By Joseph Ayolo,
Moroto, Uganda:
A group of anticorruption monitors in Moroto district have appealed to the Ministry of Water and Environment to make immediate changes to its staff posted in Moroto to help improve service delivery.
The group claims that officials have failed to enhance service delivery, especially in addressing water problems in Karamoja. Timothy Lokwang, one of the members, said they were also wondering how the Ministry of Water and Environment decided to deploy only one tribe’s staff in the region, something he said has affected service delivery in Karamoja.
“When you look at Water for production in Karamoja, it’s being headed by an officer from Northern Uganda. Karamoja small towns, which are also under the Ministry of Water and Environment, are managed by an officer from Northern Uganda. Karamoja Water Umbrella is also being managed by an Officer from Northern Uganda,” he said.
He added that other water systems under Karamoja Umbrella in Karamoja districts are being managed by officials from Northern Uganda who leave the region at their liberty, going back to their home districts and leave people suffering without being attended to with the systems.
Glades Nakut, another member, claims deploying only one tribe to manage water projects in Karamoja has caused many projects to fail to be completed.
“Some of these officials have stayed more than 10 years in one station, and they are not seeing things that need to be corrected in the region,” she said.
Joseph Mudong, another resident, said they are not promoting tribalism, but they are concerned about poor service delivery, especially in the Ministry of Water sector.
“In fact, these officers are very good at absenteeism from offices; some of them work two days a week, or they can be out of the office for two weeks, yet projects need to be implemented,” he said.
Maria Nangiro, another resident, said transferring some of them to other stations and bringing in new staff would help to improve service delivery.
