DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19

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 on 10th March 2020

to Masindi, and Lira districts. There is 1.0 Introduction also a railway line crossing 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 .” 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; , and 1.1 Brief about Apac District 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 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. provides a breakdown of the same for each individual councillor. • Untimely production of council minutes: It was very difficult for the assessment team to access the minutes of the District Executive Committee meetings, 3.0 Critical Factors Affecting Council and different Standing Committee Performance meetings. This challenge can either be 3.1 Factors Enabling Performance attributed to lack of a substantive Clerk to Council or lack of supervision of the Clerk • Training and induction: Prior to the to Council by the Speaker of Council. assessment, ACODE had undertaken capacity building for key organs of council. This enhanced the performance of the councillors. 4.0 Recommendations • Improved Documentation: There was • Facilitate councillors to perform their improved documentation especially by the monitoring role – Apac District Council District Chairperson, Speaker of Council should emulate best practices from and some few councillors – a number of councils such as Lira District Council councillors had documents to support who provide fuel every month to each their claims of performance especially in individual councillor to enable them monitoring and meeting with the electorate. perform their monitoring function. On their part each councillor is required to submit a 3.2 Factors Hindering Performance monitoring report to the Office of the Clerk • Lack of facilitation for monitoring: to council as part of the accountability. Councillors reported difficulty in • During the drafting of the District Capacity undertaking monitoring service delivery Building Plan, the Principle Human because they lacked facilitation to do Resource Officer should ensure a plan to so. This explains the low scores in the continuously train councillors on their roles parameter of monitoring because many and duties. councillors had not met the threshold under the parameter of monitoring. • The Office of the Speaker of Council should liaise with the various Sub-county • Conflicting schedules of council heads to develop a schedule of council meetings: Failure by many councillors to meetings to avoid conflicting schedules. attend Sub-county meetings was blamed on the failure of Sub-county leaders to • Council should invest in enhancing the invite the district councillors for meetings local revenue so that councillors can as well as conflicting schedules of be facilitated to undertake monitoring meetings at both council levels. especially at committee level, and follow up on recommendations from committee • Poor documentation and record monitoring. keeping: While some few councillors improved on documentation and record • Councillors should improve on their record keeping, the challenge of record keeping keeping by making use of tailor made among members of council persisted. councillors’ diaries provided by ACODE During the face to face interview, most and its partners. Also the Speaker of councillors admitted not to have any Council should strengthen supervision of documentation to support their claims of the Clerk to Council to ensure that minutes the work done in the financial year under of councils are produced in a timely review. Some councillors presented to manner and council records are kept well. the assessment team monitoring reports

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apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19

Sub Total Sub Sub Total Sub

30 26 17 45 38 29

Environment

ENR 4 4 2

5 5 3

FAL

FAL 5 5 2 4 2 1

Water Sources Water Agriculture

4 4 2 7 7 4

Roads Roads

4 4 2 7 4 5

Water Schools

4 4 2

7 5 5

Health Health

5 5 3

7 5 5

Education

5 3 3 Agriculture Monitoring Service Delivery

Monitoring Service Delivery

7 7 5

Sub Total Sub Sub Total Sub

20 11 14

9

10 10

Local Revenue Local 2 5 NGOs

11

5 5 5

District Budget District 4 4 4 Projects Communal

2 2 1

Plans, Vision and Mission and Vision Plans, Projects 5 5 5

Budgeting

Initiation of Initiated Projects

Planning and 3 3 3

Sub Total Sub Sub Total Sub

8 25 14 15 10 10

Issues By Electorate By Issues Principles of accountability of Principles 3 0 0

5 5 4

with Meetings Electorate Meetings Contact

5 5 4

Electorate

Involvement of CSO of Involvement 2 2 2 Sub Total Sub

4 9 15 Accountability

8 3 5 Bills by Executive by Bills

Administrative Administrative

5 0 2

Motions Executive Motions

Political Accountability Political Role Accountability

8 5 5 8 4 5

Legislative Council

Fiscal Accountability Fiscal 2 0 2 4 4 3

Sub Total Sub

Sub Total Sub 20 15 16 25 17 16 Gov’t Central

4 4 3

Capacity Building Capacity

3 3 2 Boards

Commissions/ 2 0 2

Petitions 2 1 1

Servants

Legislative Resources Legislative

4 3 3 Civil Oversight 4 2 3

Public Hearings Public

2 0 1 Affairs Of State

2 2 2

Initiatives Monitoring Admin Monitoring

Political Leadership Political

1 1 1

5 4 4 Conflict Resolution Resolution Conflict DEC

3 3 2

Ordinances 3 3 2 2018/19

Legislation

77 72

Council 100

3 2 2

2016/17 Motions passed by the the by passed Motions

Perfor mance

48 62

100

Committees of Council of Committees

3 2 2 Terms

2

Membership to ULGA to Membership 2 0 1

Political Party Political

Rules of Procedure of Rules 2 2 2

UPC

2018/19 District 68 62 100

Apac

2016/17 Identifiers Gender 40 51

100

M District Performance Max Score Apac Average Name Bob Okae Score Average Table 1: Performance of Apac District Council FY 2018/19 Performance 1: Table FY 2018/19 of Apac District Chairperson Performance 2: Table

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apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19

Sub Total Sub Subtotal

26 23 30 25 29 18

45 45 26 24

ENR Environment 5 0 5 4 4 4

5

5 4 3

FAL

1 0 2 0 4 1 FAL 5

5 0 1 Roads

1 3 7 1 5 7

7 Roads 7 1 4 Water

5 3 7 5 5 0

7

Water

7 4 4 Agriculture

5 3 7 5 5 1

7

Agriculture+ Education

5 7 1 5 5 5 7 5 3 7

Education Health

4 7 1 5 1 0 Monitoring Service Delivery 7 5 4 7

Monitoring Service Delivery Meetings

Health 2 0 4

7 7 5 10 10 10 Sub County County Sub

10

LLG

Participation in LLG in Participation 8 4 Total Sub 10

16 19 17 14 17 20

LLG 20

Sub Total Sub

Office 9 9 9 6 9 9

9 20 20 16

Meeting Electorate Meeting Coordinating Centre Coordinating Contact 7 8 8 8

Electorate

9 9 8 10 11 11

Contact Electorate Meetings Electorate Total Sub

8 21 21 21 18 17 18

11 11

25

Sub Total Sub Special Skills Special

0 0 0 0 1 0 25 19 17

4

Special Skills Special Motion

5 0 0

5 5 5 2 0 2

5

Record of Motions of Record Committee

3 3 2 8 8 8 8 8 8

8

Legislation

Records Book Records

2 2 2 Plenary

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 Business Committee Business

3 3 2

% Change % 7 Rules of Procedure of Rules 76

-21

9 9 7

Chairing Council Chairing 2018/2019 Presiding over Council Presiding over 3 2 3 73 73 70 67 63 60

100

% Change % Perfor mance 2016/17

18

68 89 38

2018/19 100

73 62 Served Terms 1 2 1 1 1 100

Perfor mance 2016/17 Gender

57

F M M M M M 100

Terms Served Served Terms 1 2 Gender

M

Constituency District

Apac Constituency

Chegere Ibuje Apac S/C Chegere Older Persons Atik Div

Akokoro Political Political Party Political UPC UPC UPC NRM UPC UPC Identifiers UPC

Identifiers

Name Name Maximum Scores Maximum Obong Acuda Peter Average Scores Maximum Susan Achola Engola Odongo Asanti Odongo Jaspher Tonny Odora David Opur De Apac Awany Andrew Table 3: Performance of the Speaker of Council, Apac District FY 2018/19 of the Speaker Council, Performance 3: Table FY 2018/19 of Apac District Councillors Performance 4: Table

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apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19 Sub Total Sub 9 3 7 0 1 1

18 18 12 17 15 18 11 15

45 ENR

1 1 1 1 5 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 FAL

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Roads

5 5 0 5 1 1 5 1 0 5 0 0 0 3 7 Water

1 1 3 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 0 0 0 2 7 Agriculture

1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 Education

5 5 3 5 5 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 7 Health

5 5 1 0 5 5 1 0 7 0 0 0 0 2 Monitoring Service Delivery 7 Meetings

6 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

10 10 Sub County County Sub

10

LLG Sub Total Sub 9 6 9 2 5 9 9

10 17 16 16 16 12 13

20

Office 9 2 9 9 5 9 5 2 9 2 5 9 5 7

9 Contact Electorate Meeting 1 7 8 7 1 7 0 0 0 0 4 6

Electorate

11 10 11 Sub Total Sub 9 9

21 16 21 18 22 16 18 16 18 21 16 18

25 Special Skills Special

0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Motion

5 0 5 2 5 0 0 2 5 2 5 0 0 3 5 Committee

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

8 Legislation Plenary

8 8 8 8 8 8 1 8 3 8 8 8 1 7

8 % Change % 0 52 15

-11 -35 -57

126

2018/2019 59 53 53 52 47 47 43 33 32 31 26 26 19 49 100

Perfor mance 2016/17 23 37 21 40 26 44 43

100

Terms Served Served Terms

1 1 3 2 1 3 1 1 1 3 1

Gender

F F F F M F F M F M M M F Constituency

Apac S/C Akokoro Arocha& Atik Youth Arocha Div Ibuje & Agulu Div Akere Youth PWD Div Akere Agulu Div PWD Older persons Political UPC UPC UPC IND UPC UPC UPC IND NRM UPC NRM NRM IND Identifiers

** Name ** Councillors assessed using secondary data Maximum Scores Maximum Monica Amono Susan Aromorac Dorcus Otim Angwec Florence Acuma Otim Malakwang Geoffrey Caroline Adong Jobal Opimo Veronica Christopher Agum Alem Acheng Sarah Odur Ojok Fred Gilbert Opyene Egwel Nelson Abili Margaret Ewany Average **

7 apac DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT council SCORECARD assessment FY 2018/19

REFERENCES Bainomugisha, A., Mbabazi, J., Muhwezi, W., W., Bogere, G., Atukunda, P., Ssemakula, E.G., Otile, O., M., Kasalirwe, F., Mukwaya, N., R., Akena, W., Ayesigwa, R., The Local Government Councils Scorecard FY 2018/19: The Next Big Steps; Consolidating Gains of Decentralisation and Repositioning the Local Government Sector in Uganda. ACODE Policy Research Paper Series No. 96, 2020. Apac District Local Government (2019).Minutes of Apac District Council FY 2018/19 (2019)Minutes of Standing Committees of Apac District Council FY 2018/19 (2019)Minutes of the District Executive Committee FY 2018/19 (2015), District Development Plan 2015/2016-2019/2020 Republic of Uganda (1995), Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1997), Local Governments Act (CAP 243) as amended UBOS (2018), Statistical Abstract

About ACODE: The Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) is an independent public policy research and advocacy Think Tank based in Uganda, working in the East and Southern Africa sub-regions on a wide range of public policy issues. Our core business is policy research and analysis, outreach and capacity building. Since it’s founding 19 years ago, ACODE has emerged as one of the leading regional public policy think tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa. For the last 8 consecutive years, ACODE has been recognized among the Top-100 Think Tanks worldwide by the University of Pennsylvania’s annual Global-Go- To Think Tank Index Reports. About LGCSCI: The Local Government Councils Scorecard Initiative (LGCSCI) is a policy research and capacity building initiative implemented by ACODE and ULGA. The initiative is a strategic social accountability initiative that enables citizens to demand excellence of their local governments and enables local governments to respond effectively and efficiently to those demands with the aim of improving service delivery.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Oscord Mark Otile is a Research Officer at ACODE. He is an expert on Uganda’s Decentralisation Policy with over nine years’ experience working under ACODE’s Local Government Councils’ Scorecard Initiative (LGCSCI). He has been a trainer on the implementation of ACODE’s CEAP methodology which was introduced in 2015 especially in the 35 districts where the scorecard assessments of district councils have been implemented. Otile is a public policy analyst and a social critic. He has published policy briefs and opinion articles on topics around decentralization and local governance in Uganda. Otile holds a Bachelors Degree of Development Studies of Makerere University, Kampala.

Angela Opai is an independent researcher who undertook the scorecard assessment under ACODE’s Local Government Councils’ Scorecard Initiative. She is a graduate of Mass Communication from Uganda Christian University. She has previous experience in research working with a number of consultancy institutions like IPSOS, Seven Delta Consultancy Limited and Adroit. She also worked in Arua diocese as a Media Associate.

Arum Felix George Ojok is currently a Programme Officer in-charge with The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition (TAACC). For over 7 years, Arum has been working on community development projects. Previously, he also worked with Land and Equity Movement in Uganda (LEMU), German Technical Cooperation (GIZ), Coalition Advocacy for Rural Development (CARD) and Campaign against Domestic Violence in the Community (CADOVIC) among others. In addition to various research tasks undertaken, Arum worked with ACODE as a researcher in Apac District under Local Government Council Scorecard Initiative (LGCSCI). Holds a MSc International Development Studies from Wageningen University and Research in Netherlands and a Bachelor Degree in Development Studies from Kyambogo University in Kampala – Uganda.

ADVOCATES COALITION FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT Plot 96, Kanjokya Street, Kamwokya. P. O. Box 29836, Kampala. Tel: +256 312 812150 Email: [email protected]; [email protected]. Website: www.acode-u.org

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