Failure to conduct elections in new Districts unconstitutional

Six Districts were created and became operational 1st July 2018 and these include Nabilatuk, Bugweri, Kasanda, Kwania, Kapelebyong and Kikuube. The Government made a case for the creation of these districts and that they were ready to operationalize them which has not been the issue. Much as I am against the creation of more administrative units because of their huge budgets-it costs about 139 Billion to set up a fully functional district; I am perplexed that even the ones Government has created it cannot run them. The bigger question is why does Government always want to rush to create these districts even when there is no money to run them? I am not sure how many districts have a district Service Commission as mandated by Article 198 of our Constitution or how many even have a veterinary and land valuer! It is fetching water in a basket to continue creating new administrative districts yet we cannot even service fully the ones we have!

Article 78 (b) of the Constitution provides that every District shall have a Woman Representative who shall represent them in Parliament. Since the creation of the new districts, the elections for the District Women representatives has never been conducted which has left the women in those districts unrepresented which is unconstitutional. Our Constitution under Article 32 recognizes affirmative action and uplifting the rights and status of women as key and in the instant matter, it is unfortunate that they are being left out and they have a valid action against government for failure to conduct the elections. For how long will they be unrepresented? This is gross violation of their constitutional right to be represented and I hope that the government considers this as a priority otherwise, there will be need for an action against government on this violation of their right.

It is important that Government comes up quickly with a plan to hold elections in the new districts or rescind the decision of creating them! Parliament should always put to task to Government to provide proof of readiness before they pass these resolutions; a mere certificate of financial implication may not be due diligence enough! We need to be true to our capacity in terms of our income as a country and as such work within those means other than focusing on political rewards all the time!

By:
Michael Aboneka Jr

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