Maracha District Local Government hosted stakeholders to lay plans for the coming FY. In his welcoming remarks at the District budget conference meeting, Mr. Olila Patrick, Maracha District Chief Administrative Officer, said the District budget should reflect the national priorities.

Hon. Obitre Stephen, LC5 Chairman, said sector standing committees should equitably allocate resources to all the 19 lower local governments. In the same spirit, Hon. Obitre called for fair resource allocation between sector and sub-sector heads to realize parity in overall sector performance.

Hon. Obitre decried low facilitation of members of Maracha District Service Commission. He said people don’t distinguish the types of roads and the entity responsible for their maintenance. He said as a result any road in a poor state is blamed on the District yet some of the roads could be the mandate of the lower local governments or Uganda National Roads Authority.

Hon. Asea Bosco, Vice Chairman, called for joint efforts to reverse the worrying trend of high school dropout.  

Hon. Wani Emmanuel, Maracha District Speaker, tasked the Chief Finance Officer to close the leakages in revenue collection. He added there was need for a new revenue enhancement strategy on untapped sectors. Hon. Wani observed lower local governments had many unfunded priorities, yet they are the center of service delivery at the grassroot.

Hon. Mundua Patrick Councilor Male-PWDs, suggested the establishment of a special needs school in Yivu Sub-county.

Hon. Drakana Adrian, Maracha District Deputy Speaker, emphasized teamwork between and among technical and political staff. He observed some roads lack culverts leading to flooding.Eng. Ezati Timothy, Maracha District Engineer, said he had taken note of the installation of culvert at particular spots.

Hon. Lyndah Amanyio, Maracha District NRM Administrator, said the District should build a data base for famers to ease planning and support to them.  

Hon. Drani Silver Male DLC-Oleba Town Council proposed the establishment of a psychiatric unit at Maracha Health Centre IV or St. Joseph’s Hospital-Maracha to manage the growing cases of mental illness.  However, Maracha District Health Officer, Dr. Onzubo Paul, saidamental psychiatric unit is a specialized unit which cannot be established in Maracha District.  He said the driving cause behind the increased cases of mental illness was substance abuse among the youth which should be addressed.

Hon. Asibazuyo Grace Female DLC-Yivu Sub-county/Alikua Sub-county, commended the District Health Department for the infrastructural uplift in the health units, but, observed some units are not fenced making them vulnerable to insecurity. Hon. Asibazuyo said there was need to upgrade Health Centre IIs to IIIs. In response, Dr. Onzubo said government was committed to upgrading all health centre IIs.

Hon. Dicky Alema, Secretary Social Services, said 10 schools earmarked for renovation have been pushed to next FY due to resource constriction. Hon. Alema said stakeholders should look into the establishment of a mortuary at Maracha Heath Centre IV.

Mr. Aniku Henry, Sports Officer, said the education sector inspection team will intensify the headcount of learners to come up with credible data on pupils attending classes.  

Eng. William Oneti, Maracha District Water Officer, said the list of non-repairable boreholes had been compiled and submitted to Ministry of Water and Environment.  

Hajji Ramathan Walugembe, Maracha Resident District Commissioner, observed the District was witnessing a rise in the grabbing of government land by individuals.  He said the recommendations and way forwards in the budget conference meeting should be acted on.

The budget conference provides a platform for soliciting views from different stakeholders regarding planning, budgeting and implementation status of programs in the District.