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Confusion as government splits Lango’s oldest sub-county
Government officials and other participants attend the post-election evaluation stakeholders’ consultative meeting at Pauline Hotel in Lira City on Monday. PHOTO / BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- Government position. The Minister of Local Government, Mr Raphael Magyezi, said in April that the government indefinitely suspended the creation of new administrative structures.
- According to Mr Magyezi, the new structures had widened the funding gaps of lower local governments and the government was looking for money to fund the recently-created districts and cities.
Amach Sub-county in Lira District is no longer a recognised administrative unit after it was erased from the map of Uganda to create two new sub-counties.
Since Amach is now excluded from the list of the existing administrative units in the country, the four remaining isolated parishes in the area cannot benefit from any government projects. The 2020 population projection for Amach Sub-county, including the newly created administrative units (Amach Town Council and Awiodyek Sub-county) was at 40,900 people, according to Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
Surprisingly, the new administrative units have been receiving funds for operations under the name of the mother sub-county, the Lira chairperson, Mr Richard Cox Okello Orik, said on Monday.
This is because the government has neither recognised the newly created administrative units nor disbursed funds to them.
“Amach, one of the mother sub-counties in Lango, disappeared from the map of Uganda. Problems cropped up soon after Amach gave birth to two new administrative units: Awiodyek and Amach Town Council. It disappeared during the process of demarcation, but it is just there by name. Even elections were not conducted in that sub-county,” Mr Okello said.
The Lira returning officer, Mr George William Alyao, said the documents he received from the Electoral Commission (EC) did not have anything in regards to Amach Sub-county.
“When they were separating Amach Town Council from Amach Sub-county, I think there was an error between the office of the LC5 and the Ministry of Local Government. The error caused the ministry to erase Amuch Sub-county and maintain the new town council,” he explained.
They made the remarks during the 2020/2021 post-election evaluation stakeholders’ consultative meeting organised by the EC in Lira City on Monday.
This evaluation meeting gave the stakeholders an opportunity to reflect on the EC’s performance during the elections. The analysed included reorganisation of polling stations and demarcation of local government electoral areas, voter education and information, media and communication used in voter education, and delivery of election information.
Mr Alyao, however, said the reorganisation of polling stations and demarcation of local government electoral areas had caused a lot of confusion in the district.
“There were new administrative units created and some of them are not recognised by the local government nor funded,” he said, adding that the creation of Lira City wasn’t done properly.
“They removed our giant sub-counties which used to give us a lot of resources and gave to the city. During that process, Iwal Sub-county also went away with Ngetta to the city,” Mr Okello said.
Lira Sub-county, Iwal, Adekokwok, and Ngetta sub-counties were all annexed to Lira Municipal to pave way for the creation of the city in July , 2020.
Mr Okello warned that for the sake of peace to prevail, the government should give them back Iwal Sub-county.
“We are not sitting and waiting. If we are to remain the way we are, give us back Iwal Sub-county. If not, give us two districts: Lira and Erute. That is what we are demanding,” the chairperson said.
