By Emmanuel Olinga
KATAKWI
Following Katakwi’s admirable Service delivery, particularly in the education and road sectors, Katakwi District Local Government, located in eastern Uganda, hosted Serere District Local Government on Friday, May 16, 2025, making it the second district to visit for service delivery benchmarking.
Among the important features benchmarked are local revenue skills mobilization and IRAS management for revenue development, Local Economic Development, and a comparison of agricultural programs such as MAAIF and cooperatives, among others.
Henry Opio, District Speaker of Serere District, stated that the trip will now assist them in addressing financial shortfalls in order to raise service delivery standards.
Serere area, which is blessed with lakes and fishing locations, as well as two larger marketplaces for revenue creation in Kasilo and Ocaapa, was also interested in learning about education improvement and parental involvement in education.
He claims that Serere as a district charges a minimum of 10,000 shillings for parent-teacher associations in order to boost education.
Geoffrey Omolo, Samuel Barker Opio, Katakwi’s Deputy Chief Administration Officer, welcomed the team and expressed gratitude to Serere district for selecting Katakwi for benchmarking.
According to Omolo, one notable element Katakwi district has done, particularly in education, is to attend AGM meetings to identify the difficulties encountered by the education sector schools and to implement measures to address them.
According to them, the fields of finance and administration, health, works and natural resources, and education and community-based services are pushing the district’s togetherness.
According to Harriet Faith Akwii, Principal Assistant Secretary PAS Katakwi district, the district has 20 subcounties, sixteen subcounties, four town councils, 635 village lower local councils, 131 Parishes, and 341 Local Council three, which benefit from transitional grant and Legs projects and non-governmental organizations that improve service delivery.
Simon Esidai stated that Katakwi district council has held six council meetings since last year, with four council years scheduled for 2025 to examine service delivery.
However, Geoffrey Okaka, Chief Administrative Officer of Serere District, which includes 15 smaller local administrative units, 8 sub counties, seven town councils, and 34 district councilors, is interested in benchmarking revenue techniques and skills utilized to manage revenue collection.
According to George Patrick Okello, Senior Finance Officer and Integrated tax Administration System IRAS Focal Point Person, the Katakwi district has successfully implemented IRAs, which contributes to strong tax collections.
He also stated that they had concluded the valuation of property, which the ministry had previously signed. They also assist the subordinate district administrative units, particularly in motivating staff and closely monitoring revenue collection personnel. He did, however, pointed out that the high expenses of operating on the IRAS system have an impact because data is required for communication. They are considering establishing revenue task funds to address the public’s revenue opposition.
According to Angella Atim, District Education Officer Katakwi, they have successfully trained the school management committee to manage Universal Primary Education money in a straightforward and transparent manner as they authorize scholastic products.
Atim further stated that the district has maintained or welcomed a positive working relationship with CCTS and teachers who work, as well as 3.3 million dollars in capacity building monies to retool capacity shortages.
She also stated that good relationships with communities are being fostered during school meetings. She also stated that the district advocates for development partners, mentioning the Japan embassy as an example of someone who has helped with infrastructure, particularly classrooms.
Above all, Atim stated that political lobbying has benefited the district by encouraging residents to attend AGMs. She also stated that regular meetings and records be kept in the SMC, with a minimum of three meetings held at each level of primary and high school.
