Kampala — When I was growing up about 40 years ago, I knew all the provinces and the districts of Uganda and it was easy. Now am older and supposedly wiser but I cannot name all the districts of Uganda. My son who is still in school cannot name them either.

Recently the Minister of Local Government confessed that he did not know some of his districts! I tried printing a map of Uganda with all the districts on A 4 paper, I could not fit in all the names, yet there are more to come.

It is one thing to know about the many districts and another to know the purpose they serve or should serve. It is argued that by creating more districts we take services near to the people, but anybody objectively analysing the situation in Uganda now would find that we simply increase the burden of the people.

The burden is increased in terms of costs, time and conflicts, including loss of lives and property. And the ministers and the President spend even more time trying to solve conflicts, address complaints, dish out political jobs and make pledges.

The districts cannot even manage the NAADS and Prosperity for All programmes or UPE and USE, the President and Vice President have to go and do it for them. Accountability and proper recruitment of senior officials is a big problem, forcing the central Government to appoint chief administrative officers, soon it will be all officers at the district.

Today "tribes" that many Ugandans did not know about, emerge and demand for districts as if it is a basic need like food.

As an illustration take Busoga, most people would know Busoga as one big block of one people but now we hear of the Basiki, the Bagweri (not Bagwere) the Balamogi, the Bakholi all wanting to be distinct.

In Karamoja we knew everybody there as a Karimojong, now we have the Labwor, Dodoth, Jie, Bokora, Pian and Pokot seeking distinct self identity and political favours. In Buganda we hear of the Baruli and the Banyala.

In Rukungiri we now have the Bahororo; in Kasese the Basongora; in Bundibugyo the Batuku; in Bunyoro the Bagungu and Bachope emerged; in Sebei the Benet, Ndorobo, Kapsagek; in Kisoro the Batwa; in Busia the Bagwe want a district - you note the tongue twister!!

Another reason advanced for creation of districts is "creation" of jobs. The new jobs come alright but with no funds and no logistics. It is not uncommon to find "high level" district officials lamenting how they have no vehicles or even when they are available no fuel or no repairs. But when the vehicles do move, 80% of the time they are doing odd jobs like burials and weddings. The new jobs also come with a lot of intrigue. the locals fight each other for the jobs and exclude the "outsiders".

Lower level recruitment in these districts is a nightmare because of lobbying for ethnic representation thus leading to more demands for district status which has reached sub-county level. Recently a friend of scolded me for not employing from "my district". My driver, office attendant, secretary, guards are expected to be from my district.

And to the districts we add the "kingdoms". There has been a deliberate effort to promote "kingdoms" even where they did not exist. Interestingly though, the kingdoms do not seem to add value to governance but instead breed more conflict and divisions. Conflict between cultural leaders and district leaders on one hand and central government leaders on the other.

Since at global level we see a lot of merging because bigger is stronger why do we continue to split? In physics elements only split when they have sufficient energy to stand alone, once they have lost the energy they merge again; the law of "fission and fussion". In nature animals do exactly the same, split only when they can survive on their own if not they return to the bachelor herds. Even in economics we have economies of scale.

So I dare say lets go back to the past arrangement of provinces or at least those districts of old that many still remember with ease. Lets have Kigezi, Ankole, Tooro, Bunyoro, West Nile, Acholi, Lango, Buganda, Busoga, Bukedi, Teso and Karamoja.

Such administrative units will unite people in those areas, reduce wastage of resources through duplication, reduce conflicts and actually deliver services more effectively. It will also ease sharing of political positions and supervision. There was talk of regional tiers, when shall we implement them? The time is now.

In my kind of work I have to interact with district leaders, but every time UWA is involved in arranging for a meeting the cost and time is enormous yet we mainly discuss perceived conflict based on the ethnic groupings or job requests, instead of focusing on productive issues.

Should a meeting be called in Kampala each leader will drive a separate vehicle even when they come from the same district.

In Asia and Europe ministers travel in trains and ride bicycles to work. I once decided I would ride a scooter to work and all my staff and friends thought I was mad. But not only is it convenient but cost effective - look at the jams and pollution.

We should stop dividing ourselves and stop the ethnic bickering. We must focus on practical and productive systems of governance for the benefit of the majority. I would volunteer to help with implementation of such a system.

The writer the executive director of Uganda Wild Life Authority