ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
When I read the Go Forward Manifesto, I was struck hard by the
central piece of their development proposal called Advanced Sub-County Model of
Development (pg23). This model deserves our attention as voters as it will remove
the clutter in our development planning. The proposal potentiates a standardized,
equity-based development plan.
The ingredient which lacks in the Uganda 2040 vision is a
standardization and equity-based approach. As such, it is littered with
micro-management style, and a lot of trial and error, where development is
concentrated at national level, politicized, personalized and patronized by the
President - leaving nothing concrete for the rural folks and those with
divergent beliefs.
The Advanced Sub-County Model of Development has hit on a crucial development
design, which should attract social transformational debate in the 2016 elections.
The core issues in this proposal is the de-politicization, decentralization and
standardization of equitable development.
A 2014 World Bank Reports indicated that 84.23% of our people are rural
based in subsistence livelihoods. Yet, 80% of quality education opportunities
and healthcare services are concentrated in urban centres where less than 20%
of our population resides.
The Sub-County Model allows us to scrutinize and correct that unnatural order
of inequities.
First, the JPAM manifesto proposes a formula upon which an equitable
development can be achieved horizontally - at sub-county levels – by transforming
the sub-county into an economic development unit; and, vertically, by claiming resources
that are spent paying for the cost of patronage at the national level.
This, so far, is the best proposal and a winning formula for
revitalization of rural economies. A focus on standardized self-sustaining sub-counties
is a model where equitable investment in social services - transportation,
farmer's cooperatives with bank/loan services, healthcare, education,
recreation, green energy, sustainable environment projects, value adding
industries, and markets, etc., can realistically get established closer to the
people.
This model means that no matter where you are, you will have the same opportunities
and services in your community - built and beautified, equipped and serviced,
as well as replenished, with the same intensity, frequency and quality. This is
sustainable, accountable, and equitable development.
The format of governance over politicizes the county and neglects the
Sub-county, thereby disabling rural productive. As a result, most of the
districts are unable to raise taxes and develop a tax base sufficient to fund a
district’s annual budget. There is great opportunity to unlock rural potential
by decentralizing economic development to sub-county levels and guarding it
against partisan politics.
When you travel to developed countries, we see standardization of
developments. Roads are designed, structured and developed in the same manner; streets
sizes and designs, sign posts all standardized to your marvel. Housing, water,
sewerage systems, public transportation, public libraries, recreation centres, and
other social services are literally structured the same, in orderly manner in
development units called Boroughs, or special Wards in Japan known as Tokubetsu
ku.
I
have taken the liberty to study the NRM Manifesto. In it, I found nothing
captivating and appealing to common sense. In fact, one can correctly assert
that it is a compendium of bravado. It does not offer a renewed hope that
anything will be done differently than we already know.
In
my consultation with the WesigeBesigye Campaign, there is a general consensus
on egalitarianism – striving to point out that all humans are equal in
fundamental worth or social status, and therefore, the role of government is to
offer services equitably to stimulate the unleashing of innovation and
production. Dr Kiiza Besigye himself has been a consisted advocate of
responsible public spending, smaller size of government, reduced costs in
public administration, and a deliberate investment in critical areas of
production, such as in education, agriculture, healthcare, green energy,
electricity, social justice, and so forth. These are areas that I find a
striking momentum for real social transformation.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment