Politics cannot replace service delivery, minister Alum tells Teso
“It calls upon every leader and public officer to move beyond promises and ensure that government programs produce visible improvements in the lives of our people. This is a command, this is a vision, and this is a strategy coming from the President of this country,” Alum stated.
Moses Oriada LC5 Kalaki with Santa Alum, the economic monitoring minister checking on one of the beneficiaries of PDM engaged in piggery in Kalaki district. (Credit: Michael Onyinge)
Economic monitoring state minister Santa Alum has urged the people of Teso to put elections and politicking aside and focus on improving service delivery.
Alum made the call on September 8, 2026, while monitoring Government programmes in Kalaki district, where she met various stakeholders and visited beneficiaries.
“You know, the elections or the votes are very expensive, and when people give them to you, it is not for free. When you are a technical leader or when you are appointed, it is not for free.
Once you are serving as a technical officer, it's not for free. The people of Uganda demand something in return," Alum said.
She said the current five-year term, which has been described as "ekisanja of no more sleep", requires everyone to work hard with transparency and accountability.
After addressing district leaders, Alum moved to the field to verify some of the reports.
However, she expressed concern when the acting district education officer and the district engineer were not present to give reports about Ecwou Memorial Technical School, which was among the facilities she wanted to inspect.
She directed the Kalaki chief administrative officer (CAO) Francho Olaboro to take action against the officers, who were alleged to have switched off their phones.
“It calls upon every leader and public officer to move beyond promises and ensure that government programs produce visible improvements in the lives of our people. This is a command, this is a vision, and this is a strategy coming from the President of this country,” Alum stated.
She said poverty had remained a major obstacle to Uganda's socio-economic transformation. Consequently, she said the Government had invested substantial public resources in programmes intended to expand access to productive capital, increase production, restore livelihoods and enable Ugandans to participate in the money economy.
She said the key question was whether those investments were reaching the intended beneficiaries and producing the expected change.
She said the monitoring exercise focused on the Parish Development Model (PDM), the Presidential Initiative on Wealth and Job Creation, Emyooga and cattle restocking.
“We have come to verify the facts, and we are going to use the facts to either clap for you or to do otherwise. Good performance will be acknowledged, and useful lessons will be documented and replicated elsewhere. However, confirmed weaknesses must be corrected.
Deliberate abuse of office, including extortion, manipulation of beneficiary lists, falsification of records and the misuse of public resources will not be tolerated”, Alum warned.
Teso affairs minister Clement Kenneth Ongalo Obote said the Teso sub-region was unique.
He said while the national poverty average stood at about 21%, the rate in Teso stood at about 30%.
He also said institutions such as Kaberamaido Technical Institute in Kaberamaido district need attention, where machinery was reportedly not functional because of an inadequate power supply.
Ongalo also said the number of people benefiting from cattle restocking was small and that it would take a long time to reach everyone with the limited funding available.
The Minister directed the Kalaki chief administrative officer (CAO) Francho Olaboro to take action against the officers, who were alleged to have switched off their phones. (Credit: Michael Onyinge)
Ongalo said he understood the challenges facing Emyooga beneficiaries, but not those under PDM and cattle restocking, where he said beneficiaries had received sufficient sensitisation.
“I am less sympathetic when it comes to PDM, because I truly know that PDM took several years to become operational. Why? Because of the seven pillars that we had to go through one by one before PDM was rolled out,” Ongalo said.
He said the district has 25 parishes and nine wards, making a total of 34 administrative units, with 223 villages and cells. There are 30,511 households in Kalaki district.
The chief administrative officer of Kalaki, Francho Olaboro, said there were many Government programmes in the district and that officials continuously sensitised beneficiaries to improve their livelihoods.
Beneficiaries speak out
Several beneficiaries visited during the monitoring exercise testified that Government support had improved their lives.
One of the PDM beneficiaries, Walter Ebosi, said he appreciated the programme, as it had not been easy for him to make a living as a total orphan.
He said the money he received enabled him to buy a bull, which he later sold and used the proceeds to buy land. He said he used part of the remaining money to establish a garage, which provides him with a daily income.
Peter Okello, who engages in piggery after receiving PDM funding, said he was doing well after starting with a few pigs and increasing the number over time.
He said he earns about sh12m every three months from selling piglets from four sows.
Meanwhile, Selina Anango from Opungure said she received sh5m for cattle restocking and used it to buy two cows, while part of the money was used for treatment.
Richard Erechu, the chairperson of the Taxi Operators Emyooga SACCO, appreciated the Government's initiative to provide the group with seed capital.
He said a number of members were now able to access loans from their SACCO more easily than before the seed capital was provided.