Remote villages go without social services for decades

A resident wades through a flooded section of a road at Alogoro Village in Apac District on July 21. PHOTO BY SANTO OJOK

Government renders free social services to its citizens in various administrative units but this has not been the case in remote villages, Daily Monitor has established.

For instance, residents of Alogoro Village in Apac District, have for the last 40 years been without any community road, school, health facility and access to safe water, among others.

The village with more than 50 households is located in Abedi Parish, in Apac Sub-county.
Residents in Alogoro largely depend on agriculture for survival.

Ms Filda Ongia, a resident, says they have missed out on many government projects and programmes because the area is hard to reach.

The 67-year-old wido who got married in Alogoro Village in 1980, says she has never seen any public service delivered to the community.

“I feel like this government doesn’t know the people of Alogoro. We just hear about those government projects but I have never seen anybody benefiting from them in our area,” she says.

The World Bank says governing remote areas raises different issues unlike urban areas because of the small size of the population, lack of concentration of population, and the high cost of living.

This means expenditures per capita are often much higher in remote areas than in urban areas.

Local leaders acknowledge that projects such as Operation Wealth Creation, cattle restocking, the Youth Livelihood Programme, and Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (Nusaf), among others, have not reached the Alogoro community.
The residents in Alogoro trek for nearly 3km to access the nearest borehole in a neighbouring village. To access this particular water point, the residents have to cross a flooded swamp.

Mr Moses Abor, a resident, says they are facing enormous challenges and that politicians only visit them during campaign periods.
“We don’t have any good access roads, clean water sources and schools are far away. Our cries for help have always landed on deaf ears,” he reveals.

Mr Abor adds: “In 2018, we petitioned the sub-county leadership to intervene over poor roads in this area but uto date, no action has been taken.”
Poor leadership
Mr Patrick Okwir, the Alogoro Village vice chairperson, acknowledges that their area has been isolated for long, but he blames the challenge on the previous leadership of the village.

“The previous leaders overstayed in office and were not presenting our problems to the top leadership. That is why we are lagging behind,” Mr Okwir says.

“We have already presented our problems to the sub-county. We requested for a road, school and borehole. We also asked them to consider us in other developmental projects and we are still waiting,” he adds.
Mr Walter Dick Okello Ekwera, the area councillor representing Abedi Parish to Apac Sub-county, says Abedi Parish is large and it’s why some villages are lagging behind.

“We have 20 villages in this parish and the government projects allocated to us are not enough to benefit all villages,” Mr Ekwera explains.

He adds: “In some villages, people are not organised. Sometimes when a project is being implemented, you tell them to form a group. They form one but end up losing interest and they miss out.”

However, the situation is not any different in Teso Sub- region as communities have long been surviving without access to clean water sources, schools and health centres , among others.

This is evident in communities of Amujej in Bukedea, Tisai in Kumi, Angisa, Okore, Obwobwo, Guyaguya in Katakwi, Awer in Kaberamaido, Obulin and Amotom in Kapelebyong District.
For instance, Amujej Parish in Bukedea with a population of nearly 1,000 people has never received any free services from the government.

Mr Peter James Malinga, the Amujej Village chairperson, says some of his people have died due to illness associated with the consumption of unsafe water from the swamps.

“We have always complained to our leaders in vain,” Mr Malinga says.
Kamujej Parish is located at the Bukedea -Bulambuli border covering over 11,000sq acres of fertile land.
But due to lack of a health facility in the area, men always rent houses for their pregnant women at Kampala Trading Centre, about 25 Km away, since it is near a dispensary where they can give birth.

A pregnant woman is usually taken there two months before due date to avoid uncertainties.
Mr Michael Omidil, alias Okuron, the area defence secretary, says: “When there is a health emergency, we have to carry someone on a makeshift stretcher up to Tajar Health Centre III, which is 25 Km away.”

Mr Jackson Ojekede, the LC3 chairman of Kamutur, says because of lack of a school in the area, their children end up engaging in fishing.

Lack of roads
Mr Moses Alutia, an LC5 councillor for Kolir and Kamutur Sub-counties, says the Bukedea District leadership has not delivered services to the area because of lack of roads.

“The district needs more than Sh1b to construct a road connecting to this area so as to deliver services. But that is impossible looking at the district road budget of only Sh350m per annum,” he reveals.

But Ms Agnes Akiror, the State minister for Teso Affairs, says her office has affirmative action for such communities.
Ms Akiror says her ministry has given out iron sheets to the people of Tisai, Angisa and Okore, among others.

In Rubanda District, Ruhija and Nyamweru Parishes bordering Bwindi National Park and the highly Kyokyezo rugged hills, are considered hard to reach areas. “We have been partnering with several non-governmental organisations to construct protected springs and gravity water flow schemes so that our people have access to safe and clean water,” Mr Pastoli Twinomuhangi, the district chairman, says.

He adds: “We have been using the limited resources that our district gets from the central government to open up community roads leading to schools and health centres but it is not enough”

In Kanungu District, many people living in villages neighbouring the DR Congo trek more than70Km to access health services.

Mr Gad Byomuhangi, the Kanungu District chairperson, says his administration is struggling to deliver services to the populace in hard- to-reach areas because of inadequate government releases and limited local revenue collections.

“People from Mpugu Parish have to trek about 70km to access health services at Kambuga Health Centre IV,” he says.
The Kanungu District secretary for social services, Mr Frank Byaruhanga, acknowledges that five of their parishes have no single government primary school. In those areas, pupils trek more than 10Km to access schools.

“We have presented the matter before the Ministry of Education and Sports and we are waiting for their response,” he says.

In Amuru, the LC5 chairman, Mr Michael Lakony, says:
“We have some villages like Lakany, Apaa, Acholi-ber, Juba, and many others which do not access public services simply because they are hard-to-reach.”

In Isingiro, the sub-counties of Rushasha, Mbaare and Kakamba have no access to clean water and electricity.
The road network has also remained very poor, according to the community.

The residents draw water from unprotected spring wells and the situation gets worse during the dry season since Isingiro is a water-stressed district.

“These are areas which are critically underserved in this district, of course, not by choice but because of limited funding. As the district local government, we lack capacity whereas central government releases also remain inadequate,” Mr Jeremiah Kamurari, the district chairperson, says.

In the new Rwampara District, service delivery has also remained wanting in many areas. For example, in Mwizi and Bugamba, most of the roads; both community and district roads, are impassable.

Despite these being agricultural viable areas, it’s hilly, and today, farmers struggle to carry their produce on their heads while others use bicycles to access markets. Most parishes in the district have health centre IIs but the facilities have remained non-functional due to a number of factors.

In Ntoroko, Katoringo and Kajwenga Villages in Kanara Sub-county, have for several years been living without government services.

GOVERNMENT POSITION
The Local Government Permanent Secretary, Mr Ben Kumumanya, admitted that there have been some challenges in implementing government programmes in some areas –something he blames on local leaders.

“What you are saying could be true to some extent, but government is well organised now, we have opened channels through which residents can report issues concerning service delivery,” he says.

He added that government is erecting a seed school in every sub-county and a health centre IV in each constituency.

By Bill Oketch, Santo Ojok, David Oduut, Simon Peter Emwamu, Rajab Mukombozi, Alex Ashaba, Robert Muhereza, Steven Ariong Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa & Polycap Kalokwera