WHAT A DAY IN KAMWENGE

BACK GROUND

In February and March 2011, the people of Uganda elected their representative as mandated by the Uganda Constitution ( 1995) and the Local Government  Act ( 1997 as amended). In preparation for the general elections, the citizens of Uganda in a bid to break the rhetoric of  listening to the candidates presenting their manifestos, made a u-turn in the campaign strategy and instead presented the Citizens’ manifesto. This was the first time ever in the history of elections in Uganda for citizen’s to say no to the usual campaign slogans of if you vote me into power   “ I will do..” but it was “ these are our concerns if you take our agenda we shall vote you into power.” The citizen’s agenda is what we call the citizen’s manifesto.  

A Citizens’ manifesto outlines aspiration of the citizens of Uganda of a country that they wish to see and live in.

Objectives of the CM

• Reverse the democracy deficits and contribute to the realization of the democracy dividends beyond elections;
• Strengthen citizen and civic competence as part of the demand side of good governance;
• Restore hope and meaning in the democratization process by mobilizing Ugandans citizen’s to engage;
• Develop a citizen leaders’ social contract that will lead to great leadership downward accountability and citizen pro-activeness

Based on these objectives ten key concerns were identified by the citizens to guide the process of citizen engagement;

^1.        Wide  spread corruption

^2.        Wide  spread poverty

^3.        Declining fortunes of the  Agricultural sector

^4.        Environmental degradation and climate change challenge

^5.        Poor infrastructure

^6.        Growing un employment  opportunities

^7.        Break down in the health delivery system

^8.        Poor quality education and mismatch with Uganda’s needs

^9.        An unsustainable population growth rate in Uganda

^10.     Very low levels of civic consciousness.

The Speaker Kamwenge district, responding to the queries in the citizens report

Today we are gathered here to ask our selves whether our leaders that we voted one year back have delivered on their manifestos vis-à-vis the citizen’s manifesto. As CBOs and monitors of Kamwenge, we have made a review of the district workplan and budget, and we wish to share our findings with the leaders of our district.

We shall present our findings in the following themes:

District/sub county Plan and the Citizens Manifest

Sector	Planed  2011/12	Actual delivered	Comments (observations)
Health and Sanitation		Recruited health staff and posted to the health units	The citizens are concerned with the posting of the staff to only HCIIIs, HCIIs have not been considered, yet that’s where most of the poor peasants live
		Renovated Rukunyu Health Center IV, VIP latrine constructed, Maternity ward constructed	- the citizens appreciate this action by the district but demand that the  maternity ward should be equipped to serve the large numbers
		Delivered bicycles to village health teams	-this has helped the VHTs to reach out the community however, in some sub counties, a fee was levied, we ask the district chair man if it was a requirement. This was observed in Ntara, and Kicheche, also 3 bicycles have not been delivered to the VHTs in Kalemba cell, Wandagano and Kinyamugara Central
Production and environment		Under NAADS: -the district has secured coffee seedlings, goats and cows.	-the beneficiaries are glad to report that this effort will push them out of poverty. However, they request for more extension services from the veterinary and agriculture department -the over costing of inputs like goats e.g. Naads goat is costed at shs. 100,000/=   compared to the shs. 70,000/= in the open market. -the Naads budget does not conform with the poverty levels in the district, yet its highly funded-
		Kamwenge is blessed with Byabasambu Farm Institute located in Kahunge but not funds were allocated in the budget	-what is the district plan to use this farm institute since agriculture is the back born of our people?
		-the district chairperson has come out to mobilize the citizens to plant trees and has indicated that all leaders should be the example	-need for a bye-law to enforce this initiative and more focus be put on the recovery of wetlands and river banks- Mpanga river- -less funding was observed in this sector yet it affects the climate and other sectors
Basic Education		-the citizens noted that the ratio of teacher: pupil narrowed to the required standard -staff quarters have been constructed, classrooms are also improved, and performance is slowly improving -parents contribute was also observed as in attending meetings and registering their children	-our concern is to ask the district leaders on the plan to improve the academic standard vs the enrolment -ways of strengthening the monitoring and inspection of UPE and USE funded schools - the concern by the citizens is that our children are going without lunch, yet government says parents should not pay.
Water and sanitation		-we observed that the sector was underfunded in the last budget and therefore less has been achieved	-we need the district commitment and ask for more funding in this sector
Governance		-we observe that Kamwenge district is enforcing the leadership code Act, and other anti-corruption laws	-follow up the case of Kamwenge TC staff . Our concern for the district is to strengthen and enforcing the laws on misuse of public funds- like the theft of electric poles in Kicheche, the UWA funds in Nyabani sub county.
		Training of SACCO management, SMC, HUMC and VHTs was observed in the last year	-Chairperson, most of the SACCOs are closing due to governance issues like in Kicheche, Nyabani and Kicwamba sub counties. We need your intervention in this sector
Infrastructure	Opening up of community access roads	-spot maruming of Kamwenge –Kabuga at Shs. 9M done - Kicheche- Nyabitoma- reopened -Nkarakara –Rukunyu road, Rugonjo –Bigaga road, Katoma –Bukindanyindo road in Kahunge have been done	-citizens not happy with the workmanship because the drainage was not well done - this was done at night where the community was not allowed to observe the work - Mr. chairperson, the drainage of most roads was not worked on
Gender –Youth, elderly and Children		- we observed that the district allocated little funds to the youth and women activities.	- we need the district stand on the youth fund, the alternative to the youth library that has been hired out, the resource centre for Kahunge.

Mr. Chairperson, this is not all but we have carefully studied the district and sub county budgets and compiled the information that we fill need your immediate attention and the leaders of Kamwenge. At the same note, our representative have not been giving us feedback on some government programs and yet we elected you to take our voice. Our other concern is about the community action planning (CAPs) spirit that has slowly disappeared in Kamwenge, but also our neighboring districts are faced with the same challenge. We are aware of the limited resource envelope but we can use the existing structures to compile planning data. We offer our selves to be a guide if called by the district and sub county planners- PDCs, VDCs and the Community Monitors.

Kamwenge district LCV Chair, Mr. Edward Kamasaka while responding to citizens report

Mr. Chairperson and all the people here, we as CBOs in Kamwenge work with other development partners present here- Karambi Action for Life Improvement which is a member of RWECO and CEWIT. We also acknowledge the team from DGAP and Oxfam Novib, that today marks a historic event in Kamwenge where the citizens engage with the leaders to get feedback on their manifestos vis-à-vis the Citizens’ manifesto and make a way forward for Kamwenge district

We conclude by wishing everybody a nice deliberations and engagement.

On behalf of CBOs and Monitors from

1. Kahunge  sub county
2. Kicheche  sub county
3. Kamwenge Town Council
4. Nyabani  sub county
5. Bwizi sub county
6. Buhanda sub county
7. Kabambiro sub county
8. Busiriba sub county
9. Kamwenge sub county

10.Ntara sub county

    Presented by:

…………………………….

Kazungu Didas