The Manifesto Implementation Unit (MIU) of the Office of the President has summoned government ministries, departments and agencies to the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi for a midterm NRM 2021-26 manifesto validation and monitoring exercise for the Great Northern Uganda.
According to the MIU Director, Willis Bashaasha the validation retreat set for next week will last four days between March 22 to 24 and will be opened by the Minister for Presidency Milly Babirye Bablanda and the Permanent Secretary Hajji Yunus Kakande.
Bashaasha said the retreat will be attended by technical and political local leaders from the great northern Uganda regions of Lango, Acholi and Teso.
These will be joined with NRM party leaders from the same areas, who are expected to report and inform the Presidency about the extent of implementation of programmes spelt out in the manifesto.
He added that the retreat is organized in line with the unit's mandate to track, report and publicize the performance, progress and challenges of implementation of the manifesto, which is the NRM government's social contract with Ugandans.
"This government gained legitimacy through the will of Ugandans who trust it to deliver services to them to promote and enhance their socioeconomic wellbeing. This is why we need to take stock of these promises and assess the extent to which the promises made to the citizens have been achieved. This therefore is the general spirit of this retreat," Bashaasha noted.
According to Bashaasha, the critical implementation of the current manifesto began this financial year (2022-23), given that 2021/22 was largely a planning year which also coincided with the aftershocks of the covid-19 pandemic.
"Therefore, this meeting will help us in the coordination, planning and reporting on the manifesto commitments for the greater north, with specific emphasis on assessing the alignment of the service delivery to the 23 strategic guidelines and directives issued by the president," he said.
Bashaasha noted that because manifesto implementation is a multi-sectoral process which also requires transparency, the Kyankwanzi retreat will be attended by a host of manifesto stakeholders from key government service delivery ministries including education, health, agriculture, works & transport, water & environment and local government.
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The retreat will also be attended by officials from poverty-alleviation programmes including PDM, Emyooga among others.
These technocrats, he said, will make presentations to manifesto supervision and monitoring agencies including the Presidency, State House, Ministry of Finance as well as NRM party leaders and presidential advisors from the greater north.
Bashaasha noted that the main objectives of the retreat is to take stock and account for the manifesto commitments and achievements to the Ugandans in the greater north as well as explaining and sharing synergies required in the implementation of the manifesto commitments.
"We at the presidency and MIU in particular are sure that once this is done then we shall be able to validate the extent of implementation of the manifesto commitments so far and also track the extent to which the president's 23 strategic guidelines have been followed. We shall then agree on areas of further sustained coordination in the planning, reporting and communication of these achievements -- which is very critical because we are mindful of the harm in failing to publicize what the government has done," Bashaasha added.
