Govt seeks new development approaches - VP

The concern was raised by the Vice President Edward Ssekandi while opening the Third Annual Retreat to review Government performance for the financial year 2010/2011.

 

A two day retreat which started yesterday at Serena Hotel in Kampala is seeking ideas and new approaches of improving the implementation og government programs.

 

Ssekandi noted that there is need for improvement in areas of Agriculture disease control, Irrigation, Fish farming and seed quality which he said calls for immediate redress.

 

The vice President also observed that Uganda is being impacted by the effects of Global Warming noting that it was unfortunate that the nation’s forest cover and its wetlands were fast dwindling in spite of the presence of environmental personnel at different levels of administration.

 

He said that despite Primary Health efforts, which he noted was critical in the development and welfare of rural populations, Village Health Teams had not measured to their expectations adding that lack of essential medicines in Health units had worsened health service delivery.

 

The Vice President called upon all sectors to carry out critical analysis of their performances and come up with workable solutions in pursuit of the set targets.

 

He observed that the extent to which some sectors are off- tracking on set goals of Governments in delivering critical services to the populace is unacceptable and that government is now taking keen interest in key undertakings especially those with high budgetary implications.

 

The retreat which is organized by the Office of Prime Minister is being attended by members of Cabinet, Permanent Secretaries, District Local Council Chairpersons and Chief Administrative Officers. President Yoweri Museveni is today expected to address the delegates attending the retreat.

 

“The retreat is aimed at reviewing government programs for the 2010-2011 financial year, how they were implemented and if not why?” a source said.

 

“We are reviewing the activities of the entire year and we want to see what challenges were faced, successes and how we can register more success in the coming years” the source added.

 

The prime minister Amama  Mbabazi in his speech asked accounting officers to account for released and budgeted funds whose targeted programs were not fulfilled.

 

“Accounting officers and heads of departments that received budgeted funds should make an explanation as to why they did not implement the targeted government programs” Mbabazi said while addressing the leaders.

 

Although most presentations of ministers indicated that the government had made some achievements, it was noted that under funding of government sectors hampered with the implementation of government programs.

 

Mbabazi also asked delegates not focus their attention on priorities bearing in mind that government has limited resources.

 

Some local officials asked government to cut out clear programs of population control that would be implemented by local governments to reduce on population explosion which does not match with government limited resources.

 

The minister of finance Maria Kiwanuka advised the local council leaders and CAOs to devise means of raising domestic revenue. “Our local leaderships have to devise means of raising revenue from domestic sources, you realize that the central government has a limited resource envelope” she noted.

 

She also explained that government was not planning to enact a new law on SACCOs but wanted to strengthen the existing laws to ensure that depositors and borrowers are not cheated.