PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

A recent study by ACODE revealed that there is lack of accountability in the local governments of Uganda. Some of the reasons for this lack of accountability are low levels of education of most local political leaders and absence of a graduated tax.

Politicians at the local government level play a fundamental role of supervising national development programmes. These programmes include primary health care, Education, Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA), transport and communication, and security. The successful implementation of these programmes will enable the government to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Unfortunately, policy makers at the local level are caught up in the horns of dilemma. Most of them are graduates of primary five, whereas others have never stepped in school! In 2006, I attended a swearing in ceremony of a district chairperson and district councillors in western Uganda. Amazingly, most councillors almost failed to take an oath in English Language before a magistrate. In my subcounty, the highest educated candidate for the position of Chair person Local council III in 2011 elections is a primary four graduate! Whoever wins these elections will supervise graduate technocrats who include the subcounty chief, community development officer and sub county accountant. The same scenario applies to other sub counties in the district. Most district councillors did not complete primary four. When it comes to making important decisions in the district, the elite technocrats manipulate these semi-illiterate politicians.

Human resource managers tell us that for one to be able to supervise a subordinate, he must understand what the junior is doing. Surprisingly, this is not the case with the Ugandan Local governments. A primary four district councillor or subcounty chairperson will always feel inferiority complex while supervising the implementation of government policies by his highly educated subordinate technocrats. Politicians derive their mandate from the populace. They are supposed to report to the masses government programmes among other duties. However, since most of them do not understand the technical issues handled by the graduate subordinates, they have nothing to report to the masses at the end of the day. Their low level of education obviously acts as an accountability obstacle! Local leaders meant to be saviours of the people end up being traitors of the people. This creates accountability darkness in the eyes of the citizens.

Effective accountability involves telling people what social services have been put in place and with what financial, time and human resources. It is an assurance that people’s tax is being put to proper use. It enables citizens to understand the role government is playing for them and how they can support government in the fulfilment of its mandate. Lack of accountability is like a double edged sword. It can hit the government hard at the same time sabotage the development at all levels in the country. The local politicians have a big role to play in enhancing this core administrative value. How then can accountability be enhanced at the local government level?
• The academic qualifications of local politicians at the subcounty should be increased to atleast graduate levels. This will enable proper coordination and implementation of the government programmes in the local governments. Consequently, rural local governments will be able to catch up with their counterpart urban local governments in development.
• The central government should carry out regular monitoring of the local government programmes including making physical visits and holding discussions with communities. At the moment, local governments have too much power over funds from the central government. There is fear of some of these local governments misusing government funds and then submitting doctored accountability o their mother ministries.
• The government should pass a policy in which local government decisions are translated in dominant local language for the benefit of the people.

EVEREST TURYAHIKAYO
Human Resource Specialist
Kampala

EMPLOYEES MUST COOPERATE TO PREVENT STRIKES

I wish to add my contribution to the on going debate about employee strikes. The most recent strikes in Africa are two; one by South African public servants and that of Makerere university lecturers. The common denominator in the two strikes is money. The need for money has justified strikes in many countries.

Strikes by public servants result in short and long term negative consequences. Some of the short term ones include death of patients in hospitals, reduced productivity in government ministries, and disruption of businesses, increased government expenditure on tear gas, vandalising government property and injuries of protesters. Some of the long term consequences include reduced family income due to loss of jobs and reduced GDP due to loss of productive manpower. It is also likely that prolonged violent strikes can result into a Coup Detart.

Resorting to strikes is a sign that many employees consider money as an end in itself. It also signifies poor communication skills among all stake holders. Whereas money is necessary for the survival of employees, it is not sufficient on its own. In negotiating for money issues employees’ representatives should not only demand to be listened to, but should as well listen and respect their employers’ views. They should present their options and align them with those of employers. These options should be evaluated in light of the ability to sustain the promises. This calls for the involvement of economists, human resource experts, financial consultants, management experts and policy analysts.

There is a tendency for the public employees to ask what the governments have done for them, and fail to ask themselves what they have done for the government. The latter is more important than the former in this case. Whereas the government is the whole, public employees are part of this whole. It is the contribution of several parts that make the whole. Any strike perpetrated by one or two parts hurts other parts and the whole government. This justifies why employees must cooperate with government the employer, in choosing the best salary strategies fair to both sides.

If the representatives of these employees inculcate a culture of nationalism and duty consciousness, there will be no need to strain communication. If negotiations are handled maturely by keeping such negotiations from politics, and with both sides respecting each others’ views, there can be no justification for strikes. The role of government is simply to establish communication channels and ensure that all communication mechanisms are fully utilised. There is need to train employees in negotiation skills so that proper approaches are adopted. Negotiations should have an element of flexibility, trust and honesty, in which case, demands from both sides can be adjusted to suite all in order to prevent the occurrence of strikes.


Everest Turyahikayo
Human Resource Management Specialist
Kampala

EAST AFRICAN COMMON LANGUAGE NEEDED

EAST AFRICAN COMMON LANGUAGE NEEDED

The recent opening of the East African Common Market (EACM) was welcomed with pleasure by the business communities in the five East African Countries. Inorder for the common market to benefit all people in the region, there is need for an urgent common language. There is no way business transactions can successfully be conducted in the region without a common language.

At the moment, there is an obvious lack of a common language in East Africa. Kenyans and Tanzanians speak Swahili as their national languages. Uganda speaks English as its official language. Rwanda and Burundi are just switching from French to English. On the whole, there is no common language that can be used among the business community. The implication is that illiterate business men and women in Uganda who can not speak English and Swahili will continue conducting business in other countries with difficulty. In the same vein, Rwandans and Burundians who can only speak French will find it difficult to conduct business in other East African countries where French is not spoken.

Job seekers will also find it difficult to secure jobs in those countries whose language spoken they do not understand. Whereas a Kenyan social worker is able to work in the remote village in Tanzania due to the shared Swahili language, a social worker from Burundi may find it difficult to secure a job in a remote village in Karamoja because there is no common language share by Uganda and Burundi. Such a job requires interacting with people at the grassroots who may not have knowledge of the language of elite. In the absence of a common language therefore, some East African countries will work and develop together closely, while others will be left isolated due to lack of a common language. We can not forget the fact that a language is a unifying factor for development. Language for example has enhanced the unification of German and perhaps accelerated the country’s development. Every developed country including Japan, USA, France, China, U.K and Russia has a common language spoken by every one; not just a reserve of the elite as it is, in most East African countries.   It is therefore important to fast track an East African language by following the following strategies.

·         An agreement should be reached among the East African countries as to which language should be adopted as official. This language should be taught right from pre-primary education. It should be part of the curriculum and made compulsory at all levels of education. Governments should consider teaching such a language to adults through adult education programmes. The language should be easy to learn by an average person. For example, I have seen people speaking Swahili language learnt in a period of two months. But it is hard to learn English in such a period.

·         Media houses should be encouraged to start programmes geared at training people in such a language. A documentary on farming presented on TV in Swahili for example can enable people to grasp the language easily. This is because, you compare and interpret what you have heard and viewed. Attractive magazines with Swahili explanatory notes can entice the population to see and read as they learn the language.

·         Governments in East Africa should allocate budgets to enable the planning, implementation and constant evaluation of the progress of the proposed language.

·         Members of the East African Legislative Assembly should work with their national parliaments to ensure that every effort is made to teach people of the East African Community one common language. Emphasis should be put on proper coordination and regular information sharing to ensure that this succeeds before the East African Political Federation (EAPF) is achieved.

EVEREST TURYAHIKAYO

Human Resource Specialist-

Kampala

+256-772924158