Over 200 Sub-County Councilors in Kibuku and Pallisa Districts have been trained on their legislative roles to enable them to run council deliberations targeting proper service delivery for particular local governments.
The training which was organized by Action Aid Uganda was aimed at local council legislative roles. The Ministry of Local Government under its mandate is supposed to induct councillors countrywide but it was unfortunate the councillors had never been inducted after two years in office.
The training that started on Tuesday and ended on Friday at the Sub County headquarters of each sub-county covered a wide range of that including legislative roles, budget processes, service delivery, and oversight role of implemented projects.
Grace Nyaguti, the Psychosocial Support Officer Action Aid says the need by the government to induct the councillors at lower levels that she says builds the abilities of councillors to deliberate in councils. She noted that the training with councillors disclosed that the councils have not been inducted.
“The training has been so productive and informing and I want to pray that local government at district levels considers continuing inducting councils on their legislative roles because it will help to limit wrangles because most times councillors refuse to pass budget thinking it the technocrat losing,” Ngaguti said.
Ngaguti has therefore asked councillors who have been trained to follow what they have learned. According to Ngaguti councillors should follow their action plans to see that the service delivery in their specific areas is improved.
Ronald Ofoyrwoth, a trainer with Action Aid explains that the need to train local councils countrywide is wanting noting that local councils play big roles like oversight roles on the implementation of projects that show that their capacities should be built so that they can know their roles and why the council was formed.
“In this training, we started with council prayer which indicated the whole purpose of the council in many cases, councils do not have even order paper and most of them have issues with technical staff about money and here we want to make them know that their role is the policy-making not implementation”
Walenga John the Town clerk of Kibuku town council appealed to the council members to fully exercise their legislative and executive powers for the development of their respective areas stressing that the council is the highest political in the Sub County.
Walenga asked councillors to prioritize serving the demands of their communities rather than earning money for themselves. “Our council had never been inducted by the government so we have not been following the deliberations procedures but we are happy to Action Aid for this opportunity,” Walenga said.
Boy Lawrence Muchaina, the LC3 Buseta Sub County tasked the Councilors to embrace proper planning for the better usage of resources in their move to work for their areas of jurisdiction and the district as a whole.
Muchainas appealed to the councillors to handle and follow up the budget with care for proper accountability of resources and to embark on the implementation of government programs.
Monica Magowa the speaker of Kibuku Sub County Council says she has been using Google to learn issues of council procedures but now she has learnt a lot that she says will improve the deliberation.
Takali Rose a councillor at Buseta Sub County says it’s her first time attending training on council legislation. “I m happy to action Aid because we have learned a lot in this training and I have hopes to improve my deliberations in the council’s next sitting,” Takali said.
Solomon Okwanling the councillors in Akisim Sub County says there has been a need to train local councillors because they have been green on the procedures of the council. He notes that the training by Action Aid will now help to improve service delivery and legislation.
ActionAid is a global movement of people working together to further human rights and defeat poverty for all.
ActionAid has worked in Uganda since 1982 and currently has a presence with offices and staff in 15 districts. We prioritize work with minority groups like women, children, and people living in extreme poverty.
