NMG-U urged to tell PDM success stories

The Ministry of Local Government has asked the Nation Media Group Uganda (NMG-U) to use its presence in the East African Community to publicise the success stories of the Parish Development Model (PDM) in the neighbouring countries.

Mr Ben Kumumanya, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, said while the media house is justifiable in exposing the failures of the government’s decentralisation system, it also ought to publish the positive stories.

“The East African has refused to write about our PDM. I don’t know why. Maybe this [PDM] could be a good thing. Remember we have tried out something here, which isn’t happening in Kenya. So if you picked very good information and propagated it, then tomorrow you will be remembered for something that has been tried out,” he said.

He was meeting a delegation from NMG-Uganda led by Ms Susan Nsibirwa, the managing director, at his office in Kampala on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Kumumanya also said he is not sure whether the Daily Monitor has ever written about the 19 industrial hubs that President Museveni launched across the country and their subsequent graduations after skilling unemployed Ugandans.

Nevertheless, Mr Kumumanya hailed NMG-U for emphasising professionalism and quality journalism.

Mr Sam Barata, the general manager-commercial at NMG-U dismissed the claims of non-coverage of the local government projects. He said Daily Monitor has been covering the graduations from the industrial hubs.

Mr Barata stressed that there has been a deliberate move to write stories about the positive developments emerging from the infrastructure developments from cities and municipalities, which have benefited from the World Bank-funded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Project.

He added that there are several other ways through which NMG-U can support the Ministry of Local Government to promote its programmes.

For instance, Mr Barata said the different NMG platforms can be used to reach beneficiaries of different government programmes and educate them about emerging global crises such as climate change and the need to adopt environmentally friendly production methods. Ms Nsibirwa urged the ministry to take advantage of NMG’s strength in storytelling and create partnerships that address challenges such as youth unemployment.

“Our job is to tell stories that positively influence society. We would like to influence the lives of people in rural areas so that they get to understand the concept of common user facilities through content that creates value on different platforms,” she said.