By Waswa Tenywa
The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has called for the review of the decentralization policy and increase in funding for Local Governments if they are to be effective.
Kadaga said that the decentralisation policy in its current state promotes individualism. She said that whilst decentralisation has created jobs, Ugandans have become more inward looking.
“I have been told that there are districts which do not advertise because the natives are still at university. So for those years, there are no services,” said Kadaga.
She revealed this while officiating at the launch of the capacity development district local councils’ project on Thursday, 21 June, 2018 at Ridar Hotel in Seeta. The event was also attended by the First Deputy Prime Minister, Gen. Moses Ali.
Kadaga raised the concern of insufficient funding to Local Governments, which she said is one of their biggest challenges and affects performance.
She noted that unlike previously when Local Governments were able to raise funds through sources like markets, Local Governments have been incapacitated after the Central Government took over management of markets.
“There are councils which cannot even sit because they have no capacity to pay councillors. There is also disparity in pay in different districts, KCCA pays in millions while other councils cannot even raise Shs20,000 to pay councillors,” said Kadaga.
The Prime Minister said that while the intention of the decentralization policy was good, there is need to review it because it has been in existence for 10 years and several gaps have been identified.
He said that during the review, consideration will be made towards increasing funding to Local Governments.
Moses Ali also agreed with the Speaker that decentralization has created problems in districts across the country. He said decentralization had contributed to the high levels of corruption among district officials.
“We realized that funds which are sent for development are diverted by district officials. These officials own beautiful buildings and this is questionable because we know how much they earn,” said Ali.
Meanwhile, the Chairman Uganda District Councils’ Speakers Association, Moses Mukisa Max, called for review of qualifications of district councillors.
“These councillors handle sensitive documents and it is important that they have the requisite qualifications. We propose that the minimum qualification should be an Ordinary level certificate,” said Mukisa.
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