Apac District Local Government Councils' Scorecard FY 2018/19
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apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 L-R: Ms. Rose Gamwera, Secretary General ULGA; Mr. Ben Kumumanya, PS. MoLG and Dr. Arthur Bainomugisha, Executive Director ACODE in a group photo with award winners at the launch of the 8th Local Government Councils Scorecard Report FY 2018/19 at Hotel Africana in Kampala on 10th March 2020 to Masindi, Gulu and Lira districts. There is 1.0 Introduction also a railway line crossing Lira District to Gulu This brief was developed from the scorecard District. In the South, there is a water transport report titled, “The Local Government Councils linking Apac to Nakasongola and Soroti Scorecard FY 2018/19. The Next Big Steps: District and not to forget the Ferry transport Consolidating Gains of Decentralisation and at the famous Masindi Port linking Apac to Repositioning the Local Government Sector Masindi and Kiryandongo Districts. With the in Uganda.” The brief provides key highlights introduction of the LED concept Apac District of the performance of district elected leaders Local Government could identify their niche and council of Apac District Local Government and exploit the untapped tourism opportunities during FY 2018/19. in the district to improve household incomes for the people; Lake Kyoga, Lake Bisina and 1.1 Brief about Apac District Lake Kwania all have tourism potential. Apac is part of former Lango District which 1.2 The Local Government Councils existed at Independence in 1962. Under the Scorecard Initiative (LGCSCI) 1974 provincial Administration, Lango was divided into West Lango and East Lango, which The main building blocks in LGCSCI are became Apac and Lira Districts respectively. the principles and core responsibilities of Apac lies North of Lake Kyoga and borders Local Governments as set out in Chapter Masindi District in the West, Lira in the East, 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Gulu in the North and Nakasongola in the South. Uganda, the Local Governments Act (CAP By 2020, Apac’s population was projected to 243) under Section 10 (c), (d) and (e). The be at 226,600; 112,400 males and 114,200 scorecard comprises of five parameters females (UBOS, 2018). A well distributed based on the core responsibilities of the local feeder-road network links most parts of the government Councils, District Chairpersons, districts. The district is linked by a tarmac road Speakers and Individual Councillors. These Oscord Mark Otile • Angela Opai1 • Arum Felix George Ojok apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 are classified into five categories: Financial in the percentage contribution of local revenue management and oversight; Political functions to the annual budget while in monitoring, the and representation; Legislation and related performance was hindered by the fact that functions; Development planning and there was no sufficient evidence of monitoring constituency servicing and Monitoring service reports and actions taken to address the delivery. The parameters are broken down existing service delivery gaps. Details of into quantitative and qualitative indicators. the Apac District Council Performance are Separate scorecards are produced for the presented in Figure 1 and Table 1. District Chairperson, Speaker, Individual Figure 1: Performance of the District Councillors, and Council as a whole. Council on Key Parameters Relative The major rationale of the LGCSCI is to induce to National and Regional Average elected political leaders and representative Performances organs to deliver on their electoral promises, improve public service delivery, ensure accountability and promote good governance through periodic assessments. 1.3 Methodology The FY 2018/19 LGCSCI assessment used face-to-face structured interviews, civic engagement meetings, documents’ review, key informant interviews, field visits and photography to collect the relevant data. The assessment was conducted between Source: Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment FY 2018/19 November and December 2019. A total of 21 elected leaders (19 District Councillors, 2.2 Performance of the District Chairperson and Speaker) and Council were Chairperson assessed. Hon. Bob Okae was the Chairperson of Apac District in the year under review. He subscribes to the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party. Chairman Okae was serving his 2.0 Results of the Assessment second term in office having first been elected This section highlights the performance of in 2011. The Chairman was assessed based Council, Chairperson, Speaker and Councillors on 5 parameters of; i) political leadership, ii) of Apac District Local Government during the legislation, iii) contact with electorates, iv) FY 2018/19. initiation and participation in development projects, and v) monitoring services. He scored 2.1 Performance of Apac District an overall 77 points from a possible 100, a Council huge improvement from the 48 points he During the FY2018/19 Apac District Council scored in the previous assessment. This score was composed of 21 members (12 males and ranked Chairman Okae in the 10th position out 9 females) including the District Chairperson of the 33 district chairpersons assessed and and Speaker of Council. The district Council 4th out of the Chairpersons assessed from was ranked 12th out of the 35 district councils Northern Uganda. Chairman Okae’s overall assessed at the national level. At the regional performance was enhanced by his high scores level, Apac was ranked 3rd out of the 6 district under the parameter of contact with electorate councils assessed in Northern Uganda. Apac and initiation of projects in which he obtained District Council scored 68 out of a possible maximum points. Chairman also exhibited 100 points, an improvement from the 40 points excellent performance in the parameter of in the 2016/2017 assessment. The Council’s monitoring service delivery scoring 38 out of a best performance was under the parameter possible 45 points. However, Chairman Okae’s of legislation in which it obtained 17 out of 25 overall performance was limited by low scores points. This was facilitated by council’s passing under the parameter on legislation which is of lawful motions and ordinances as compared attributed to failure on his part to attend the to the previous assessment. Council’s required number of meetings of council; he did performance under the parameter of planning not meet the threshold of up to 4 times. His and budgeting was hindered by the decrease performance was also limited by failure on the 2 apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 part of the executive to table bills in council. meetings he organized with the citizens; A summary of the Chairman’s performance is the Speaker also had a coordinating center presented in Figure 2 and Table 2. in his constituency which enabled regular engagement with his electorate. Figure 2: Performance of the District Chairperson on Key Parameters Relative Speaker’s performance in the parameter to National and Regional Average of presiding over meetings of council was Performances undermined by the fact that he did not provide evidence of having delegated to his deputy in writing to preside over at least one council meeting and he also did not provide sufficient evidence of a written paper to guide council and committees on special or technical issues. Details of the Speaker’s performance are presented in Figure 3 and Table 3. 2.4 Performance of Apac District Councillors A total of 19 councillors of Apac District Council Source: Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment FY 2018/19 were assessed. The councillors scored an average of 49 out of a possible 100 points, 2.3 Performance of the Speaker of an improvement from the average 43 points Council they scored in the previous assessment. The The Speaker of Council was Hon. Peter Deputy Speaker of Council Hon. Susan Achola Obong Acuda who also represents the people Engola who also represents the women of of Akokoro Sub County in Apac District Chegere Sub-county in the Council emerged Council. He is a member of the UPC party as the best councillor with a score of 73 out of and was serving his first term in office. Hon. 100 points. The councillors’ best performance Obong scored an overall 73 out of a possible was under their legislative role. This was 100 points, a score that ranked him 7th out facilitated by the fact that more councillors of the 35 Speakers of Councils assessed. (12) had moved motions compared to the At a regional level, Hon. Acuda emerged 2nd previous assessment; also more councillors among the Speakers of Councils in the 6 had debated in council both at plenary and districts assessed from Northern Uganda. committee. The low performance by the With the overall average score of 61 points for councillors was largely attributed to failure all the Speakers assessed in the 35 districts, by majority of the councillors to meet the Speaker Obong’s performance was good. The thresholds particularly under participation at Speaker achieved maximum scores under the lower local government level. Evidence the parameter of contact with electorate and showed that (9) nine councillors had not met this was attributed to the frequent community the threshold of attending at least 4 meetings Figure 3: Speaker of Council’s Figure 4: Performance of the District Performance on Key Parameters Relative Councillors on Key Parameters Relative to National and Regional Average to National and Regional Average Performances Performances Source: Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment FY 2018/19 Source: Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment FY 2018/19 3 apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 of council of the lower local governments. that were prepared and printed as the Figure 4 shows a summary of the councillors’ assessment was on going and in most average scores by parameter while Table 4 cases they were not signed.