Teso demands better from VP Alupo, Speaker Among

Teso Sub-region has for long grappled with poverty and poor service delivery despite a couple of government interventions to help the community overcome these challenges.

Prior to 2011, the government blamed this on the sub-region’s insistence to elect Opposition politicians to lead them.

With the appointment of Ms Jessica Alupo as vice president in 2021 and Ms Anita Among becoming the Speaker of Parliament last year, many in the sub-region anticipated that Teso would start developing with the influence of the two politicians who hailed from the sub-region.

However, some in the sub-region say the two have done little to help the sub-region.

Mr Linos Opio, the works councillor for Serere District local government, says many in the sub-region believe that the politicians have no power and there is no money to deliver services in the sub-region.

He adds that there are hardly any policies in place to fight poverty.

“We still see government interventions failing, poverty remains a big factor, the road network is the same, education and the health sector in the region are wanting,” Mr Opio says, adding, “In my parish of Osunguro in Serere, we only have one PDM (parish development model) group and the same could be said for other places within Teso.”

Mr Daniel Ediau Ewadu, the former Soroti District vice chairperson, says he was skeptical about the appointment of the two leaders, adding that it was politically motivated.

He says the two were appointed to encourage the people in Teso to support President Museveni after he lost favour in central region.

He adds that during the reign of the two politicians, there has been a resurgence of cattle raids in Karamoja.

Mr Ewadu says the sub-region gained more during the reign of the Opposition.

“Anita Among is fighting for Museveni, [which is] not near what Kadaga used to do,” Mr Ewadu says.

The Kumi District chairperson, Mr Nelson Elungant, says close to 10,000 pupils from various schools in the sub-region lack desks, which has affected their performance.

He added that close to 30 percent of the teachers lack accommodation and the matter has largely been left for the parents-teachers associations to handle.

Mr Elungant says they receive only Shs25m to maintain roads in the sub-region, which is not enough.

However, Ms Grace Akello, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) mobiliser for Ongino Sub-county in Kumi District, says the sub-region is already benefitting for the appointment of Ms Alupo and Ms Among.

 “Look at the number of RDCs (resident district commissioners) we have, they have increased. At the ministerial departments, we have people in there. These are benefits we can count on,” she says.

She adds that during Ms Alupo’s tenure as vice president, several government projects have been introduced in the sub-region such as fruit factories and the construction of schools, among others.

Ms Siporah Akol, the personal assistant of Ms Among, says aside from the savings and credit cooperative organisations (Sacco) projects in Bukedea that she is supporting, the Speaker is also aiding MPs to have similar projects in their constituencies. She says the beneficiaries include Katakwi, Serere and Ngora districts.

 “We have in each parish in Bukedea four groups which have received Shs5m each, [and the] intention is to fight poverty,” Ms Akol said.

She adds that the Speaker has also launched the construction of the biggest valley tank in Tajar which will be the biggest irrigation project in the sub-region.

She adds that Ms Among has rolled out a plan to have all district councils in the region receive inductions on matters of service delivery, having cited this as one of the areas affecting Teso.

Efforts to get a comment from the personal assistants of Ms Alupo from the counties of Usuk, Toroma and Ngariam were futile as they were reportedly in Kampala for training by press time.

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