Butebo, (UG):- The members of the committees of the district service commission, public accounts committee, contracts committee, and those in the district land board are currently undergoing a two-day induction from Thursday to Friday at the Butebo District Council reception hall.
Mr. Okurut Emasit Samson, the programs manager of Governance and Accountability of the Interdistrict CSO Network (GAIN) Uganda, which operates in 16 districts, including Butebo, said they had to organize the training and source expert facilitators to instil the participants with befitting information to enable them to deliver services as required by law following a request by James Okurut, the Butebo district LC5 chairperson, asking Konrad Adenauer Stiftung to step in.
Mr Okiring Jackson, the senior lecturer at Busitema University’s main campus, who was a lead facilitator on Wednesday, awakened members to their roles.
Okiring surprised members of the district public accounts committee, chaired by Mr Christopher Onono when he stated that upon the approval of PAC by the district, they become fully independent and not answerable to the council but rather to their roles as defined by statutes and other governing instruments in the constitution.
He said corruption in the district starts from the council, which initiates asking for bribes from those expected to be members of the statutory committees.
“It’s criminal and a disservice for councillors to privately ask for money from those proposed to be members to appear. You don’t have to relate your role to that of parliament, where the law provides for all appointees to be verified by the parliamentary appointments committee,” Okiring said.
He added that in districts where the Chief Administrative Officer, LC5, and RDC relate well, there is often a high rate of corruption as they compromise.
Ms. Caroline Kiwala, the assistant RDC who represented her boss John Michael Okurut, lauded GAIN Uganda and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for being good partners, as they are doing a good job to ensure people get good services from the user committees.
Ms. Kiwala said the observation by Mr. Okiring is based on well-revealed research but noted that it should not lead to antagonism. “It is unfair to report here that we went to one health facility and only found volunteers helping patients, while the workers whom the government pays were absent. People who sometimes buy jobs are not committed to their work,” she said.
Mr. James Okurut, the Butebo district chairperson, said as the district gets less funding to facilitate inductions, he had to write to Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and GAIN Uganda to fill the gap and ensure these commission members are trained.
Mr. Mukone Ben, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung country programs manager, challenged the participants to play their roles as expected after the induction. He said what affects service delivery in lower local governments is officers wasting time paying attention to other people’s work and gossiping instead of concentrating on their assignments.
“Gulu district and city excel annually in service delivery assessment because workers focus on their work and not on other people’s work, hence meeting targets. Mr. Okiring is a well-sourced facilitator. In the little time I have been here, I appreciate his packaging of the content—he is truly a complete subject matter specialist in local government content,” Mukone said.
He tasked the participants to implement what they were being taught so that during evaluations, they could demonstrate the value of the investment put into this training to ignite refresher initiatives.
Mrs. Malinga Beatrice Asire, the Chairperson of the Butebo District Service Commission, expressed joy over the induction, saying it would give them total independence while doing their work.
Mr Onono said the well-designed intentions of decentralization are not easily achievable, citing that members of statutory committees meant to discipline an officer abusing their office face challenges due to personal relationships.
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