Northern Uganda gets Shs600b new project

The insurgency that was led by Joseph Kony (seated Left), retarded development in the region.

Government in partnership with the European Union has launched a new project worth Shs665.7b aimed at consolidating ‘stability’ in northern Uganda.

The new multi-billion project, coming on the heels of previous corruption scandals involving donor funds, will focus on food security and agriculture, transport infrastructure, and good governance.

The five-year programme titled; Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU) was launched on Friday by Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda at his office in Kampala.

According to Ms Christine Guwatudde Kintu, the Permanent Secretary Office of the Prime Minister, DINU is an affirmative action programme that will be implemented in selected 16 districts of West Nile, Acholi, Lango, Teso and Karamoja sub-regions.

The benefiting districts are; Amudat, Moroto, Abim, Pader, Agago, Omoro, Lamwo, Amuria, Otuke, Albetong, Oyam, Kole, Adjumani, Moyo, Yumbe and Zombo.

Ms Guwatudde said DINU, a substitution for Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP), will be implemented in three broad areas of transport infrastructure which will include rehabilitation of Atiak-South Sudan border road; food security to involve access to improved crops and animal breeds; and good governance that will focus on strengthening local governments in financial management.

PRDP hit headlines in 2013 after OPM officials, in connivance with technocrats in the ministry of finance and Bank of Uganda, abused more than Shs50b in donor funds.

“DINU was developed as an avenue for bridging the gaps like poor access to markets, malnutrition, inadequate access to credit, poor road network, youth unemployment etc that were identified in March 2015 during the evaluation of other projects that have been implemented in Northern Uganda through the Office of the Prime Minister,” Ms Guwatudde said.

Funding contributions
Of the 150.7m euros (more than Shs600b), the government of Uganda will co-fund with 12m euros (about Shs60.2b) whereas the rest of the money will be contributed by European donors, and other development partners of United Nations Capital Development Fund, Unicef, German-Ugandan development cooperation and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.

While launching the programme, Prime Minister, Dr Rugunda said that the government has come up with DINU with a commitment to ensure that Northern Uganda comes out of poverty and regain the time lost during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency so as to match with other parts of the country.

He added that, the situation in northern Uganda has been worsened by the huge influx of refugees from South Sudan with the region hosting 68 per cent of the over 1.4 million refugees in the country.

“Therefore, this project is indeed timely. The National Resistance Movement government ended war in northern Uganda and cattle wrestling in Karamoja and now the fight is on poverty and ensuring development. This programme will help solve that in the areas of food security and agriculture; transport infrastructure and good governance. Therese elements are critical to our development as a country, “the Prime Minister said.

The EU ambassador to Uganda, Mr Attilio Pacifici said the partners are committed to ensuring that there is long lasting security in northern Uganda adding that through “fruitful collaborations” the region has been getting impressive attention for the past decades.

“There is need for further efforts to solve the problem of poverty in Northern Uganda. EU partners are committed to ensure that there is long lasting security in northern Uganda and we can do this through this large project,” Mr Pacifici said.

Past projects
The government through the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) ended the LRA insurgency when the rebels ran into hiding and a number of rehabilitation programmes have been implemented with billions of shillings sent to northern Uganda.

These past projects include; the PRDP, the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund, and the Northern Uganda Reconstruction Programme and Community Action Plan. These projects have been hit with scandals. EU according to sources however, insists all funds must be accounted for and monitoring mechanism must be enhanced to forestall abuse.