Kampala.
By Moses Obwona Ogwal
The Uganda People’s Congress Party has warned government against full scale operationalization of parish development model across the entire country before piloting it in some selected parishes in urban and rural areas or else it will end a failed program.
In May 2021, Parliament approved a total of UGX 253 Billion to finance the government’s new economic development spurring program of parish development model in which each of the 10,594 parishes in the county will receive 41 Million in the financial year 2021/2021.
Last week during National Resistance Movement Party’s Parliamentary Caucus meeting, President Yoweri Museveni informed the legislators that government will make available at least 100 Million per parish annualy,something the legislators gave a nod to.
Addressing a weekly press conference at the Uganda House, UPC spokesperson Sharon Arach Oyat says the parish development model program is a big undertaking which needed to be done on a pilot scheme, with a few selected parishes from urban and rural areas before extending to the rest of parishes.
Arach noted that piloting the program in selected parishes will provide valuable information to bank on which will later inform development of better implantation strategy across the country after picking lessons and challenges noted with practical solutions in other areas.
For the program to succeed well like in other countries, UPC argues that the people need to be well trained and sensitized on how to do household business, have clearly defined roles for the implementing committees and its respective members and develop measures of monitoring business activities.
According to Arach the management of such projects is ever a challenge as witnessed in the previous initiatives like EMYOOGA that has been mismanaged and failed to achieve its sole goal thus wasting the taxpayer’s money.
Commenting on UPC’s idea ,The National Resistance Movement Party Senior Manager for Information and Communications Rogers Mulindwa says as NRM government they listens to all ideas and welcomes all feed back noting that where they find substantial reasons to take up such they will automatically do it.
Mulindwa tasked UPC to give a formal communication to government saying they have no problem with the former continuing to play advisory role because it’s their main task as opposition on top of giving alternatives to government.
