14 November 2009
editorial
Local Government Minister Adolf Mwesige's motion in Parliament earlier this week seeking to create 21 new districts is most disheartening. It implies that by the end of 2010, this country will have a whooping 101 districts, up from 33 in 1986. For the record we now have 80 unwarranted districts. The creation of districts for political expediency in the face of spiralling public expenditure is therefore, retrogressive and unacceptable to the Ugandan tax payer. It appears each time a group of Ugandans eats a rat or do something sillier to lobby for a new district, government creates one.
If the extensive balkanisation of the country had been to improve service delivery, responsible Ugandans would not be up in arms. It is noteworthy that between 1962 and 1971 when government service delivery was at it's best there were just 18 districts. All of them boasted at least one well equipped referral hospital, modern secondary schools and a clear and present judiciary. Fallen dictator Idi Amin is the one who first gerrymandered with these geographical units when he raised the number of districts to 38. The 1981-5 government actually cut back the number to 33.
Bereft of ideas on how to create jobs, it appears government has resorted to district formation as a means to job creation. Problem is, the 68 new districts that have been created since 1986 are predatory, rather than supportive of the national economy since they come with a string of a salary earning bureaucracy. Parliamentarians ought to be fighting such profligacy in governance with more fervour. This year, we have previously witnessed Parliament's local government committee reject a Shs3.3b budget proposal for the creation of 7 new districts.
We have also noted with concern as the Office of the President requested Shs7b to finance 80 new deputy Resident District Commissioners responsible for teaching patriotism. The figure is likely to increase with an even bigger number of new districts, yet Ugandan taxpayers already cannot make ends meet due to a huge tax burden. Increasing the public expenditure bill should be the last thing on government's mind, at a time when Ugandan children are dying of jiggers and preventable diseases because there are no drugs in our hospitals. Government must rearrange it's priorities.
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