Ugandas aid-donors are concerned about the creation of new districts and sub-counties in the country, the “New Vision” (Kampala) reports.
“Although the principles of creating new districts and sub-counties are helpful, they have proven inadequate,” said the Decentralisation Development Partners Group.
– We welcome measures to ensure that the creation of additional districts and sub-counties is based on robust and careful analysis and consideration, the donors added in a statement presented by the head of Development Cooperation at the Danish Embassy in Kampala, Birgitte Markussen.
They said in many countries, the parameters used to create new districts included pre-determined numbers and percentages such as the minimum population for a district, town or sub-county.
– This helps increase the transparency of the process. We should consider something similar in Uganda, Markussen said at the Ministry of Local Government Joint Annual Review on Decentralisation (JARD) at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
The donors included the World Bank, Denmark, EU, Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, DFID, IFAD, UNCDF and USAID.
Uganda has 80 districts and a number of areas are still agitating for more splits. One of the most memorable incidents was when some people in Tororo ate raw rats in the presence of President Yoweri Museveni, demanding district status.
– More districts carry other public administration costs, estimated at around 2 billion shilling per district per year for the basic structure, plus the cost of the RDCs and more MPs, Markussen warned.
She warned that a number of sub-counties were being created and these might later advocate for district status.
Markussen advised that there was need to resolve the impasse on compensation for the lost Graduated Tax revenue to ensure that the local governments operate smoothly.
Other challenges that needed to be addressed included, lack of key staff in the local governments, ineffective restructuring and laxity of staff. These factors put the overall decentralisation policy at risk, she said.
The local government minister, Kahinda Otafiire, said the issue of creation of new districts was tricky. – Let us go slowly, he advised, adding: – We are reviewing the question of balkanisation of the country. I do not think we should create more unviable resource-starved districts.
On the pending village and parish election, state minister for local government, Hope Mwesigye, said a Bill was presented to Parliament and if enacted into law, the Electoral Commission would carry out the elections.
Her udenrigsministeriets omtale af samme sag på www.um.dk:
Ugandas bistandsdonorer har netop (6.- 7. dec.) holdt et årligt review af støtten til decentralisering på Hotel Africana i Kampala.
Åbningen af workshoppen blev indledt med en tale af den danske souschef, hvor flere udfordringer i den ugandesiske decentraliseringsproces blev påpeget: Blandt de mest åbenlyse er dannelsen af flere og flere distrikter uden klare kriterier herfor.
Dette er problematisk, da der er faste administrative omkostninger forbundet med dannelsen af et nyt distrikt. Det blev derfor foreslået fra udviklingspartnerside, at man bør have objektive kriterier for oprettelsen af nye distrikter.
Andre udfordringer, der blev påpeget var: Afskaffelsen af en gradueret skat, at skaffe kvalificeret og tilstrækkeligt med arbejdskraft, og at sikre et bedre samarbejde mellem distrikterne og den centrale administration.
På trods af de nuværende udfordringer har Uganda, set i forhold til mange andre lande, en imponerende tradition for decentralisering og dermed lokalt selvstyre og lokal forvaltning.
Udviklingen begyndte allerede da den nuværende regering kom til magten i 1986, hvor et hovedfokus netop var decentralisering til de såkaldt lokale ”resistance councils”. Siden da er der kommet flere ansvarsområder og klarere ansvarsfordeling mellem centralt og decentralt niveau.
Den nuværende model bygger i høj grad på den danske indsats for decentralisering i Rakai distriktet. Modellen Danmark anvendte i Rakai er siden udvidet til at gælde hele landet.
