Browsing by Author "Okao, Jackie"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Decentralisation: A Good Thing Being Abused?
    (ACODE, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    "Various official documents enjoin local government units to help enhance effective and transparent governance in Uganda. Decentralisation is the policy under which local governments operate. Local governments here refer to district councils, city council, municipalities, city and division councils, town councils, and sub-county councils. Decentralisation aims to involve the people in their governance – in decision-making, in identifying their own problems, in setting priorities and planning their implementation and monitoring, in ensuring better use of resources, and in ensuring value for money. The decentralisation policy is designed to achieve a number of objectives. a) Transfer real power(devolution) to local governments, thus reducing the workload on central government officials. b) Establish decentralisation as the guiding principle applied to all levels of government to ensure citizens’ participation and democratic control in decision-making. c) Achieve good governance, which is a prerequisite for better performance of public servants. d) Bring political and administrative control over services to the point where they are actually delivered, thereby improving accountability and effectiveness, and promoting people’s feeling of ownership of programmes and projects executed in their areas. e) Free local managers from central constraints and, as a long-term goal, allow them to develop organisational structures tailored to local circumstances. f) Improve capacities of councils to plan, finance and manage the delivery of services to their constituents."
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Politics of Patronage and Religion in Uganda
    (ACODE, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    "The 9th State of the Nation Platform meeting held on June 4, 2010 debated the “ Role of Religious Leaders in Promoting and Sustaining Democracy and Good Governance in Uganda: Towards the 2011 Elections and Beyond.” Bishop Zac Niringiye, the assistant Bishop of the Church of Uganda’s Diocese of Kampala and the chairman of the National Governing Council of the African Peer Review Mechanism was the main speaker. The meeting was well attended by religious leaders from other denominations and officials from Inter-religious Council of Uganda. There was near unanimity at the end of the debate that things are not going well in Uganda. A new beginning with a new cadre of leaders with vision, conviction, and courage in Uganda needs to kick the country to a higher level, not new laws and institutions because country has Bishop Zac Niringiye framed his submission in terms of the politics of patronage. “Our governance challenge is political,” he said. “We have a long history of the entrenched politics of patronage.” It is no longer God and Country first, the bishop said in reference to Uganda’s national motto: For God and My Country. The motto that works, he said, is: For Me and My Group First. Whether it is creation of districts or behaviour of churches. “We seem not to have leaders who are capable of going beyond this mindset,” the bishop said."
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The preparedness of the Uganda Police to ensure a free, fair and violent-free Elections in 2011
    (ACODE, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    "In recent years, Uganda has experienced violent riots and tensions surrounding elections. With violence reported in the most recent by-elections, the 2011 general elections have the unfortunate potential of erupting into serious violence, particularly in the urban areas. Uganda is struggling to cope with the shift from two decades of a “no party” to a pluralistic political dispensation. The forthcoming elections will be the third in 30 years to be held under the new pluralist, or multiparty, system. The first, held in 1980, were heavily disputed leading to the launch of a five-year guerrilla war that ushered in the present government in 1986. The 2006 elections were marred by violence, charges of rape and treason against the leading presidential challenger, allegations of vote rigging, intimidation of voters, and reported incompetence by the Electoral Commission. They were also affected by a lack of understanding of the system by most voters given that not only were these the first multiparty elections in a long time but also it was the first time that presidential, parliamentary, and (higher) local council elections were being held on the same day. Memories of past insecurity, particularly among the older generation and those in rural areas, mean that for many, stability and peace are more important than development and prosperity. Younger urban voters, on the other hand, are pushing for new opportunities and the hope of a better future."
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Reflection on Uganda’s Foreign Policy and Role at the UN Security Council
    (ACODE, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    "Uganda is a landlocked country that depends on foreign imports for most of its consumer goods and energy requirements. Thus, even before independence, maintaining an open trade route to the Indian Ocean was a primary foreign policy objective. Indeed, in the first decade of independence, policymakers emphasised co-operation with Uganda’s neighbours. At continental level, it assumed a pan-Africanist stance, being a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) and a strong supporter of liberation movements especially in Southern Africa. On the global stage, the country maintained a posture of non-alignment although it sometimes sided more with the communist/socialist bloc led by the then-Soviet Union and China. When the NRM came to power in 1986, the new government enthusiastically supported international and especially African co-operation but conditioned it on an ideological evaluation of whether other regimes were racist, dictatorial, corrupt, or violators of human rights. In a new assertiveness, Uganda actively supported the overthrow of governments in Rwanda and D.R. Congo (then Zaire) because they were dictatorial, corrupt, and abused human rights."
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution for Academic Excellence in Africa
    (ACODE, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    Established in 1922 as a technical school, Makerere University is now one of the largest universities in eastern and central Africa with 20 faculties/institutes/schools offering not only day but also evening and external study programmes to a student body of more than 30,000 undergraduates and 3,000 postgraduates. It is also a centre of research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of the 10th Session of the State of the Nation Platform
    (ACODE, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    A national budget is as good a place to start as any when one sets out to examine a country’s development priorities. That is what happened at the 10th State of the Nation Platform debate. The day’s topic was “Uganda’s National Budget 2010/2011: How Strategic are the Strategic Priorities?” Three panellists led off the discussion. They included Minister of State for Finance Hon. Fred Jachan Omach, Shadow Finance Minister Hon. Oduman Okello, and Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Officer Morrison Rwakakamba. Hon. Omach represented Hon. Syda Bbumba, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. Hon. Fred Omach (with microphone), the Minister for Finance (General Duties), Hon. Oduman Okello, Shadow Mnisiter for Finance and Morrison Rwakakamba, UNCCI chief during the 10th session of the State of the Nation Platform held at Protea Hotel on July 2, 2010speech before Parliament. The theme of the budget was “Strategic Priorities to Accelerate Growth, Employment and Socio-Economic Transformation for Prosperity”. Now, long gone are the days when reading the budget in Uganda was a highly anticipated public event. Because the country has had a long period of macroeconomic stability with single digit inflation rates and a free foreign exchange regime, the presentation of the budget is just yet another state ritual. Virtually no new taxes are introduced these days. So it was surprising that a budget-related subject yielded an unusually lively debate. The discussion revolved around: • The necessity of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax • Getting value for money • The place of agriculture in the national economy • Politics as a constraint to efficient planning The backdrop of the animated debate was the coming general election. Uganda will hold only its third general election under a multiparty dispensation in 30 years on February 2011. The debate therefore proceeded with participants looking into the budget to see whether it was aimed at making the wananchi happy so they will return the ruling NRM party to power. In short, was the 2010/2011 budget an election-year budget? It depends, of course, on how you read it. And how you read it depends in turn on where you sit, stand, lean, or squat politically. Whatever the case, this was one of the more substantive State of the Nation Platform debates todate.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Transforming Uganda’s Public Policy, Economy, and Politics; What we must do to make Uganda better
    (ACODE, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    "Who should improve things? That is a question posed at the 7th meeting of the State of the Nation Platform, most of whose members fall in the dissatisfied age group. Appropriately, the discussion was led by a panel drawn from amongst the STON members to compel self-reflection. After all, those who are younger and economically active largely drive transformation of society. What is the vision, mission and objective of our generation? Why are we living at this time? What do we want to change? What future do we need? What means are we going to use to achieve that future? Who is going to lead us? Are we just making comments and leaving it at that? What are our own value systems as a generation, as Ugandans? Are we not making an assumption that we are talking about a homogenous generation? The questions did not have to be answered fully and immediately but, if anything, they sparked off some good amount of serious thinking about the state of affairs in Uganda."
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Uganda’s National Budget 2010/2011: How Strategic are the Budget Priorities?
    (ACODE Policy Dialogue Series, 2010) Tabaire, Bernard; Okao, Jackie
    The debate came three weeks after Hon. Bbumba read her 2010/2011 budget speech before Parliament. The theme of the budget was “Strategic Priorities to Accelerate Growth, Employment and Socio-Economic Transformation for Prosperity”. Now, long gone are the days when reading the budget in Uganda was a highly anticipated public event. Because the country has had a long period of macroeconomic stability with single digit inflation rates and a free foreign exchange regime, the presentation of the budget is just yet another state ritual. Virtually no new taxes are introduced these days. So it was surprising that a budget-related subject yielded an unusually lively debate. The discussion revolved around: The necessity of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax. Getting value for money. The place of agriculture in the national economy. Politics as a constraint to efficient planning.