Poor academic performances upset MP Drito

By Richard Drasimaku

MARTIN Drito, the Madi Okollo County MP has expressed disappointment over the very poor performance of school children in his constituency despite what he called his best efforts to encourage better results.

Madi Okollo only had three first grades in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations, something which has upset the MP.

“We had three first grades when I went to the parliament; we kept improving and actually reached eight first grades. Now we are back down to three,” he lamented.

Drito was reflecting on his own performance as an MP and the progress the constituency has made under his stewardship during a media briefing at Golden Courts Hotel in Arua town on Monday.

He said he has provided additional scholastic materials to the schools in his constituency and given financial incentives to schools that produce first grades and to the parents of best performing candidates.

He called for a concerted effort from all the concerned stakeholders so as to lift education standards in Madi Okollo.

The MP cited early marriages and the love for dowry as a major cause of high school dropouts in the county and advocated for community attitude change.

He also noted that the health sector was doing badly and said such amenities would be the centre of his attention as his term in parliament draws to a close.

Drito however painted a rosy picture in infrastructural development saying that at no other time in its history has Madi Okollo been better placed than during his time as MP.

He pointed at the sh1.9b rural growth water scheme at Okollo Sub County and the planned schemes for Rhino Camp and disclosed that he was in consultation with the water ministry to implement similar projects at Rigbo and Ofaka sub counties.

The water projects are done under the Water and Sanitation Facility – north, a project of the ministry of water and environment.

Under rural electrification, Drito said the Parliament has already cleared the African Development Bank funded project to expand the electricity line to cover Ogoko, Rhino Camp, Pawor and Ullepi sub counties.

Meanwhile in the roads sector, Drito said the much delayed Kiakia bridge on Enyau river has come back on the ministerial policy statement and a redesigned bridge to cost sh12b is in the offing.

“It is an exciting moment for Madi Okollo because we have started doing what is right by putting developmental structures and setting the pace for transformation,” he said.

The MP however disagreed with Arua district proposal to break Madi Okollo into two constituencies insisting that the Madi people should wait for the proposed upgrade of the county into a district.

“A district comes with its own quota for example for scholarships, for health funding, or for recruitment into police or the army. So, it has immense benefits and luckily for Madi Okollo, the local government parliamentary committee has approved it as one of the five districts to be operationalised,” he said.