Uganda has no plan for orderly transfer of power — Mo report

Kampala. The 2018 Mo Ibrahim continental governance index report indicates that Uganda has no mechanism of transferring power.
According to the report, the country scored zero in mechanism for orderly transfer of power.
The country has also performed below average in education, rights and participation, transparency and accountability, but excelled in national security, gender and health.

Uganda scored 44 per cent in education, 39.5 per cent in participation of citizens in decision making, and 35.7 per cent in transparency and accountability, while scoring as high as 84.5 per cent, 72.7 per cent, and 64.7 per cent in national security, gender and health, respectively.
The country performed slightly above the average in personal safety, human rights, rule of law and human development. Overall, Uganda is ranked the 20th of 54 countries in Africa.
The 2018 report also paints a grim picture of education not only in Uganda, but the whole of Africa, noting that “Africa’s progress in education is not keeping up with population growth and in particular the youth.”

The report says there are clear warning signs for education.
“Though Africa’s 10-year trend remains positive, over the last five years, the trend has reversed into decline driven by a fall in the indicators measuring the quality of education, whether education is meeting the needs of the economy and the expectations of education provision,” the report shows.
The report says the quality of education is currently not satisfactory to meet the growing demand for education and jobs. Satisfaction with education provision has declined steadily over the last decade (-9.0) – indicating that Africa’s citizens are less satisfied with how governments are handling education provision.

Government is yet to respond to the report.
Mr Frank Tumwebaze, the government spokesperson and minister of Information Technology and Communications, had his phone switched off.
Ms Idah Nantaba, the State Minister for ICT and national guidance, said: “I cannot comment on the report because I have not read it. I need to first read the entire report before commenting because I don’t want to depend on the snippets of what you are giving me.”
Mr Ofwono Opondo, the executive director of Uganda Media Centre, did not respond to our repeated calls.

While releasing the report yesterday online, Mr Ibrahim Mo, the founder of the Mo foundation, said governments must provide resources to meet the ever increasing population and the demands of the youths.
“Our continent is faced with unprecedented demographic growth. Key governance areas are not progressing fast enough to keep up with rising demands, and more specifically to answer the growing expectations of Africa’s youth, who are now forming the majority of our continent, and still expected to rise by almost 20 per cent in the next decade.”

East Africa rankings in governance
In East Africa, Rwanda is the best ranked country in governance in eighth position, followed by Kenya in the 11th position,
Tanzania is third in the 14th position and Uganda is fourth position at 22nd in Africa. Burundi and South Sudan trail in 43rd and 53rd positions respectively. Mauritius is the best governed country in Africa, with Somalia last on the table.

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