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Geoffrey Ogwal, the Chairperson LCII Barl-lela parish is surprised that the parish was not included yet they were duly elected and given administration tools such as stamps by the Chief Administrative Officer.
Dokolo
District leaders have raised concern after two parishes were not included on
the list of beneficiaries for the Parish Development Model-PDM.
There are 71 parishes in the district but 69 parishes will receive funding. The
affected parishes are Bar-lela and Apenyo in Bata Sub County.
Geoffrey Ogwal, the Chairperson LCII Barl-lela parish is surprised that the
parish was not included yet they were duly elected and given administration
tools such as stamps by the Chief Administrative Officer.
“Ever since 2018, Bar-lela is an independent parish with elected leaders. I was
even called to the office of the CAO and given a stamp from the Ministry of
Local Government and this very stamp is what we are using,” Ogwal said.
Bob Darmoi, the LCV Councilor Bata sub-county wondered why the parishes are not
considered yet they are gazetted by the Electoral Commission.
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be accounted for.”//
Alfred
Ogwal, the District Planner explains that the two administrative units are not
recognized by the Ministry of Finance because they are not among the list of
approved administrative units of the district although elections were conducted
in the area.
“This matter is coming up, arising from what I will call a mistake because
elections were held in 2021. When the electoral commission was compiling
administrative units for the elections in 2020, they came to the office of the CAO
to guide on the administrative units, especially for the town councils and
the office of the CAO wrote to them submitting the approved administrative units
but they went ahead and conducted elections in the old parishes of Bar-lela and
Apenyo and that is where the problem is coming now,” he said.
Isa Mbooge, the Chief Administrative Officer says the villages within the two
parishes are captured under the initial parishes before the creation of the
town council. Mbooge asked MPs from the area to follow up on the matter with the
Ministry of Finance.
He further
explained that despite having 71 parish SACCOs, the district has received and
disbursed 17 Million Shillings to only 34 SACCOS leaving a deficit of 17
Million Shillings for the remaining 37 SACCOs.
Cecilia Atim
Ogwal, the Dokolo Woman MP says the matter of the two parishes will be handled
administratively.
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will be corrected.”//
She, however,
wants the government to continue implementing affirmative action alongside PDM
saying Northern Uganda is still fragile and there is no guarantee that the PDM
will succeed.
