LT. COL. DULA MAWA KASESE DISTRICT CHAIRPERSON SCOFFS AT CORRUPT CONTRACTORS

" POVERTY IS NOT A PROBLEM BUT THE UNJUST SHARING OF PROSPERITY" MWALIMU JULIUS NYERERE

Armed with these words of wisdom of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, RWECO and the citizens of Kasese district have impacted on a series of social audit of social service delivery in the district. That was after a gender focused budget analysis of the Kasese district budget 2012/13 revealed that resources were not equitably distributed and works did not depict value for money in the district. Where did we begin?  Kisanga sub county Local Government was identified with several projects uncompleted in the last couple of years even the LCIII chairperson had summoned several contractors to answer queries of poor workmanship. During the district Budget Conference held in December, 2012, Lt. Col. Dula Mawa, vehemently scoffed at the contractors who collude with civil servants and vowed to kick out anybody found to  have engaged in works that led to the poor workmanship of service delivery to the people of Kasese. In  March/April 2013, a team of well experienced community monitors, information gatekeepers, staff of RWECO, the media and political leaders swung in action in Kisinga Sub county. The "KYAGHANDA KYABATAKA" neighborhood assembly in Kisinga sub county, had gathered enough evidence to question the poor workmanship on several construction works including, protection of water springs, access roads, foot path bridges- In the same NAs the   people with disabilities and the elderly  had made several calls to their leaders questioning why foot bridges did not cater for their specific gender needs!!!

Lt.Col. Dula Mawa, District Chairperson Kasese LG, listening to the plight of the PWDs during the Social Audit in Kisinga sub county, Kasese district

After the Social Audit and verification of the issues raised by the report by the neighborhood assembly and community monitors in Kisinga sub county, all citizens gathered in the Kisinga market to hear feedback from the leaders.

Lt. Col. Dula Mawa, responding to the issues raised by the neighborhood assembly in Kisinga sub county, Kasese district

Where is value for Money Mr. Chairperson? asked the community monitors report?

"We don't need to be experts to have learnt rocket science to identify poor workmanship: Power belongs to the people of Uganda and we are gathered here today to hear from you what the district has delivered to the people of Kisinga sub county"

The district councilor, Kisinga subcounty (left) leading the district chairperson- See how this was done, the PWDs had petitioned how they can cross the bridge

Kisinga Voc SS Students presenting a Poem on effective service delivery and the need for better education,  water, food and good governance in Kasese district

Good Hope for Rural Development, a member of RWECO  will follow up on the committments of the Kasese district chairperson and the LCIII chairperson Kisinga sub county. while the PWDs and elderly pledged to participate in the district and sub county planning and budgeting sessions to ensure that there is gender equity in the allocation of resources to their docket.


While in Kamwenge district, the community monitors petitioned the district speaker on why the several many uncompleted projects and the distribution of projects in the two counties of Kamwenge district " As community monitors through our different reports and neighborhood assemblies, we have realised that many projects are concentrated in part of the district, we need to know if that was why we voted in Office"

Hon. Gerald Twebaze ( left), district speaker, Kamwenge district, discussing the petition by the community monitors

As we prepare for the next financial year of government  2013/14, we need to put into consideration the issues raised in the petition, specifically let us as stakeholders study the issues and direct them to the concerned committee of council. KALI a member of RWECO attended the session and will keenly follow up the recommendations during the interface with the district speaker

Foot soldiers: Agnes (left) Isaac ( second Left) and Lt.Col. Dula Mawa, during the social audit of public projects  in Kisinga sub county, Kasese district

"Hakuna Kulala" until we bring sanity in social service delivery to the grassroots poor women and men who suffer because of the corrupt and non performing companies  contracted to do public works. At RWECO we believe in "Walking the Talk". During the Social Audit exercises in Kasese and Kamwenge districts, the citizens proved their  power by engaging with the elected leaders- Social Accountability must be top on the agenda of political leaders. The journey  ahead needs strong men and women who can give up their lives to bring back public trust in service delivery. Atleast, projects worth Ugx. 1.2 billions were monitored during the period of February-April, 2013.


RWECO Team:

Mr. Isaac Sinamakosa- GHFRD
Ms. Agnes Kyakimwa- RWECO
Ms. Sadress Kalengo- KALI
Mr. Jimmy Odyek- RWECO
Mr. Moses Ategeka- UBC-TV

THE POST 2015 THINK TANK AT CEWIT

Talking of the post 2015 seems to be like a long term vision, but RWECO and other members of CEWIT were brought together to prepare for the post 2015 ( Read Uganda is assumed to have achieved most of the MDG targets like other developing countries by 2015). At the round table meeting held on 16-17th May, 2013 was  facilitated by the East African Region Hivos Director Ms.Will Hanssen, the participants recommitted themselves in finding local solutions to the prevailing governance issues, rule of law and refocussing on the vulnerable groups who had for long been bypassed in the planning and budgeting processes at both the local government and national budget framers.

Ms. Will Hanssen, East African Region Hivos Director facilitating at the CEWIT and Partners meeting in Kampala 16th/17th May, 2013

Mr. James Mwirima (left), Ms. Nyambura (2nd Left) taking notes and listening to the participants views about the post 2015

The round table meeting was an opportunity for CEWIT and her members and partners in Uganda to rethink and strategies in the wake of CSOs being clamped on because of their stand on good governance and rule of law. The team majorly focused on Gender, Hiv and Aids, participation of the vulnerable groups in decision making processes. While the CEWIT had done work on locating the vulnerable groups in the Budgeting and planning processes, findings revealed low participation and negligible budgetary allocations to the PWDs, Youth, and Hiv and Aids.

Mr. Sanza John, CEWIT Accountant (middle) making his contribution during the think tank

 RWECO has positioned itself to be a one stop center for policy analysis and advocacy for the marginalized groups in society and created platforms both physical and online to enable citizens engage with the elected leaders. In the Rwenzori Region, 25 neighborhood assemblies are functional, 7 District E-Societies and D-Groups (http://www.kasese.go.ug/) have opened the space for the citizens to engage with the leaders. RWECO through RICNET piloted the TRAC FM facility at Kasese Guide Radio and Life FM as interactive platforms for citizens to ask questions through sending a message to 8585 to their leaders. Social Accountability  tools both online and hard copies were introduced and linked to the Huduma and Uchaguzi platforms. A short code 6030 was also acquired for citizens to send their monitoring findings to the plat form

At RWECO we believe, talking  about the post 2015 we were in the right direction and in line with the Uganda National Development Plan (2010), Vision 2040 thus being a voice of the unsung herons and heroes!! the PWDs, PLHA, Elderly, Youth and Women. We need to make ICT tools work for all these categories of citizens in order to fit in the global village ( Global Citizenship becoming real)

links to related work: http://kali1kasese.blogspot.com/2013/05/vulnerable-group-leaders-demand-for.html

Among the participants were staff from:

FHRI, KRC, CEFORD, ACORD, PAC-U, TLC, ISIS-WICE, AKINAMAMA WAFRICA,

 Watch this space for more!!!

Jimmy Odyek
RWECO

KYEGEGWA COMMUNITIES VOW TO RESTORE THE ENVIRONMENT

 RWECO is a membership organization of KALI, GHFRD, RIDE AFRICA and RIC-NET implementing the Citizens Manifesto in Action  extension project with CEW-IT  with fund support from  Oxfam Novib. The project is based on four thematic areas of; Education, Health, Water and production (NAADS). While focusing on the promotion of good governance, livelihood improvement, establishing and strengthening platforms for citizens to engage with their leaders, and mainstreaming cross cutting issues such as gender, peace building and co-existence and human rights in all its interventions geared towards improved service delivery for the citizens. RWECO  together with RIDE AFRICA  implementing in Kyegegwa and Kyenjojo districts, supported 4 CBOs in  training and  enterprise selection under a project supported by Oxfam Novib through CEW-IT.  Sixty members from the 4  CBOs were identified, trained and equipped with basic entrepreneurship skills, on how to select a viable project that can boast on their livelihoods and increase their household incomes. The groups that were trained included Kakabara peoples voice, Kyenjojo peoples voice, Bufunjo peoples voice, and Nyankwanzi peoples voice a total of sixty CBO members was trained in Kyegegwa and Kakabara the number of women was less than that of men though the participation was active for both of them. While in terms of gender responsiveness representativeness of all age categories was observed the reason for the inclusion of all age categories in their opinion was that the youth could emulate good practices and behavior from the elders.

CBO	Kakabara peoples voice	Kyegegwa peoples voice	Bufunjo peoples voice	Nyankwanzi Peoples voice
Male	11	13	09	09
Female	03	06	07	05
Total	14	19	16	14

To  show their commitment towards the initiative the CBOs were tasked to present work plans and the budget and highlight on how much they would co-fund to the project.

DISTRICT	CBO/GROUP	ENTERPRISE	CO-FUND
Kyenjojo	Nyankwanzi peoples voice	Poultry & Soil conservation through tree planting	Land, labor and farm tools.
	Bufunjo Peoples voice	Soil conservation through tree planting & Poultry	Land, Labor and farm equipments.
Kyegegwa	Kakabara peoples voice	Poultry keeping(Local breed) and soil conservation	Sensitize  and train group members about local chicken disease management , feeds Cages or shelter and labor
	Kyegegwa peoples voice	Local chicken keeping(Poultry) and soil conservation	Provide cages ,feeds, Labor and vet services

The total value of the co-funded contribution totaled to Ugx 1, 800,000/= ( Shillings one million eight hundred thousand only) , this would help keep the commitment and sustain the project.

The lessons learnt were:  a. Enterprises selected basing on what the beneficiaries were well versed with in consideration of the already established structures for instance it was realized that the groups had basic knowledge and skills in local chicken management, each of them had at least ten heads of chicken in their homesteads thus needed a simple top up to boast it further.

In terms of the gender dynamics all age categories were represented and all sex took both the membership and leadership roles.  In terms of improving house hold incomes and mainstreaming work the CBOs were bound together by SILC (savings and internal lending communities) while at household level the project was hoped to improve the nutritional and livelihoods of the beneficiaries. The initiative was a good one especially in responding to the gender needs for example on the tree seedlings project it was said to address the need for collecting firewood for the mothers, children, address environment(Soil conservation) and in terms of access the women would access by collecting fire wood though the control entirely remained the males responsibility While for the chicken project it was realized that it would increase the women’s participation in decision making at house hold level, access and control over the proceeds and in terms of visioning between the past, the current and their desired destination participants were able to refocus on the major mail stones that they wanted to achieve in the short and long run. In the short run they hoped to generate firewood and eggs while in the long run they hoped to get better incomes at the collective marketing, offer their sights for other organizations to learn from their success stories, link with national and international organizations in addressing environment conservation issues,(NEMA,NFA,NAADS) increasing the house hold incomes.

By,  Agnes Kyakimwa

RWECO                                                                            

Kasese floods: Rebuilding of hospital, bridges begin

An excavator digs through land in Kasese District on Friday to redirect River Mubuku to its original course. PHOTO BY ENID NINSIIMA. 

By ENID NINSIIMA

Posted  Tuesday, May 14  2013 at  01:00

KASESE

The government has started rehabilitating major infrastructure that were damaged by floods that hit the Rwenzori sub-region two weeks ago.

The repairs started last week on Kilembe Mines Hospital, and Katiri and Mubuku bridges.
The floods that hit mainly Kasese District displaced about 19,000 people and destroyed property, including Kilembe Mines Hospital that was forced to close.

The coordinator for emergencies in the Office of the Prime Minister, Maj Gen. J.F Oketta, told this newspaper on Saturday that works started to rebuild the devastated infrastructures.

“We have started work on the hospital which we want to open soon. We are working on Katiri bridge in order to re-divert water from entering the hospital and more work is being done on Mubuku River to open the highway that has been closed, ” said Maj. Gen. Oketta, adding that they hope to complete the work in the coming few weeks since the rains have reduced.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

Accessed on Tuesday 14th May, 2013 from:http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Kasese-floods--Rebuilding-of-hospital--bridges-begin/-/688334/1851334/-/ks3uyfz/-/index.html

RESIDENTS MAKE ALTERNATIVE ROAD TO KYANZUKI

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Once an admirable residential area, Kyanzuki Township in Bulembia division, Kasese Municipality is now a hard to reach area. Many people wonder how a township can be hard to reach and live but this is a
reality following the flash floods that did not only take the lives of 8 people, also washed away houses and bridges.
With 19 bridges damaged across the district when all the major rivers took to the center of madness. Nyamwamba River became the master of all as it damaged whatever it came across in its valley said to have been neglected for decades.
It was May 1, 2013 when the River burst its banks that had been weakened by aggressive human activity. With the destruction of Kilembe Mines Hospital and other developments in the valley, it also took away Kyanzuki Bridge that connects a residential area of hundreds of homes to the entire Kasese Municipality.
Kyanzuki an area that boasts of Kilembe secondary school-Kasese’s highly populated with an enrolment of about 1500 students, Kyanzuki primary school with over 700 pupils, Masule primary school and the
Park Trekkers a tourist guiding company. All these institutions have now been cut off from life because the only bridge to Kyanzuki is no more. Neither can one detect that there used to be a bridge.
A business woman in Kyanzuki who identified herself as Rachael Basimire now treks the nearby hills for about 5kms to reach Bulembia town ship where she jumps on a boda boda motorcycle to Mawa market in Kasese town to buy food stuff and palm oil for sale in the Kyanzuki market.
During the golden time, it used to take Ms. Basimire Shs. 1500 on a boda boda to reach Kyanzuki but currently to get those to carry the merchandise through the hills needs about Shs. 10000.
“There is no way people in Kyanzuki will avoid hard life so long as there remains to be no bridge. You see me passing through these hills to access Kasese town. But how will I come back with the food that I
am going to buy from Mawa market? Definitely I will have to increase the price for the Matooke and palm oil”. Ms. Basimire said on Saturday.
However, the Bakonzo have a saying that “Akathayihambirira sikalhwa Omwiya” meaning that a chick that does not toil hard does not hutch from the egg. Hundreds of men from Kyanzuki and the neighboring areas that have been benefiting from the cut off road hutched a plan at the weekend to open an alternative road that can be used only for motorcycles and pedestrians to move in and out of Kyanzuki.
This takes courage by men, local leaders and the Kasese Municipality MP James Mbahimba to get hoes, spades and other hand machinery to dig through the rocky Bunyandiku hills opening up a road that will link the area to the Kilembe mines fields where life can start from.
It takes another courageous journalist to reach the hill which the men are bisecting to make what had looked impossible possible. Walking from Katiri Bridge in Bulembia where all vehicles stop from these
days, is a 1hour walk to reach the men-young and old doing a communal work to reload life to their town.
One man identified as Baridi does not want me to take a photo of them digging the road before I also dig part but he is shouted at by the rest saying “this is a journalist coming to show our plight to the
rest of the world, he is doing his work now”. These men together with their leaders and the MP cannot stop working. They shout whenever a big stone is uprooted and rolled over downhill to the Kilembe Mines compressor area. What damage it causes there is none of their concern.
Mr. Headmon Mwanguhya one of the mobilizers said that the suffering people are going through in Kyanzuki is the reason they are forced to participate in the digging out on alternative road. He describes the life in Kyanzuki as “unbearable” because the trend of business has taken another twist.
Mr. Mwanguhya breaks down the prices of commodities in Kyanzuki after the collapse of the bridge. A match box is at Shs 200 from shs 100; a kilogram of sugar that has been at 3500 is at 5000, a candle wax of 200 is at 500 because the electricity is no more. This is the same to other commodities.
“So, we are here digging the new road to make sure motorcycles can reach Kyanzuki with hope that traders can reduce on the biting prices of goods. All traders are with us here on this work because the
consequences of the floods affect us all”. Mr. Mwanguhya said.
The area MP James Mbahimba rests his elbow on the hoe holder when his turn to talk comes. He says that if Kyanzuki continues to be cut off up to June, then the school life there will be a gone case.
“My prayer is that together with these hardworking and cooperative men, we chat a way that can take our students and teachers back to Kyanzuki especially Kilembe secondary school when the second term
opens late this month”. Mr. Mbahimba said.
According to the MP there are dozens of civil servants who have been residing in the comfort weather of Kyanzuki who need to go to work and may be shift their families from there but no way.
Although many other places in Kasese district were affected by the floods with about 1000 people in three settlement camps, other people forgetting about the location of their houses, life has become
unguaranteed in Kyanzuki parish where whoever wants to move out quickly would need to borrow the angels’ wings to do so.  END

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* Residents of Kyanzuki township joined by Kasese Municipality Mp Mr. James Mbahimba (R) dig out an alternative road to link them to other parts of the world. BY THEMBO KAHUNGU.JPG
  http://dgroups.org/?qz0d078t.cdky8taw - 2.0MB

WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE: PWDS/PLWHA PETITION BUNDIBUGYO COUNCIL

BUNDUBUGYO LEADERS OF THE VULNERABLE PETITION LEADERS TO ADDRESS THEIR NEEDS

 On 30/04/2013 a total of  27 (18 male  and 5 Female)  leaders of the vulnerable groups in Bundibugyo district held a joint campaign to engage with district leaders for improved service delivery. The team was comprised of leaders of People living with HIV/AIDS, People With Disabilities, elderly, youth and women assembled at   the Education Board room to address their petition to the district authority.  The joint annual campaign for the representatives of the vulnerable was attended by the District Chairperson, District speaker, representatives of the vulnerable groups, the community development officer and LC3 Chairperson from LCIII chairpersons, District Executive Committee from Bundibugyo District

 The representative of people living with HIV/AIDs acknowledged that People living with HIV/AIDS can access drugs but they are challenged with stock out outs as well as long distances to access their treatment.  Also Bubukwanga HCIII, Kakuka HCIII and Kikyo HCIV were accredited to provide ARVS but there was no single drug disbursed at these health centres thus the PLWA have to walk long distances to Bundibugyo and Nyahuka to access treatments and this is evidenced by long queues at Health centres.  Lack of Nutritional support to PLWAs has resulted into poor drug adherence and reaction was also a major concern for the PLWA.   The representative noted that the budget for PWAS is in words but not in action by the district.

The Bundibugyo District Chairperson Women council was concerned of fact that women in Bundibugyo districts have   continued to be vulnerable with limited budget allocation like special grants is only 3 million shillings per financial year for IGA which cannot support the needs of all women in the district let alone mobilizing them for IGA. Even when provided with the grant there is no provision for transport and monitoring in the supported project in the 15 sub counties of Bundibugyo thus poor service delivery that leads to poor yields.  The fact that the district of Bundibugyo has not fulfilled its role of cost sharing as a condition from the central government from the locally raised revenue since time immemorial was emphasized.  She could forget the fact that Bundibugyo main Hospital has no sterilizers and only depend on Buhinga Regional referral Hospital which puts women at risk in case of emergency that leads to high maternal mortality rate. The high defilement and school drop a major worry’s the future of the children in the district.

The PWDS started by recognizing the different categories  of PWDS in Bundibugyo district  as follows; the hearing impairment, visual impairment, physical impairment, mental and others with both. Even  with identified categories of PWDS  they felt they were allocated  a very small of  250,000 shillings per quarter for disability council   and this cannot care for needs of PWDS like  the  hearing impairment that need an interpreter. The fact that the PWDS grant allocation is delayed at the district level was identified as a drive to poor service delivery.   They were alarmed by the fact that EARS centre in Bundibugyo district has been turned into a radio station thus an indicator that the district is not committed to the plight of PWDS which they demanded back from the district authorities.   The issue of PWDS’s lacking mobility appliances like wheel chairs (only 10 PWDS have wheel chairs out of 37 in the district) was also raised. Local revenue has not been allocated to PWDS at both Sub County and district level and not paying attention to special needs education at the district level.

The petition for the youth was read by John Tibesigwa the secretary for finance representing the youth.  The major concerns for the youth was non- involvement or even consultation in the planning process. The fact that youth were underfunded and never received funding from the district has affected implementation of youth activities in the districts. The youth challenged the district that they have never received cost sharing of the local revenue and they were wondering where the support goes. Access to information on opportunities and scholarships was a key challenge that was faced by the youth in Bundibugyo district which they requested the district to reconsider as they only get information through “hearsay”.

 The representative of the elderly was concerned of the fact that they are discriminated in service delivery especially in health centres because they think they are only being disturbed by age.  The elderly felt that they are being discriminated in the government programs because they are looking for the active poor and because of their age they are not selected and therefore cannot benefit yet they have very many dependants.

In response to the petition the District Chairperson Bundibugyo Godfrey Baluku appreciated the fact that RWECO is making meaningful partnership and acknowledged that the petition was brief and important with all the issues. He acknowledged the fact that petition is timely as there is council in the process. He emphasized that Bundibugyo district implements inclusive planning and therefore planners need to engage with the relevant people to get the needs of the people. He acknowledged that some things have not been attended to because the district authorities have not been reminded. He informed the team the procurement process of a sterilizer is ongoing as it has been advertised in papers with money reserves. He emphasized that defilement is a collective responsibility for all the stakeholders but emphasized the responsibility of parent to teach their children morals at home.  He responded that the representatives of the vulnerable have identified the challenge of planning and budget allocation but explained that planning is based on IPF which are limited and the district authorities cannot go beyond the figures but promised to continue advocating  for increased allocation and will review the district plan to see the budget allocation for the vulnerable. He encouraged the vulnerable to form groups as this will increase their chances of assessing government programs. He informed the PWDS that the ears Centre issue has been presented to the district executive committee for follow up with UBC as it is entirely a money making institution that was given the ears Centre out of excitement. He also told the PWDS that Bumate P/S has identified as a school for special needs education. He pledged on behalf of the executive to capture all that was in the petition in the annual work plan of the district and in the district development plan which will be reviewed in the next financial year. He however regretted that the district local revenue which limits the availability of resources for cost sharing.

In attendency was RWECO Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Project Officer from Good Gope Foundation for Rural Development and Bundibugyo district NGO representatives

Compiled by

Sheila K
M&E-RWECO

LISTEN AND ACT: TAKING PWDS CONCERNS TO KYENJOJO DISTRICT COUNCIL

Background:

RIDE Africa and the vulnerable groups in Kyenjojo district organized a joint annual campaign event as a follow up of the consultative meetings and trainings held in Kyenjojo district. The Vulnerable group included the PWDs, PLWHA, Elderly, Youth and Women Council. The vulnerable groups in Kyenjojo proposed to present a petition to the Kyenjojo district council and thus tasked RIDE AFRICA to make follow up and inform them about the progress. A notice of Council meeting was sent and the team prepared the petition in a consultative way. RIDE Africa is a member of RWECO implementing a project on Social accountability supported by EU/Hivos through CEWIT.

The objective of the annual joint campaigns were:

•  

The Key outputs

• Secured space in the district council meeting on 3^rd May, 2013 at which representatives of vulnerable groups attended council for some it was their first time;
• Issue identified in the petition adopted in the Kyenjojo district council meeting and referred to the sectoral committee of Social services;
• Leaders responding and giving feedback immediately and taking action on concerns by the petitioners

Day 1

A pre- meeting was held on 2^nd, May, 2013 in the Speakers chambers with the district team that comprised of; Speaker Mr. Kasoro Silver, Vice District Chairperson Mr. Mwesige Christopher; Secretary for Community based services Mrs Mubiru Christine, the Chairperson for Community Based service Mrs Nahabwe Anita and RIDE Africa Staff.

The following resolutions were reached;

1.    The team appreciated RIDE Africa’s initiative and research findings

2.    The document be presented to the council  for discussion and approval

3.    The funds for lunch be given to councilors directly and they sign for acknowledgment

DAY 2

 

Hon. Ireeta Mwesige Kyenjojo District Speaker during the Council session where Ride Africa presented a petition by the vulnerable groups

RIDE Africa and RWECO staff  together with  the advocacy team  for Kyenjojo District  attended the Kyenjojo District Council on 3^rd May 2013 whereby the district Speaker Mr. Mwesige Ireeta invited RIDE Africa to present their petition  that was read  by Margaret Kabasinguzi (RIDE Africa.

Mrs. Margaret K M, presenting the vulnerable groups petition to Kyenjojo district council

After the presenting the petition,  the Speaker opened the floor for the Honorable Councilors to discuss the four key issues that featured in the petition thus;

1.    The high HIV and AIDS prevalence rates in the Rwenzori region

2.    The availability of safe and clean drinking water in both the town council and villages within the District

3.    The Special Needs Assessment in the District

4.    The reception and rehabilitation center for the children who conflict with the law

Deliberations

 
The Chairperson Hon Mwesige Christopher asked the District Education Officer and the Town Clerk Kyenjojo Town Council to update Council on the stand of Special Needs Assessment in the District and availability of Safe and clean Water in the Kyenjojo Town Council respectively.

The DEO Ms Tibakanya Gertrude updated Council that the inspector of Special Needs Education was recruited Ms Kabanyoro who does the assessment and placement in the same section. But however, said that; the department did not have any center for handling such cases. She also mentioned that the department had just concluded with the head count of children with special needs in the District and that they have not yet decided on where the attachment can be done.

On the same note, Hon Kalyegira Joseph the Secretary for Education and Health emphasized that Special needs in Education was still a challenge for Kyenjojo District as the previously constructed center  at Kinyinya was taken by Kyegegwa district. He also said that Kyenjojo Town council was facing a terrible situation of scarcity of safe and clean water which problem had been gotten a solution for.

Accordingly, Hon Kabasomi Resty added that, hearing impairment was very common in the District and there are no accessories available in the provision of public service especially in the health sector.

Hon. Resty reacting to the petition and supporting the issues raised

Hon Mubiru Christine the Secretary for Community based services requested Councilors and technical teams to identify potential partners in development develop concept papers and increase on the lobbying capacities from the central government that would help them implement and serve the local communities of Kyenjojo District better.

After the deliberations of the five Councilors a motion was moved by Hon Karamagi Ronald to adopt the document as a working paper and was seconded by the District Chairperson who added that the petition be referred to Council Committee for Community Based Services to follow.

Ms Tibakanya Gertrude, giving feedback to the council about the about the SNE unit in Kyenjojo

The Speaker ruled that the paper be adopted as working paper that would be integrated into the District Development Plan and the budget 2013/2014.

Lessons for RIDE AFRICA/RWECO

• We worked together as a team and were able to achieve that much within the means available to us
• The Petition has opened a new chapter in Kyenjojo district Council recognizing RIDE AFRICA /RWECO as strategic partners in establishing gaps where the district may not have reached;
• The vulnerable groups have formed a plat form for advocacy which was recognized during the council meeting;
• Team work/spirit vital for collective achievement with the Policy Family and Child Protection giving technical support, the elderly and PWDs group, women council showed that we need to move as a team
• The need to link the activities with the application of ICT Tools for which the district leadership has embraced

We intend to work with the Kyenjojo district leadership to bridge on the gaps identified in the petition and reach out to development partners to support the SNE unit and training of the Health Department workers in handling PWDs both visual and hearing impairment, elderly

Compiled by

Mrs. Mageret Kabusinguzi