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PRDP JOURNAL

Daily Monitor THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 www.monitor.co.ug

Aid cut hinders Nakapiripit road projectsThe development partners’ decision of suspending the $15mdonor aid to Uganda due to corruption related in the Office ofhe Prime Minister activities affected the Nakapiripirit Districtoad plans of maintenance and constructing new ones, P. 3

INPARTNERSHI

WITHDEVELOPMENT NETWORK

OF INDIGENOUS VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS

BY NELSON [email protected]

It is now a year since some develop-ment partners suspended more than$300m financial aid to Uganda.Their decision came following a report

by the Auditor General, which discov-ered that about $15m which was meantfor the Peace Recovery DevelopmentPlan (PRDP) II had been embezzled.

According to the audit, the funds were

stolen by some officials in the Office ofthe Prime Minister (OPM).

Due to the aid suspension by somedevelopment partners to Uganda, thegovernment delayed to release moneyfor the fourth quarter to the local gov-ernments which the local leaders say hasnegatively impacted on the delivery ofsocial services.

Districts such as Adjumani, Gulu,Nakapiripirit among others had to haltsome planned projects for a while. Thismeans that many districts will not beable to achieve their targets, which hadbeen aligned with the National Develop-ment Plan that runs up to 2014/2015.

Mr Gerald Owachi, an independent

consultant, says the aid cut was a dou-ble tragedy.

“On top of the funds that have notbeen sent to the districts, there is also arisk that 30 per cent of the money sup-posed to be given to districts is going tobe diverted to the Consolidated Fund,”says Mr Owachi.

However, a local government officialin Alebtong District says even thoughthe district has had to suspend manyPRDP projects due to the delayed re-lease of funds, he could not conclusivelysay whether the delay was a result of theaid cuts.

According to the Peace, Recovery andDevelopment Plan for Northern Uganda

(PRDP) Phase 2 Report, the potenoutputs from across the three PRfunding streams; PRDP Budget GraSpecial projects and Off-budget funing, at least 6, 000 kilometers of roawould be maintained or rehabilitated

About 8,000 boreholes are expectto be drilled which would provide million people with clean water ahouses for at least 3, 000 teachers and000 health workers will be constructe

The other outputs included the cstruction of at least 1, 300 classroom328 rural markets and 148 outpatidepartments.

uspension. Following the Auditor General’seport about the mismanagement of the donor’s

oney development partners opted to suspendeir funding to Uganda.

Aid suspension jolts local communities

TO PAGE

hildren fetchater from

e incompleteamalu waterurce locatedNakapiripiritstrict. Theoject to haveped water inamalu villageas haltedllowing thed cut bye donorsho usedfund such

ogrammes.

OTO BY NELSON

ESONGA



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2 PRDP journal. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

advertorial Daily Monitwww.monitor.co

Director of Programs,

DENIVA

Akwango Anne Grace

Project Editor

Isaiah Kitimbo

Project Sub-Editor

Henry Mulindwa

Project Lead Writer

Nelson Wesonga

Project Manager

Dorah Nduhukire

Research and Advocacy

Coordinator, DENIVA

Otim Lucima.

Aid cut leaves many helpless

Why PRDP II isuseful at grassroots

EDITORIAL

PRDP JournalEmpowering the less privilegedareas in Uganda

It is one year since some of Uganda’s develop-ment partners withheld more than $300 milliondirect financial aid to Uganda.Their action came against the backdrop of an

investigation by the Auditor General establishedthat $15 million they had given Uganda for thePeace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP)II, had been misappropriated by officials in theOffice of the Prime Minister.

PRDP II is meant to uplift 55 districts in WestNile, Acholi, Lango, Teso and Karamoja sub-re-gions from the doldrums they were in during the20-year Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency.

Through the $455 million purse PRDP II, localgovernments in these regions are supported to

construct orroutinely reha-bilitate accessroads, healthunits, primaryschools and ac-commodationfor the healthand teachingstaff.

They are alsosupposed toput up waterpoints and pitlatrines, among

others.Though some of the districts had during the

first phase of PRDP (2009-2011) managed to openup access roads, construct lower level health unitsand schools and some boreholes, much remainedto be done to make them functional.

For example, though there are more healthunits and primary schools than before, a short-age of staff, which is partly a function of the lack ofaccommodation at the duty stations, means thesesub-regions have a long way to before they couldbe on a par with those that did not suffer duringthe insurgency.

Development partners fund a fifth of Uganda’sBudget. Because of the abruptness of the cut,the central government has failed to make timelyreleases of funds to the local governments. This inturn means some works that had been in progresshad to stall.

Where the funds are later released, they haveto be spent on the completion of projects startedon. That means no new projects can be taken onsince the stalled ones are many.Therefore, the aidcut has impacted, negatively, on improving thefunctionality of the structures so far established.

It is time the partners reciprocated by turningon the aid tap so that the communities in the sub-regions above could qualitatively benefit fromPRDP II.

The PRDP Journal is a joint project betweenthe Development Network of Indigenous Vol-untary Associations (DENIVA) and MonitorPublications Ltd.

Development partnersfund a fifth of Uganda’sBudget. Because of theabruptness of the cut,the central governmenthas failed to make timelyreleases of funds to thelocal governments. Thisin turn means someworks that had been inprogress had to stall.

The overall budget for PRDP II is$455 million.

Mr Owachi says there is also arisk of litigation because somedistricts contracted private serviceproviders for different assignmentsof which some of the contracts areto be cancelled.

He says in case of breach of con-tracts with different service provid-ers, districts will have to pay heav-ily.

According to a random surveyconducted by the Daily Monitor onbeneficiaries during the field visits,it was found out that many targetshad not been achieved, which the

local leaders attributed to the de-layed release of funds, which cameas a result of aid cut.

With just two years left to theend of the second and perhapsthe final phase of the PRDP, thereare fears that the target districts inWest Nile, Acholi, Lango, Teso andKaramoja, might not achieve manyof the development targets.

Some local governments, have,thus, advised the developmentpartners to resume funding but thistime not dealing directly with thecentral government but with the lo-cal authorities. However, the pro-posal is yet to be formally tabledbefore the partners.

In the meantime, the donors

have urged the governmeprosecute all the accused prefund the stolen funds as winstituting a financial managsystem to ensure that suchdals do not happen again.

ActionAs a response to the d

Mr Geoffrey Kazinda, one prime suspects in the OPMcial scandal has since beendicted, prosecuted, convictesentenced to a five-year jail

The government has also place the financial managsystem as well as refundinShs38b that had been misapriated.

FROM PAGE I

Pakele Girls School needs Shs21m torenovate dormitories for the blind


Pakele Girls PrimarySchool in Adjumanineeds Shs21m to reha-

bilitate two dormitories forblind students.Because of the dilapidatedstate of the ‘dormitories’, atthe beginning of every term,the school ‘exports’ blindpupils to Moyo Girls PrimarySchool.“It is expensive to fuel thevehicle to transport the pu-pils to and from Moyo everyterm. We also pay Shs33,000for each pupil’s upkeep in

Moyo. If we had our owndormitory, we would not in-cur such costs,” says Mr MarkAmbayo, the acting DistrictEducation Officer of Adju-mani.

Another district official at-tributed the failure to reno-vate the dorms to the centralgovernment’s delay to dis-burse the 2012/2013 fourthquarter’s Peace, Recoveryand Development Plan fundsto the district. Other projectsthat were affected include theconstruction of houses and la-trines for teachers in Magara.

“The structures on groundare not enough. The com-

munity has had to constructsome huts to accommodate

some teachers,” says Mr Abayo.

Children wash their hands at a water spring in Namalu recently. PHOTO BY NELSON WESONGA

AFFECTED AREAS

West Nile,Acholi, Lango,Teso, Gulu,Arua andKaramoja aresome of theareas whichwere affectedby the aid cut

The dilapidated dormitory for blind students in Pakele GPrimary School in Adjumani District which need renovatiPHOTO BY NELSON WESONGA



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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 PRDP journal.


K och Lii, a village in NwoyaDistrict accommodatesabout 803 people. Of

these, 230 are women of child-bearing age whereas 180 arecategorised as other womenand 43 as pre-mothers.

Koch Lii Health Centre IIwhich is located in Koch GomaSub-county, Nwoya District reg-isters a big number of mothersready to give birth.

According to the center’srecords, it handles about 49deliveries monthly. However,there are indications that this

number will increase.“There was a day when three

women who were in labour sit-uation turned up at the sametime yet our maternity ward hasone room which can accommo-date one mother at ago,” saysMs Santa Oroma, a nursing as-sistant at the health centre.

Ms Oroma says Koch LiiHealth Centre needs an expan-sion because, ideally, a womanwho has just delivered is sup-

posed to remain at the healthunit where she has deliveredfrom for the first 48 hours. Butsince our maternity ward hasgot one bed, we are forced todischarge them in fewer than48 hours to create room forother expectant mothers.

Through the Peace, Recoveryand Development Plan (PRDP),local authorities receive grantsfrom central government tofund health, educational in-frastructural projects, amongothers.

For this year, Nwoya’s PRDPII portion was reduced fromShs866m to Shs614m. Localleaders attribute this to the do-nors’ decision of withholding$372 million in financial aid dueto misappropriation of $15m inthe Office of the Prime Ministermeant for PRDP.

The decision came whenKoch Lii was planning to builda maternity ward that could ac-commodate about 10 expect-ant mothers at ago.

It is estimated that the con-struction of one maternity wardcan cost Shs300m.However,Nwoya local government hasShs108m to invest in health inthe entire district. This meansthe Koch Lii maternity wardcannot be constructed.

Health workers neededKoch Lii Health Centre

needs more health personnelto attend to the patients. It isestimated that a health centreII should have nine health per-sonnel but Koch Lii has onlytwo workers in the names ofMs Oroma and Ms Ketty RuthAngwech.

“The two available healthpersonnel are overwhelmedwith work. A patient may evendie as she waits to be attendedto,” says Ms Cilbina Okello, anexpectant mother from Cel-peke village.

The health personnel’s pre-

dicament is a bigger problthat some of the 55 distriimplementing the PRDP afacing in as far as the strateobjective two is concerned.

The objective aims at ensing the communities derbenefit from the health, edcation and water infrastructuin their areas. After the LorResistance Army war, the gernment initiated the PRprogramme in 2007 as onethe initiatives to transform taffected areas.

The programme had startbearing fruits over the last thryears. However, its success whalted by the decision of tdevelopment partners to spend aid.

According to the Nwoya Dtrict community developmeofficer, Geoffrey Akena, as a sult of the aid cuts, the disthad to suspend some projefrom its to-do list.

Mr Patrick Oryema, the chaperson of Nwoya, advises tdevelopment partners to ulock the financial aid taps ashould only send money to tlocal governments.

“If the development partnare wary of the prime ministeoffice, they should channel tfunds directly to the local goernments,” says Oryema.

Ms Lucy Mercy Ajok, a ltechnician at the Koch GoHealth Centre III, says becauof unavailable accommodatshe shares a two-roomed strture with another colleague.

Mother’s hope for a

maternity ward fades

uspension. The decision by theevelopment partners to suspend theird to Uganda affected the Koch Lii Healthentre II’s plans of expanding its maternityard as well as recruiting more healthorkers.

ALTERNATIVE

To kick-start some of the

suspended projects, thelocal community proposethat donors should revertheir decision of aid cutand channel the fundsdirectly to the local gov-ernment.

Aid cut hinders Nakapiripirit road projectsBY NELSON WESONGA

[email protected]

While returning from a rallyin Nakapiripiriti in 2006,President Museveni’s ve-

cle got stuck in the mud in Na-aale, Kakomongole Sub-county.More recently, Ms Janet Museve-’s, the Minister for Karamoja, con-

oy also got stuck in the same areahile touring the area to promoteovernment programmes.In both cases, graders were sentr from the district headquarters clear the roads.Due to the president’s incident,e United Nations Development

rogramme (UNDP) funded thepening up of the Kakomongole-abilatuk Road, a shortcut to Mo-to.It funded the road’s construction

n an understanding that the Na-apiripirit Local Government wouldaintain the road annually which is

no longer in practice.“We are unlikely to live up to our

commitment which is bad for ourrelationship with the UNDP,” saysMr Jobs Ilukol Lomenen, the actingdeputy chief administrative officerof Nakapiripirit District.

Because of failing to justify thecommitment, Mr Lomenen says,other development partners mightrefuse to support the district pro-grammes.

The district had plans to carryout routine maintenance of theNabilatuk – Nakaiyot, Nabilatuk –Lorengedwat and the Amuda – Na-kaiyot roads.

The budget for the maintenanceof the Nabilatuk-Lorengedwat roadwas Shs120m, Shs280m for Amu-da-Nakaiyot and Shs200m for theNabilatuk-Nakaiyot road.

Since the Amuda-Nakaiyot roadpasses through a swampy area, itwould mean fitting more culverts todrain the water so that the bridges

are not submerged.Though the district has graders,

lorries to transport constructionmaterials, it is now experiencinga shortfall of Shs600m that wouldhave helped meet some of thecosts for road works.

In 2012, the development part-ners halted financial aid to Ugandabecause of the misappropriationby the Office of the Prime Ministerof $15 million meant to improve thelivelihoods millions of people in 55districts.

Part of the $15m was to be usedto open access roads in not just Na-kapiripirit but even in other districtssuch as Adjumani, Nwoya, Alebt-ong, among others, which wouldease the movement of people, andgoods.

“Immediately after the aid cut,we did not do any periodic main-tenance on these roads. We are stillfeeling the effects of the decisionand if the aid wasn’t suspended, we

would have worked on these roads.These roads will remain un-workedon,” says Mr Lomenen.

Ms Veronica Iriama, a farmer inLopuwa village, says if the roadsremain as they are, they would ex-acerbate Karamoja’s food woes.

“For the first two days after adownpour, the bridge over the

Longarwoi River becomes impaable as it is covered with water. we cannot move from our homin Lopuwa village to our gardensto harvest on the other side of bridge,” says Ms Iriama.He says during rainy days, even hicles that carry emergence foget stuck around the bridge.

A man walks past LangarwoiRiver Bridge in NakapiripiritDistrict. The bridge is floode

with water during rainyseasons thus becomingimpassable.PHOTO BY NELSON WESONGA

s Oroma Santa (left), a nursing assistant at the Koch Lii Health Centre II attends to Ms Cilbina Okello, anxpectant mother from Celpeke village in Koch Goma Sub-county, Nwoya District. The health center’s plan ofxpanding its maternity ward were put on hold following the donor’s decision of suspending aid to the primeinister’s office. PHOTO BY NELSON WESONGA



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Why Nwoya’s educationprogrammes are struggling


Brenda Tracy Awor, 16,will be sitting for her Pri-mary Leaving Examina-

tion in November of this year.Tracy prays that she passeswith Division One such thatshe can be admitted in one ofthe best schools in Uganda.

However, a number of fac-tors could detract Tracy’sdream of getting a first gradeat Koch Lii Primary School inNwoya District where she isschooling.

Mr Constantine Torach,Koch Lii Primary School head-master says the school hasonly six teachers to attend to564 pupils at the school.

He says as a result of havingfewer teachers, it is difficult tomonitor all the pupils.

He says the school shouldhave at least 15 teachers.

The local government hadpromised to send six moreteachers to the school. Onlythree showed up.

Poor accommodationMr Torach says the school

has poor accommodation forthe existing teachers whichcontributes greatly to the pu-pil’s failure.

Nwoya District is one of the55 districts in Uganda wherethe Peace Development Re-covery Plan (PRDP) II is beingimplemented.

According to the PRDP II-Operational Guidelines, in or-der to ensure the lower levelservice delivery centres arefunctional, the local authori-

ties should equip the facilitiesand construct staff houses insuch hard to reach areas.

Mr Torach says, “Shelteris one of the basic needs ofa man. Some teachers havefamilies. So it would be goodif they get decent accommo-dation.”

Presently, Koch Lii PrimarySchool has one block, whichhouses the headmaster andthe deputy head teacher.

Another block had beenstarted on. But its construc-tion stopped at the slablevel.

“Officials from Nwoya Lo-cal Government and thosefrom the Office of the PrimeMinister (OPM) have been tothe school and took picturesof the slab, but they havenot told the community what

stalled the project,” he says.When the government de-

layed to release funds duringthe fourth quarter to not onlyNwoya but even to other localauthorities, the districts couldnot afford to pay contractors,thus suspending some infra-structural projects.

This came following thedevelopment partners aid cutto Uganda after the AuditorGeneral found out that someofficials from the Office of thePrime Minister has had mis-appropriated funds meant forthe Peace, Recovery and De-velopment Plan (PRDP) II.

It is estimated that Shs38bcould have financed the con-struction of 481 two-bedroomstaff houses in Acholi sub-region.

The lack of good accom-

modation at school has seenarea teachers reside in wattleand mud, grass-thatchedstructures.

“We love our job,” says MrDominic Akena, one of theteachers. “However, after sev-eral months, the downpour inthis area can penetrate eventhe thickest of thatches. It de-nies one a good night’s rest.One could show up for classesdepressed, naturally.”

Poor facilities. NwoyaDistrict remain one ofthe worst performersin the nationalexaminations due topoor education facilitiesin place.

Residents’ taleof piped waterdream shattere


Aproject intended tosupply piped waterto 4,000 residents

of Namalu, one of Naka-piripirit District’s growingcentres has stalled, says adistrict official.

Mr Jobs Lomenen, theacting deputy chief ad-ministrative officer Naka-piripirit, says the delay bythe central governmentto release funds for thefourth quarter of 2012/13,has put many projects onhold including the pipedwater project.

The project in Namaluis one of the severalschemes that Nakapiripiritlocal government hadembarked on as a firststep in ensuring that by2014, all its trading cen-tres have piped water.

The district had plannedto spend about Shs480mon this and the Loregaesub-counties pipe waterprojects.

“These projects hadto be deferred,” saysMr Lomenen. “The dis-trict did not get the lastdisbursement in the lastquarter of the last Fi-nancial Year. The waterproject in Namalu has towait.”

As districts that wereaffected by the 20-yearLord’s Resistance Armyinsurgency were takingtheir first steps to recoversocially and economically,the development part-ners who were support-ing their programmessuspended their financialaid due to corruption thatwas found in the Office ofthe Prime Minister.

For the funds from thecentral government, they

are normally releaswhen the Financial about to close.

According to glines from the Ofthe Prime Minister, authority cannot eon new projects it completes thosehad started on.

Since there aremany stalled projeclocal authorities faclenges of funding t

The Namalu’s project, the drillinborehole at St Kiznior Secondary Sin Lorengedwat, would cost Shs22mall been put on hol

Though the MinWater and Enviropolicy on the opeand maintenance on boreholes says cal communities smeet the costs, repairs are beyonmeans of many ruramunities.

For instance, works that cost upof Shs250,000. In case, the local gment has to fooborehole repair co

However, becaunarrow resource badistrict is not able fund this and otheractivities. So the phave to depend owells, which are, hofar from them whiers are not good wcomes to sanitation

The other alteris for the district proach developpartners to fund itfunded priorities. Thow the United NChildren’s Fund (Ufooted the tab for ping pipe water in Msub-county.

Locals prefer receiving money from the districtsBY NELSON WESONGA

[email protected]

The 2012 decision byUganda’s developmentpartners to withhold

more than $300m in financialaid to Uganda has rekindledthe debate through whichchannel should the partnerspass their funding.

Whereas some non-gov-ernmental organisations saythe funds would be safer withthem, local government lead-ers propose that the localauthorities would be a betteroption.

In July, local governmentleaders from the north andthe northeast urged the part-ners to unlock the financialassistance they withheld dueto corruption in the Office ofthe Prime Minister.

During a recent public dia-logue organised by DENIVA,a consortium of civil societyorganisations, the local lead-ers said the freezing of morethan $300m in financial assis-tance has compromised thedistrict’s ability to completeinfrastructural projects.

However, the partners wereadvised to channel the funds

directly to the intended ben-eficiaries.

“I wish the donors couldresume the funding,” saidMr John Lorot, the regionalchairperson of the UgandaLocal Governments Associa-tion. “Should that happen, letthem send the funds directlyto the district local govern-ments.”

No longer trust OPMHe said they have lost faith

in the OPM after mismanag-ing the Peace, Recovery andDevelopment Plan moneymeant to restore road,

health, education and waterinfrastructure in 55 districtsthat were affected by the 20-year Lord’s Resistance Armyinsurgency.

Just months after the de-velopment partners withheldaid, the government failed tomake timely disbursement offunds to the various local au-thorities.

That has raised fears thatthe districts might not beable to complete the pro-curement processes in time.So they could end up return-ing some of the money to theConsolidated Fund.

OTHER ISSUES

Poor roads and salariesare some of the prob-lems which have greatlyaffected the quality ofeducation in NwoyaDistrict.

Mr Dominic Akena, a teacher at Koch Lii Primary School, emerges from a hut in which hestays. Poor accommodation is one of the serious problems which have affected teachers inNwoya District. PHOTO BY NELSON WESONGA

Children fetch water Namalu from an incomple

Namalu piped water source. PHOTO BY NELSON WES

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