Minister Kyafatogabye Calls for Enhanced Implementation Strategies of NRM Manifesto

The Minister of State for Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs, Hon. Kabuye Kyofatogabye has emphasised the need to support the NRM manifesto’s implementation methods. Although praising the manifesto’s comprehensive vision, the Minister emphasised the need for stronger and more workable strategies to turn these goals into concrete realities for the general public.

Minister Kyafatogabye who spoke on behalf of the Minister for Presidency Milly Babalanda during the validation meeting of the Midterm Review of the  National Resistance Movement Manifesto 2021/26 on Thursday emphasized the importance of aligning policy frameworks with grassroots-level initiatives, ensuring that developmental agendas such as Parish Development Model (PDM) Myoga are effectively cascaded to local communities.

The Minister stressed the significance of fostering collaborative partnerships between government agencies, private sector entities, and civil society organizations to harness collective expertise and resources towards the realization of manifesto goals. By promoting inclusive and participatory governance frameworks, he emphasized the potential to empower citizens as active agents of change, thereby fostering sustainable development and socio-economic progress which in turn works for the party.

“I  wish to re-echo that this review has given us confidence that we are on course to bring to reality this manifesto, so I call out all responsible stakeholders to continue monitoring to ensure that the manifesto commitments 2021/26 are achieved,” he said.

One of the strategies the minister highlighted is communication and information dissemination about the manifesto especially on projects like PDM.

“Now members I urge you to take this Mid-Term Review as a precursor and an eye-opener because we are the managers. However a challenge in communication especially a project like PDM where every local leader has different information has affected its smooth and seamless implementation.”

Willis Bashasha, director Manifesto Implementation Unit, revealed that as of now the implementation track is normal and he believes by the end of the term implementation percentage will be higher.

Implementation status

Mr Bashasha noted that the mid-term review findings after two and half years of implementation indicate that the government has achieved 35% of the commitments within the Manifesto and 46% of the commitments are work ongoing while 19 per cent have not yet achieved.The current score is an improvement from the previous score that had been computed in May 2023 which had placed the level of achievements at 20%. Currently, the performance is at 35 per cent.

“In terms of creating jobs and wealth for all Ugandans, we have archived 16 per cent, 40 per cent commenced and 44 per cent not yet implemented. On the Economy, Poverty rate has reduced from 21.4% in 2021 to 20.3%. Some of the achieved commitments include Population below the poverty line (%) which was 20.3% compared to a target of 20.55%,” he said.

On Parish Development Model, Mr Bashasha revealed that to date, 10,585 SACCOs have been established across the country and a total of UGX 1,085 Tn has been disbursed to over 10,500 SACCOS benefiting 1,032,183 people countrywide. As of October 2023, 97% of the sampled beneficiaries had received PRF (97% through commercial banks). The PRF disbursements to final beneficiaries averaged 84%.

On health, he said that the NRM has progressively built a healthcare system that can enable the prevention, surveillance and treatment of various diseases and sicknesses within our population. As of 2023, the life expectancy for Uganda was 64.38 years a 0.51% increase from 2022. in 2022 was 64.06 years, a 0.51% increase from 2021. The life expectancy for Uganda in 2021 was 63.73 years.

The report also showed that the government has made efforts to improve the administration and dispensation of justice through the increase in the number of Judicial officers and their pay, increase in court circuits and introduction of technology within the courts. 55% of their commitments are achieved.

The UPDF has also made strides to ensure that 50% of its commitments are now fully achieved. Implementation of commitments under Oil and gas are also notably on course.

On Science, innovation and technology, 2 Kiira EV busses and 5 Tondeka Busses were manufactured from the KIIRA EV Project which is now established in Jinja aimed at the establishment of KIIRA Motors Corporation the Pioneer Original Equipment Manufacturer in East Africa. Over USD80m has been invested in the plant the plant is to be officially commissioned in November 2023.

Mr. Bashasha emphasized that while there has been progress in implementing the NRM manifesto, persistent challenges continue to hinder the fulfilment of the commitments made by the current government to Ugandans.

Among the challenges he listed include;

Delays in Land acquisition that is slowing project implementation and this continues to affect performance în a number of Sectors. Prioritization of Manifesto commitments within the NDP planning and budgeting period. There is still a disconnect within the implementation period for the NDP III and the Manifesto.

Limited resource envelope for development projects.Slow mindset changes to enable service delivery. High levels of corruption. The cost of doing business in Uganda is still high. High debt burden.

Transitional challenges of the programme approach to planning. Creation of new Local Government administrative units that is distorting the planning framework. The planning and budgeting processes at the local Government level have to be further integrated with those at the national level.