Poor administration, nepotism robbing Kole of service delivery

Kole District was created by an Act of Parliament and became operational on July 1, 2010 to, among other things, bring services nearer to the people. It was carved out of Apac District and is made up of Bala, Ayer, Alito, Aboke, Akalo and Okwerodot sub-counties, and Kole Town Council.
Today, concerned citizens and political commentators feel everything is not right in regards to the day-to-day running of the district. They cite corruption, gossip, nepotism, the laissez-faire style of administration, poor accountability, political interference, lack of coordination, staff absenteeism, and role conflict as some of the challenges affecting service delivery in Kole.

Kole Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Agnes Akello Ebong acknowledges that many public servants often waste time and resources on gossip.
“There is a lot of suspicion among the staff and the political wing,” she says.
“When they see somebody sitting with the RDC, they buy airtime, concoct stories before drawing conclusions. The next time you hear of claims that the RDC sat with the team of this group and this is what she said,” Ms Ebong says.
The RDC further adds that some civil servants and politicians in Kole are corrupt, envious and lazy.

According to the RDC, late reporting for duty, absenteeism, poor coordination and role conflict among civil servants have also affected service delivery in Kole.
“People want to jump roles and go and do something which is not theirs,” she says, adding that public servants often absent themselves from duty without cause.
“People just decide that today I am not going for work and they don’t go for work. Some report to duty at around 10am or 11am, sign that they have arrived at around 8am then by around 1pm, they go for lunch and they don’t come back,” the RDC adds.

According to the World Bank Group, civil services at all levels of government need a capable, motivated, and efficient staff in order to deliver quality services to its citizens. When civil service functions and structures are decentralised, existing bureaucratic patterns must be reorganised as roles and accountability are shifted. However, in Kole, the situation appears to be different.
“I am among the 40 people (staff) who were seconded from Apac to come and start Kole District but sometimes I regret why I made that decision to leave Apac and come to Kole, because when we started Kole, we were few and there was unity. We were a family but as the population of the employees grew, clique formation started,” says Ms Polly Achola, the Okwerodot Sub-county chief.

Education affected too
The district inspector of schools, Mr Boniface Owidi, says challenges affecting Kole have not spared the education department either.
“We have inadequate classrooms, inadequate teachers’ houses and desks and parents are not contributing towards the education of their children,” Mr Owidi says.
Recently, the district authorities were accused of corruption during the recruitment processes in the district.

“Someone has the required academic qualification but because they have no ‘connections’, they may fail to get the jobs,” Ms Juliet Ebil, the head of governance and advocacy at Facilitation for Peace and Development, says.
Like many political commentators, Ms Ebil believes the biggest challenge for Kole is administrative.

“The biggest challenge for Kole has been the question of leadership. The district leaders have been so weak in playing their oversight roles as far as the administration of the district is concerned,” Ms Ebil says, adding that such administrative errors have provided fertile ground for corruption and nepotism.
Kole Town Council chairman, Mr Richard Okello-Ojok, says the alleged corruption in the district is disturbing and is sophisticated.

The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition (TAACC), a local NGO, says corruption has persisted in Kole and other districts in Lango Sub-region mainly because there are people in power who benefit from it.
TAACC executive director, Mr Tom Superman Opwonya, says some politicians connive with technocrats to steal government funds in the syndicate.
“They ring-fence themselves and are aggressive” he says.

Mr Opwonya wonders why public servants who allegedly engage in open corruption are just transferred elsewhere instead of being given deterrent punishments. He says this is the reason fighting corruption is difficult.
“You find the same person implicated in Alito Sub-county transferred to Ayer Sub-county, then to Akalo Sub-county. This is protectionism which promotes corruption,” Mr Opwonya says.
Ms Betty Nam, the Kole District chairperson, says her administration is much prepared to fight all evils affecting service delivery.

“There is no institution without challenges but my government will work very hard to improve on service delivery,” she says.

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