Kole North Member of Parliament, Dr. Samuel Opio Acuti, has listed priorities that should be considered in the coming financial year in a bid to spur development within Kole District.
In a document titled “Kole District priorities FY 24/25” presented in the recent budget conference, MP Acuti noted the need to improve some areas in Kole district. He said that in spite of several challenges, Kole district has been able to score in some areas.
“Acknowledgment that we are towards the end of NDP III, whose goal is to increase average household income and improve quality of life. The budget conference is a moment of reflection on where we are as Kole in regard to NDP III,” said Acuti.
Acuti listed the following to be considered priorities for Kole in the coming financial year in order to enhance the livelihood of local people:
Under administration arrangements for community participation and feedback, MP Acuti suggests that community meetings need to be enhanced to receive feedback on service delivery as per the local government performance assessment manual requirements, and the transparency of government projects should be broadened and cascaded to lower local governments, including parishes.
In the education sector, he noted that private schools are currently performing better than public schools, and PLE performance in Kole North is significantly poorer than Kole South, with only 10% of 1st graders, and the school drop rate is estimated at 80%.
MP Acuti noted that they should establish the causes of poor PLE performance in Kole North, identify interventions, reduce school dropouts, and enhance the performance of public primary schools in both Kole South and Kole North.
“Under the water sector, we have noted an improvement in water coverage following the MPs survey, which showed several communities were limited in accessing safe water. More boreholes were drilled, especially in Alito sub county, and piped water schemes were under implementation,” said MP Opio.
He said there is an urgent need to strengthen the rehabilitation of boreholes and ensure that more partners are brought on board to assist in this area, to support borehole rehabilitation for up to 15 years.
Under roads infrastructure, MP Acuti says the district has recorded tremendous road motor ability improvement and coverage, out of the UGX 1 billion availed for road rehabilitation for each district by the government.
“This was achieved through the efforts of MPs, including Kole North MP, who personally spoke about this on the floor of Parliament,” said MP Dr. Opio.
He warned against repetition of work due to improper work being done and questioned why the cost of rehabilitating a kilometer of road in Kole is the highest within the Lango region.
“The cost of rehabilitation in Dokolo and Apac is UGX 10 million per km; in Lira District, it is UGX 11.2 million per km; and in Amolatar, it is UGX 8.8 million per km. However, Kole is at UGX 16.5M per km,” he noted.
He called for improvement in the quality of work to avoid repetition and minimize corrective work, adding that planning should be done using UGX 10M instead of UGX 16M per km for road rehabilitation.
Under livelihood improvement and community development, he said the Parish Development Module needs to be strengthened to avert extortion, and Emyooga Saccos need to be revamped and supported with permanent registration so as to benefit from the additional UGX 20M. Disbursements for Uganda Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) should be as per release, and repayments should be directly into bank accounts.
To strengthen supervision of construction works, Acuti said the Building Committee should be established as guided by the Minister for Economic Monitoring in her recent tour and as provided in the Building Control Act to ensure government constructions comply with the designs and standards.
MP Acuti recently exposed alleged corruption and abuse of offices by a section of district officials supervising the implementation of livelihood programs like PDM, EMYOOGA, and UWEP.
