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Will Oyam live up to its 2020 development plan?
Process. The new Oyam District administration block. The district needs at least Shs32 billion to fulfill its ambitious development plan. PHOTO BY BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- Poverty remains high in northern Uganda (Oyam inclusive), literacy rates are low and access to basic services is poor.
- The district chairperson, Mr Nelson Adea Akar, says effective service delivery is at the heart of what his administration will continue doing.
Oyam District leaders have unveiled a one-year strategic plan that they project will address development challenges in the area.
Key priorities identified include rehabilitation of classrooms and construction of new ones in government schools, routine maintenance of 552km of roads, supply of 250 three-seater desks to schools, generation of more viable youth projects with specific focus on value addition and support to community groups.
Others include providing new water facilities to communities by drilling wells and rehabilitating broken ones, and strengthening case management on child protection issues, especially defilement.
Upgrade of Abela Health Centre II to health centre III and construction of a new health centre III at Ajaga will also be undertaken during the same period.
The district will further strengthen financial accountability through regular meetings by the public accounts committee (PAC) to examine different reports and digitalise the district land board information. Both district land board and area land committee will be equipped with relevant knowledge and legal books on land administration.
They also intend to recruit staff in critical positions, build the latter’s capacity in critical areas, process land titles for land belonging to the district and conduct education on land rights and tenure security, among others.
Just like other districts that suffered the two-decade insurgency in northern Uganda, Oyam too faces stressing challenges.
Key challenges
They include, among others, low agricultural production and productivity, inadequate team work, land disputes, high increase in sexual violence, negative attitudes of parents towards children’s education and child abuse.
For this dream to come true, the district needs at least Shs32 billion and more than 2,455 employees to implement the activities.
“It costs money to promote quality education. I, therefore, call upon the leadership of Oyam District, development partners and well-wishers to support our priorities identified for 2020/2021 financial year,” the district education officer, Mr Francis Oleke Ocero, says.
Poverty remains high in northern Uganda (Oyam inclusive), literacy rates are low and access to basic services is poor. Mr Chris Gira, the community development officer, says the district has made efforts to improve service delivery in recent years but it is still unable to meet the public’s expectations because of a small resource envelope.
“These days when you call people for a meeting, what they ask you is ‘how much are you going to pay us? And often times, programmes within the communities do not succeed because of that kind of attitude,” he adds.
The chief administrative officer, Mr Walter Iriama, says as a way of providing effective service delivery, proper planning is vital.
“Oyam is predominantly engaged in substance agriculture and we need to begin planning as a district to shift our community to commercialise agriculture to enhance income of our households,” he says.
Mr Iriama also observes that there is poor academic performance in primary schools. “We need to look for a way of addressing this issue so that our children are competitive with other children from affluent schools,” he adds.
The district chairperson, Mr Nelson Adea Akar, says effective service delivery is at the heart of what his administration will continue doing.
