Government has revealed plans to drop the policy of having a secondary school and Health Centre III established in every Sub-county due to the lack of funds and the bloated administrative units, which has made the implementation of this policy untenable.
The pronouncement was made by Henry Musasizi, Minister of State for Finance (General duties), while interfacing with Parliament’s Committee of Government Assurance to give a status report on financing the policy of constructing a seed secondary school per Sub-County, a technical school per county and a public university per region as had earlier been promised by Government in its various manifestos.
Minister Musasizi in his submission said that the schools were programmed for implementation in a phased manner, adding that since Financial Year 2018/2019, a total of 102 seed schools have been constructed with minimum staffing of at least 16 out of the 32 staff required. He said that another 126 seed schools are at advanced stages of construction, although the full implementation of the policy had hit a snag due to resource constraints.
However, in view of the increase in administrative units, the current policy of having a secondary school and Health Centre III in every sub-county may no longer be tannable given the current resource constraint. This Ministry and Ministry of Local Government will continue to study the policy and its effects and take appropriate action, said Musasizi.
The Minister attributed the shift in Government’s position on Parliament’s decision to create new administrative units ahead of the 2021 general elections, contrary to advice by the Ministry of Finance at the time, which warned that expanding administrative units would cause a strain on Government coffers.
In FY 2020/2021 towards elections, we added 332 new Sub-Counties, 46 new Constituencies, 10 Municipalities and 10 Cities. At that time, the Ministry of Finance told us you go ahead and establish these new administrative units but you must also know that they will have financial implications which you haven’t provided for. Now, here we are, 3 years down the road, we are saying every sub-county must have a Health Centre III, every sub-county must have a secondary school. We are saying that we are cognizant that we must provide education that is feasible and accessible as possible but in the circumstances where we had UGX 600 billion and you have added 332 new Sub-Counties, it isn’t tenable to implement this policy as had been planned because of change of circumstances, said Minister Musasizi.
Currently, the Government has stalled on the operationalisation of five more cities where each was supposed to come into force every financial year beginning with 2021/2022. These are, Nakasongola, Moroto, Kabale, Entebbe and Wakiso.
However, several Legislators rejected the argument fronted by Minister Musasizi citing the several cases of mismanagement of funds in Uganda, with some demanding Government to formally withdraw this promise from the public, because the public is always blaming MPs for failing to ensure Government fulfills its promises.
Burden ahead
Noeline Kisembo Basemera, Kibaale District Woman MP insisted that it should not be the role of the legislators to explain to the electorates why there is a change in policy on seed schools and Health Centre IIIs.
I come from Kibaale, we still have six Sub-Counties without secondary schools and we were banking on this assurance that they were also going to get and now with this statement, is the Government intending to come to Parliament and withdraw this assurance? At the moment, we based on this proclamation and we told our people, wait, the Government is on course, you will all receive the services, said Kisembo.
However, the Minister declined the withdrawal of this promise from the Committee and instead offered to accompany any anxious MP and explain to their voters of the financial constraints the Government is facing and reasons for walking back on its earlier promises.
Have the courage to tell people the truth, I am here to support you, we can go and I tell them the truth, I will tell them the realities on ground, how our resource envelope is constrained, how continued establishment of new administrative units is becoming a constraint to Government. I am sure our population would also like us to manage an efficient and effective Government. If they hear that we are controlling expenditure, we are trying to be more frugal, they will really appreciate it. I think what you really want is the completion of these technical schools, don’t get involved in politics much, he said.
Florence Kabugho, Kasese District Woman MP asked the Minister to provide the Committee with more information on how much money has been disbursed from the over UGX 1 trillion that was earmarked for extending secondary education in Uganda. She said that Parliament in 2019 approved a loan of Euro 110 Million (UGX 460 billion) for the construction of seed secondary schools, and later in 2021, still Parliament approved about UGX 665 billion as an additional support to this project.
May I therefore know how much money has been disbursed and how much money has been released to the Ministry of Education for the construction of seed secondary schools, for equipping seed secondary schools, for the construction and equipping laboratories in seed secondary schools and for the construction of dilapidated infrastructure in Government schools, she asked.
Abed Bwanika, Chairperson Government Assurance Committee said the Committee will write to the Prime Minister, RobinahNabbanja to get the final position of the Government on seed schools before reporting back to Parliament.
When you come to this Committee and withdraw an assurance, we take it as that, the people of this country, everywhere you go, they are waiting for a seed secondary school in every Sub-County, whether it was created yesterday or twenty years ago. The people of Uganda are waiting for a Health Centre III in every Sub-County regardless of when it was created. We are going to write to the Prime Minister and ask her to confirm the withdrawal basing on your statement, what she will tell us is what we shall carry as the report to the House because our work according to rules, when as assurance is withdrawn, we are supposed to report to Parliament, said Bwanika.
In the 2017/2018 financial year under the UGIFT program, the government programmed to implement construction of 232 seed secondary schools in a phased manner but to date only 102 schools have been completed and operational according to the Ministry of Finance.
In May 2021, the Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni revealed that only 26 out of 2,184 Sub-Counties in the whole country lack a public secondary school. She also added that 182 community secondary schools have been grant-aided since the 2016/17 financial year to date.
