LC chairpersons to get stamps

Butime, Kalungu district chairperson Richard Kyabaggu, Entebbe mayor Vincent Kayanja and Kole district chairperson Betty Akoli during the meeting at Hotel Africana. Photo by Nancy Nanyonga

The minister of local government, Tom Butime, has said the Government will provide LCI chairpersons and LCII councils with stamps in the next few months.

Butime told mayors and district chairpersons on Monday that the stamps will be supplied during this financial year. 

The stamps, he said, will be manufactured by the Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation. The LCI elections were held last year, 15 years since the previous polls were conducted.  

Butime also explained that the ministry received funds for procuring motorcycles for LCIII chairpersons. The minister congratulated the five districts - Bukedea, Adjumani, Kumi, Butambala and Buikwe - which excelled in the latest local government performance assessment.

"A number of achievements and outputs have been realized. There are notable improvements in governance aspects at the local level," the minister told leaders during their meeting at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

Meanwhile, in a move designed to transform lower administration units into vibrant economies, the local government ministry has directed all districts to find land and set it aside for the establishment of industrial parks.

The ministry's permanent secretary, Ben Kumumanya, said the land is needed urgently. The directive comes days after the Cabinet constituted the local government institutions into (local government sector) on July 1.

The creation of the local government sector, according to the ministry, is designed to reinvigorate the implementation of the decentralization policy and giving priority to lower administrative units in planning and budgeting for effective service delivery.

"We want land for industrial parks in each district. We are asking you to identify this land in each district as soon as possible. We want you to do to this as soon as you go back," Kumumanya said yesterday. 

Kumumanya said the ministry will work with other government institutions to seek investors in local governments. 

He added that the ministry will also work with the local governments to establish the attendant infrastructure in the industrial parks to attract investors.