures, to governance structures embodying democratically-elected executives; legislative bodies called Local Government Councils; planning and budgeting entities; service delivery vehicles and currently local economic development structures. While decentralisation in Uganda has undergone a number of previous reviews, the policy commenced with a very robust beginning but later slowed down due to a number of policy reversals, distortions, technical obscurities, internal inconsistencies, and new political winds. These issues threaten to reduce the policy to national fragmentation via the creation of unviable and ethnic-based districts [and sometimes constituencies]. As a result, decentralisation has been watered down by low prioritization, a disparate national planning framework, and divisive nature of local politics.

Whereas it was anticipated that decentralisation would result in greater participation and control over service delivery and governance by local communities, LGs are still grappling with a range of challenges. Needless to emphasise, decentralisation in Uganda straddles every governance, legislative, institutional and service delivery framework of the country. Backed by a constitutional mandate, decentralisation enjoys an exceptional position as a governance framework. Its legal clout can always be exploited to benefit the population. Despite some examples of outstanding service delivery outcomes in some districts, in education, health, roads and water & sanitation sectors, among others, there are glaring gaps between service provision and local needs. Local development also remains elusive as shown by persistent poverty throughout the country. This gap is partly created by lack of adequate funding and limited capacity at the LG level. Limited financing is largely reflected across the service delivery sectors, and has critically impeded the functionality of 3 Decentralisation; Trends, Achievements and the Way-forward for Local Governments in Uganda Conference Report - Summary LGs