‘New districts uneconomical’

By Jonathan Angura THE Minister for the Presidency, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, has said splitting of existing districts to create new ones, is uneconomical. He was recently responding to a group of MPs, local politicians and elders from Pallisa district, who were demanding for the split of the district into two. The delegation was led by the LC5 chairman, Dr. Laban Kirya. Bukenya said Pallisa was a small district where government services reached the people. “I told them that the more you break up the district, the more uneconomical it becomes. The district is small and therefore all government services are covered,” Bukenya said. He said districts could only be split if services were not reaching some areas. He said Kirya’s delegation had gone to seek an appointment to meet the President to discuss the district’s problems. Their problems included among others low safe water coverage, poor roads and general underdevelopment. The Pallisa county Member of Parliament, Louis Opange, an advocate for the new district, said dividing the district into two was a necessity because Butebo and Pallisa counties were marginalised in service delivery and leadership appointments. “We are representatives of the people and we articulate their wishes. Let the minister visit Butebo and Pallisa counties to personally see our problems,” Opange said. He said Pallisa had the requirements for a split such as a large population of more than 400,000 people and it’s large area. However, Kirya opposed the idea of splitting the district saying it was still ‘young and poor’ as it was only created from Tororo district a few years back. Pallisa district was created in 1991.