By Davis Mugabi

The Office of the President through the Manifesto Implementation Unit (MIU) has invited all core local government leaders from the Central region for an NRM Manifesto 2021-26 monitoring and validation exercise.
Mr. Willis Bashaasha, the Director MIU revealed that the meeting aimed at assessing and evaluating the progress of the manifesto commitments so far delivered by the government will take place from August 20th to 25th, 2023 at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi.
According to Bashaasha, the 5-day retreat will draw political and technical leaders from the different core local governments in the central region, who will converge to facilitate the coordination, planning and reporting on the manifesto commitments in the central region with a view to assess and validate the programmes so far implemented.
“The retreat is organized in line with the MIU’s mandate to track, report and publicize the performance, progress and challenges of implementation of the manifesto, which is the NRM government’s social contract with Ugandans. In light of this, therefore, we shall evaluate the adherence to the 23 strategic guidelines and directives that the president guided us to follow for effective service delivery and manifesto implementation. This will help us know to what extent the manifesto commitments have been fulfilled in line with their set out work plans and budgets,” Bashaasha said in a statement sent out to intended participants.
He noted that because manifesto implementation is a multi-sectoral process which also requires transparency, the retreat will also be attended by crucial manifesto stakeholders including the presidential advisors from the central region, officials from the office of the presidency, and the media. These will be joined by permanent secretaries and other top officials from key government service delivery Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who will present on the progress of the different key service delivery programmes within their mandate. On top of these will be technocrats from strategic manifesto implementation agencies of the government including the National Planning Authority (NPA), Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), the NRM Secretariat and the team from NALI.

WHAT WILL BE ACHIEVED
Bashaasha noted that the main objectives of the retreat is to take stock and account for the manifesto commitments and achievements to the Ugandans in the central region as well as explaining and sharing synergies required in the implementation of the manifesto commitments.
This retreat comes at a time when the World Bank has announced the suspension of further borrowing by Uganda, which will definitely impact on the country’s ability to fulfill some manifesto commitments within the projected timelines.
“We are aware that the World Bank is one of our biggest strategic development partners in this great task of manifesto implementation. Their suspension of further loans to the country may potentially impact the speed at which we deliver some of the manifesto commitments— especially those which would be funded using such loans. So, as manifesto implementers, this retreat will give us an opportunity to reflect deeply on the next remedial or alternative course of action to undertake so as to fulfill the government’s socioeconomic transformation agenda for the citizenry,” Bashaasha said.