Lira leaders call for training of newly-elected councillors

A section of leaders in Lira District are calling for training of all newly-elected councillors in the Lango Sub-region to help them effectively present their voters’ interests.

According to the district chairperson, Mr Richard Cox Okello Orik, the majority of the new leaders find it difficult to express themselves in English during council sittings, which gives others an unfair advantage.
“When you stand up to say ‘order’, people feel scared. So, when you are new and somebody says ‘order’, the person gets confused,” Mr Okello told Monitor in an interview last week.

He says many leaders are new in the system since they came into office in May last year. 
“I am one of the new chairpersons and I was not well rooted in the Local Government system but being a learned person, it is easy for me to catch up,” Mr Okello, who belongs to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, says. 

The Lira boss adds that the internal orientation they received isn’t enough because some leaders are still scared of debating.

“That person will be sitting there waiting to [simply] vote because they cannot express themselves in English. They don’t even know that there is a provision for them to ask the speaker to waive the language barrier and then speak in the local language,” Mr Okello says. 

“We need training but we don’t have the funding. That’s why we need other people to support us,” he adds.

Ms Sarah Awor Angweri, the workers’ representative at Lira City Council, says she attended training sessions at least three times on accountability, integrity and reporting.

The training was conducted by Lira NGO Forum in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung under the Strengthening Performance and Accountability through Community Engagement (SPACE) project. A total of 72 councillors in the city and the district benefited. 

Ms Awor feels empowered and confident to speak before the council. 
“I can now advocate for what I want for my community.  I am able to face any challenge in the community or in our council,” she says.

“I have raised many issues, including the environment. Somebody was building in the wetland and the issue is still in the council. They have instituted a committee to investigate it,” Ms Awor adds.
She asked the government to roll out training to all councillors.

Mr Okello hailed the SPACE project for equipping the councillors.
“The training gave the new councillors the confidence to speak and some have improved their debating skills,” he says.

According to Ms Joan Amuge, the programme manager with Lira NGO Forum, they identified the gap and filled it.

“We are proud of this partnership because it gave us the opportunity to bring together the citizens and then the district leadership,” Ms Amuge says. 

Mr Jonah Benjamin Otim, the community facilitator for the SPACE project, says more is needed to bridge the gap. 

“At the lower local government level, on average, they have between 16 and 18 councillors but out of that [number], only three have the opportunity to have those induction training,” Mr Otim says.