West Nile anti-corruption coalition tasks communities to demand for accountability

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Districts in the West Nile under their umbrella organization MAYANK Anti-corruption coalition have embarked on engaging communities and government leaders on an accountability dialogue.

The dialogue which has come as the general elections draw closer is aimed at empowering locals and the citizens to demand accountability from the political and technical leaders.

Under the dialogue, communities converge at the sub county headquarters and raise issues of development and service delivery that were planned for in the last financial year and the leaders respond to them.

Ernest Enzama, the executive director MAYANK Anti-corruption coalition said the dialogue helps the local people to raise issues of governance and accountability which will promote better service delivery.

According to Enzama, the engagement, the dialogues will be spread to all the districts of West Nile.

According to Nelson Aleti, the vice LCIII chairman who participated in the dialogue at Arivu sub county says the dialogue makes people happy because it enables them to raise issues of roads, water, health, education among others. He says oftentimes the locals point at the political leaders who are not solely responsible for the issues and because the district technical team is engaged in the dialogue, it clears for them the dilemma in the communities.

Simon Ababo, the Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Arua said the dialogue helps the technical team to understand the needs and priority areas of the locals. Ababo says based on the outcome of the dialogue with the communities, they will plan better for the next financial year.

According to reports from MAYANK Anti-corruption coalition, most district leaders do not dialogue with communities to understand their needs and plan for them and this has resulted into poor service delivery, wastage of resources and no value for money.

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