MASINDI, June 27, 2024 - The Senior Presidential Advisor in charge of mobilisation Rtd. Lt. Col. Kibrai Mbako has advised political leaders and civil servants in Masindi district to reconcile if they are to offer better services to the people.
Speaking days ago, Kibrai castigated the technocrats and the political leaders in the district for engaging in useless fights, saying they have crippled service delivery.
"All leaders and the technocrats of Masindi are divided into three groups and they are entangled in internal fights over nothing substantial. The confusion has deepened hence affecting service delivery. There is no harmony, no togetherness, no peace. What is going on here is nasty," he said.
Ambako, Fredrick Nkai, Commissioner for resident district commissioners [RDCs], and resident city commissioners [RCCs] in charge of Buganda region and Amlan Tumusiime the RDC Kikuube who doubles as the head of RDCs in Bunyoro are in the region to assess the implementation of various government programmes, following complaints of poor service delivery, mostly in health, and education sectors.
He explained there is lack of information sharing between the technocrats and political leaders in the district. "There's hoarding of information by different heads of department. Even the district planner is planning on false data. Parish chiefs don't live in their parishes. They only go there when they are anticipating to get transport," said Ambako.
Health
Ambako also noted health workers are not giving the public the required services, adding that they report to work when they are tired, charged and angry, leading to poor service delivery.
Education
In the education, he explained that many teachers have resorted to boda boda riding but continue to draw salaries every end of the month.
"Teachers have become boda boda riders at your watch. They even carry you speaking good English. The biometric machines which were introduced in schools were shelved. Teaching is not consistent, the dropout rate is rising, no inspection is being done and yet money is available to do so," he said.
The PDM
He said money for the Parish Development Model [PDM] was disbursed but most people who received it were ineligible to benefit from the programme launched in 2022 to help 3.5 million households in Uganda to move from the subsistence economy to the money economy. "You did well in disbursing the money but the real needy never got the money," Ambako added.
Sector reports presented show there is more to be done
Presenting the health sector performance report for the financial year 2023/24, Dr. Felix Twinomugusha, Acting Masindi District Health Officer said the sector has a staffing gap of 87 health workers.
Specifically, he said, Masindi General Hospital has a gap of 40 health workers, Bwijanga health Centre IV has a gap of 4, the health centre IIIs have a gap of 15 while the health centre IIs have a gap 17.
Presenting the education report, Acting District Education Officer, Monica Kiiza, indicated that they are grappling with inadequate teaching staff both in primary and secondary schools.
According to the report, staffing has been reducing drastically. In the financial year 2021/2022, he said, the teachers were 924 while in the financial years 2022/2023, and 2023/2024 , they were 814, and 710, respectively.
She said the education sector faces challenges of inadequate infrastructure, lack of means of transport to enable the officers carry out school inspection, and monitoring effectively among others.
Responding to the issues raised in the sector reports, the LCV Chairperson Masindi district, Cosmas Byaruhanga blamed the crippled services in the district on the suspension of the District Service Commission which he said has now spent a year without functioning.
"The suspension of the service commission has greatly affected us. Money meant for the district's wage bill is going to be returned to the treasury because we couldn't recruit," he said.
However, Ambako maintained that if there is to be effective service delivery in Masindi and other districts in Bunyoro Subregion, leaders and the technocrats should first put aside their differences, and embrace a cordial working relationship. "These unfounded quarrels caused by petty issues driven by ego. They should be avoided. Put your pride behind in the interest of serving the people of Masindi," he advised.
On his part, RDC Tumusiime explained to theCooperator that most of the challenges affecting service delivery in Bunyoro Subregion are common across all districts.
"Most of the problems are emanating from ego, disrespect and failure to know the roles. What is worse is people selling jobs and others asking for sex to offer jobs yet they are public officers. During our tour in the region a lot has been discovered and we have also told them what's supposed to be done," he said.
https://thecooperator.news/masindi-health-centres-receive-motorcycles-to-boost-service-delivery/
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