Kabarole District Leaders from East Division, Rwimi Sub County & Rwimi Town council gave Plans for 2016-2021 political terms to their electorates

ToroDev in collaboration with the 3 FM radio stations i.e HITS FM, KRC FM & Jubilee radio have given local leaders from Rwenzori sub region free airtime to share their plans with electorates for the 5 years political term 2016-2021. The activity that is aimed at tracking what the leaders are pledging to do for their respective communities so that at some point they are reminded of what they pledged to do and also keep track where they divert from their promises will be done with support from the 3 program moderators of the 3 Fm radio stations.

On 29^th June, 2016 during ‘Manya  Omwebembezi Waawe’ program  that is aired live every Wednesday 8:00pm-10:00pm on KRC FM, Mr. Magezi Willy Snob the Chairperson for East Division in Fort Portal Municipality was hosted to share with the listeners the current stand of the division and the plans he has for the people of East Division.

Mr. Magezi Willy Snob Chairperson East Division Fort Portal Municipality

Mr. Magezi  called for co-operation of all people, those who were contesting against him and those who wish the division success to join him in developing the division now that elections are over. He said many people do not fully know how local governments operate which forces them to keep demanding even what the division leadership cannot manage doing from the local revenue collections and the funds from central government.  Mr. Magezi said when citizens are invited for budget conferences where they should plan with their leaders on the development of their communities in that particular financial year; they do not come to attend. He said politics has ruined our country where leaders do not want to tell electorates the truth for fear of losing votes in the next election and this has made leaders fail to perform because the citizens have been given a lot of powers where they want to listen to what they want to hear not what is being told. He called upon citizens to do their responsibilities well to allow smooth running of government programs.

‘’The division has earmarked 960 million shillings this financial year 2016/2017 to improve the road infrastructure, work on garbage collection, increase green belts in the division, hygiene & sanitation, education especially on performance and teachers recruitment, the division will also provide bursaries for poor children & best performing children among other plans’’, said Mr. Magezi Willy Snob the Chairperson East Division Fort Portal Municipality.

He said what will be done will depend on the available funds and the lobbying capacity of councilors. He called upon local people to fulfill their responsibilities of paying government taxes to enable the division realize the budget in order to improve on the service delivery since what is done is determined by funds collected and available.

Meanwhile on 2^nd July, 2016 during ‘Orukurato’ program that is aired live every Saturday 8:00pm-10:00pm on HITS FM Mr. Kangwagye Moses the chairperson for Rwimi Sub County and Mr. Ngomayondi Abel the Mayor Rwimi town council were hosted to share their plans with electorates.

Mr. Kangwagye promised to lobby for a maternity ward because mothers are suffering a lot, Follow the presidential pledge of provision of safe and clean water & irrigation scheme, increase house hold income for citizens, deal with the issue of recruiting staff in schools with limited staff /teachers’,  reviving community work especially opening of access roads & other community roads, lobby for enough trees from National Forestry Authority for the people to plant in order to reduce the problem of dry spells in the area, Work with Uganda Wild Life Authority (UWA) to stop wild animals that destroy peoples crops, work with farmers to lobby for a farmers bank where they  can access loans with affordable interest rates and to work with other authorities to fight Banana Bacterial Wilt ( BBW)

Also live in studios was  Mr. Abel Ngomayondi  who promised to lobby government and Baylor Uganda to construct children’s & Maternity wards, improve on education by arresting parents who do not take their school -going age to schools, provide safe and clean water, fighting corruption, and provide farmers with quality seeds they prefer on timely seasons.

Callers were given time to participate live in the discussion through call-inns & Sms platforms; about 70 people called in during the two (2) programs and 27 sent Sms;

‘’ What plans do you have for the hawkers who were chased from their places of work?’’, asked Dan Mugenyi a caller from Rwengoma in Fort Portal municipality, ‘’People who get tenders to run different revenue collection ventures on behalf of government do over charge us, how are you going to help us?’’, asked David Ruhweza a caller from Fort Portal municipality, ‘’we see a lot of gaps in health & Education, how are you prepared to deal with them especially on lack of enough teachers in schools  & shortage of drugs and lack of enough health workers in our health centers?’’, asked Mrs. Asaba Gift a caller from Kabarole district, ‘’Isunga-Rukomba road that is under construction, the engineers are putting sub standard murrum, look into the issue before it goes beyond’’, said Henry Kamugisha a caller from Kasenda in Kabarole district, ‘’Kasenda-Nsongya bridge and extension of electricity to Kyanga, where have the plans to work on them reached?, asked Annet Kemiyondo a caller from Bunyangabu.

We are grateful to our partners SIDA, NED, SPIDER, and ICT4DEM & WOUGNET for the financial and technical support to have this work done.