Thank you for proposing a suspension on creating new districts

By Oscord Mark Otile 

It was the 15th day of March 2019 when we were treated to the news that H.E. the President of Uganda while addressing members of his party the NRM parliamentary caucus at the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi proposed a suspension on the creation of new districts.

For those of us who might have been advocating for a halt to the creation of new districts, you might have a slight idea of how I felt after receiving such news. In today's Uganda I have learnt to celebrate certain moments while they last, I learnt this from a character in the cartoon film called "Tom and Jerry" who celebrates each level of achievement.

Of course, I am not convinced that the man who has been blessing the creation of new districts has now turned around his perception just because he believes that some of the people who have been asking for districts have been doing so for selfish reasons as he is quoted to having said. I think circumstances such as failure by central government to find adequate financial resources to operationalise new administrative units has forced his hand.

In my view, most proponents of the creation of new districts are usually political failures who are seeking to be politically accommodated - that would mean more MPs, RDCs, District Chairpersons, and DISOs among others. They often hide behind the argument that the creation of new districts would guarantee public services being brought closer to the people and thereby improving on the delivery of public services which in my opinion is not accurate.

Actually, the creation of more districts increases the cost on administration as it has been rightly observed by the president in the recent past and it exerts a lot of pressure on the national resource envelope - we all know that local governments hardly collect any meaningful revenue to operate independently and rely heavily on central government transfers, usually over 95 per cent.

When Nwoya district was for instance curved out from Amuru district, Amuru lost the only hospital (Anaka) that was located in Nwoya County which later became Nwoya district, leaving Amuru with no hospital and with only one Health Centre IV (Atiak HC IV). Not only that, the game park which actually starts from the Karuma bridge also fell in Nwoya, leaving Amuru with no meaningful source of revenue.

To make matters worse, when a new district is created, the mother district is supposed to send some of her staff to help kick-start the new district. Amuru district had to send her staff to Nwoya and that caused a deficit on their staffing levels, thereby impacting on the delivery of public services.

Civil Society Organisations such as the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) through a series of their research publications have over the years made proposals to the government to put a moratorium on the creation of new districts, but instead, we have seen more districts being created. Since 2005, the Ugandan government has been in the process of dividing districts into smaller units with the intention to prevent resources from being distributed primarily to chief towns and leaving the remainder of each district neglected.

In 2005, the Parliament of Uganda passed a motion to create 22 new districts and by 2009, the number of districts totalled to 87. In 2010, 25 new districts were created, increasing the number to 111 and 1 city (Kampala) and by July 2018, 16 more districts were created increasing the number to 127 and 1 city (Kampala). Effective July 2019, we expect 6 more new districts which will form the last phase of the 22 districts approved by cabinet in 2015. Some of the new districts expected to commence in July 2019 include; Obongi curved from Moyo, Kazo from Kiruhura, Rwampara from Mbarara, Kitagwenda from Kamwenge, Madi-Okollo from Arua and Karenga from Kabong district. 

At the launch of Nakaseke district the president was quoted to have said that although it takes a lot of money to start a new district, those were the fruits of the democracy that he and his colleagues fought for and that people should be in the position to ask for what they want and get it.

Hopefully, the president will stop listening to political failures who continue to demand new districts and walk the talk to stop the creation of new districts. 

The writer is a research associate with the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)