On 26th June 2018 Kabarole district organized the 5th district leadership conference under the theme ‘Result Oriented Leadership Not on Promises’’. The annual conference is held with an aim of giving accountability for that particular financial year. The 2017-2018 conference was officiated by the Minister of Local Government who is also the Member of Parliament Mwenge Central constituency Hon. Tom Butiime and attended by over 600 people including; the district leadership, all sub county chairpersons and town council mayors, religious leaders, all LC II Chairpersons, all LC I’s, district civil servants, civil society fraternity, members of the public, media and invited guests from other districts.
Hon. Butiime who was the Chief Guest commended Kabarole district local government for initiating such platforms where accountability is given to the public. He said through accountability it is the only way citizens can know the services offered by their leaders and also identify gaps for redress. He further appreciated the district for working with other development partners like civil society organizations which is not common in every district yet partnerships improve service delivery where CSO’s supplement the little resources from government to improve the living standards of people in communities.
He urged local governments to account for the money they receive from government and cautioned chief administrative officers who do not monitor government programs implemented in their areas as well as monitoring civil servants (staff) that they are likely to lose their jobs because the public has complained of insufficient services offered by government yet the very people supposed to enlighten them to some extent have contributed to this. Hon. Butiime advised lower local governments to work hard to improve services for the people they serve other than involving in corruption and reporting each other on baseless allegations which retards effective service delivery.
While presenting the achievements for the financial year 2017/2018, the district chairperson Hon. Richard Rwabuhinga said it is a legal requirement that every financial year the district chairperson should deliver a state of the district report to the stake holders. Hon. Rwabuhinga said the district received funds equivalent to 28 billion shillings for service delivery under various sectors for the financial year 2017/2018. ‘’Iam happy to report that this year’s budget was achieved 90%. The 4% were funds locally generated and 6% came from donors’’, Said Hon Richard Rwabuhinga the district chairperson.
While sharing the accountability at the district headquarters Hon Rwabuhinga said Bilharzia which was affecting some sub counties in the district reduced from 67% in 2005 to below 16% in 2017 while malaria which according to the HMIS 108 report of 2015/2016, 17% of the death in the district was due to malaria decreased to 10% and the malaria burden in the district reduced from 25% in 2015/2016 to 25% in 2016/2017 according to the same report. He said there is positive progress in the health sector because of continued partnership with development partners.
Under education the district chairperson noted increased enrollment of pupils in primary schools and improved performance in PLE especially in second grade among other achievements.
‘’In the financial year 2017/2018 we managed to construct new class room blocks, latrines, and laboratories in some schools like Kiboha primary school, Kinyabuhara primary school ,etc provided improved infrastructures to improve the quality of agricultural products during marketing of crop and livestock, managed to work on 82.4km of roads out of the planned 55.1km, supported 79 projects and 39 women groups under women entrepreneurship program among others’’, said Hon Rwabuhinga the district chairperson.
Hon Rwabuhinga however, earmarked some challenges more especially those that have affected service delivery in education sector like; absenteeism of pupils and teachers in some schools, increased dropout rate especially for the girl child, understaffing in education institutions at all levels, inadequate capitation grants for both UPE and USE, inadequate teachers accommodation facilities that lead to inefficiency in service delivery, inadequate classrooms and furniture in some schools plus laboratories and libraries, sanitation and hygiene facilities are not good enough, among others. He called for team work with all stakeholders in education especially parents if something tangible is to be achieved under the sector.
Meanwhile ToroDev’s Strategic Partnership and Communications Officer, David Kugonza who presented a report on behalf of all CSO’s operating in the district applauded the district leadership for the corporation accorded to civil society in the district which has eased communication and operations of different organizations all aimed at improved service delivery of citizens.
David however, in his presentation urged government to fight counterfeit farm inputs to help farmers benefit from agriculture, asked government to monitor extension workers who are meant to help farmers in communities but most often they do not do their work and also requested government to adopt the bottom-top approach especially with Operation Wealth Creation program where farmers can decide what to plant other than a few people deciding for them which has affected production.
He further asked government to intensify monitoring of civil servants especially health workers to reduce on absenteeism and also ensure enough and timely delivery of drugs to health centers. Under education sector the CSO’s representative urged government to recruit teachers in order to reduce under staffing in schools, improve infrastructure and sanitation, absenteeism of pupils and teachers and work towards curbing the increasing child drop out among others.
