By Ben Kumumanya, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government
Uganda’s decentralisation journey is founded on a simple but powerful principle: government must be brought closer to the people.
For ordinary citizens, that principle becomes most visible at village level, where the Local Council I (LC1) executive committee represents one of the closest points of contact between households and the wider system of local government.
With 71,207 LC1 councils serving communities across the country, these structures provide an important foundation for participatory governance, community mobilisation and delivery of social services.
Their greatest strength is proximity.
Village leaders understand the realities of their communities. They know the households, local priorities and many of the challenges affecting residents. This places them in a unique position to connect citizens with government programmes and services.
BRINGING GOVERNMENT CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE
The LC1 executive committee is more than an administrative structure.
It is a bridge between the household and higher levels of local government.
The committee helps communicate community priorities, mobilise residents and support implementation of council decisions. It also has an important role in monitoring government and local-government activities within the village and communicating community concerns to higher authorities.
This means a concern raised by a resident should not remain at village level.
It can move through the parish and sub-county to the district or city and, where necessary, to the responsible ministry or institution.
That is the practical meaning of decentralisation.
WHEN A VILLAGE WATER POINT STOPS WORKING
Consider a village where a community water point suddenly stops functioning.
For households that depend on it, the problem is immediate. Residents may be forced to walk longer distances in search of water, while sanitation and household welfare can quickly be affected.
The LC1 executive committee is often well placed to receive the complaint, consult residents, document the concern and communicate it through the parish and sub-county structures to the responsible technical officers.
The LC1 does not replace the technical department responsible for repairing the water system. Its role is to ensure that the community’s concern is identified, communicated and followed up through the appropriate government structures.
The same principle applies when residents report a damaged community road, inadequate waste collection, difficulties accessing health services or challenges affecting a government-supported project.
This illustrates the practical value of decentralisation: the village identifies the need, local leadership communicates it, technical officers provide the technical response, and higher local-government structures provide supervision and support.
EVERY EXECUTIVE MEMBER HAS A ROLE
The LC1 executive committee is structured to ensure that different aspects of community life receive attention.
Its membership includes the chairperson, vice chairperson, general secretary, secretary for finance, defence and security, production and environmental protection, information, education and communication, youth affairs, persons with disabilities and women affairs.
This structure makes local government more accessible.
A farmer can seek information on production.
A young person can engage the youth leadership structure.
Women can raise concerns through their representative.
Persons with disabilities have a designated voice.
Information about government programmes can be communicated through appropriate community structures.
The objective is to ensure that no section of the community is left outside the development process.
SUPPORTING HEALTH AND COMMUNITY WELL-BEING
The delivery of health services does not begin and end at the health centre.
Community mobilisation is essential.
LC1 leaders can help mobilise residents for immunisation campaigns, sanitation activities, health education and other public-health interventions.
They can also communicate local challenges affecting access to health services to higher levels of government.
When a community is properly organised and informed, health workers and government programmes are better positioned to reach intended beneficiaries.
This is particularly important in rural communities where distance, information gaps and household circumstances can affect access to services.
SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Clean and healthy communities require collective action.
LC1 executives have an important role in mobilising residents around sanitation, waste management and environmental protection.
The responsibility for production and environmental protection within the executive structure provides an avenue for communities to connect environmental conservation with household livelihoods.
Protecting wetlands, water sources, forests and agricultural land is not only an environmental responsibility. It is also an economic responsibility.
Our communities depend on natural resources for agriculture, water, livestock and other productive activities.
MOBILISING COMMUNITIES FOR GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES
Government programmes succeed when citizens understand them and participate in them.
This is where LC1 executives become particularly important.
Programmes such as the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga require community mobilisation, information sharing and participation.
At village level, residents need to understand the opportunities available, how to access them and where to obtain information or raise concerns.
The LC1 can help create that link between the programme and the household.
The Ministry of Local Government provides policy guidance and oversight, while districts, sub-counties and technical officers undertake their respective responsibilities. Village leadership helps ensure that information and community priorities move through this system.
IDENTIFYING VULNERABLE HOUSEHOLDS
One of the advantages of grassroots leadership is local knowledge.
LC1 leaders are often able to identify households facing particular social and economic challenges.
This knowledge can assist government and development programmes in understanding community needs and directing interventions appropriately.
The objective should always be to ensure that public programmes reach the people for whom they are intended.
This requires accurate information, transparency, consultation and cooperation between political leaders, technical officers and communities.
KEEPING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER
Local government is also about maintaining social harmony.
LC1 leaders are often called upon to help address community disagreements involving families, land boundaries and other local disputes.
Where appropriate, mediation and reconciliation can prevent disagreements from escalating into prolonged and costly conflicts.
This contributes to peace and social cohesion within communities.
A peaceful community is better positioned to pursue development.
THE CITIZEN MUST REMAIN AT THE CENTRE
Article 176 of the Constitution provides the foundation for decentralisation and emphasises people’s participation and democratic control in local-government decision-making.
It also provides for local governments to monitor government services and projects within their areas.
This means citizens should not be treated merely as beneficiaries of government.
They are partners in development.
Residents should participate in identifying priorities, monitoring services and communicating their needs through established local-government structures.
LC1 leaders, therefore, have a responsibility to listen.
They must communicate.
They must mobilise.
They must coordinate.
And they must ensure that the concerns of their communities are heard by the institutions responsible for addressing them.
THE NEW GENERATION OF LC1 LEADERS
Following the recent LC1 elections, Uganda has an opportunity to strengthen grassroots governance with leaders who understand that public office is fundamentally about service.
The challenge is to ensure that the new generation of village executives understands its responsibilities and works closely with technical officers and higher local-government structures.
Leadership at village level should be measured by its ability to bring people together, communicate government programmes, identify community priorities and contribute to improved service delivery.
The LC1 should be a place where citizens feel heard.
It should be a structure that helps people access information.
It should be a platform through which communities participate in development.
FROM 71,207 VILLAGES TO ONE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
Uganda’s transformation will not be achieved from Kampala alone.
It will be achieved village by village, parish by parish and household by household.
The 71,207 LC1 councils therefore represent an enormous national network for community participation and service delivery.
When these structures function effectively, government programmes can become more responsive to local realities.
When citizens participate actively, development priorities become clearer.
And when local leaders, technical officers and communities work together, decentralisation becomes more than a constitutional principle.
It becomes a practical instrument for improving people’s lives.
The ultimate measure of local government is not the number of meetings held or reports produced.
It is whether the ordinary citizen can feel the presence of government through better services, greater participation and improved opportunities.
That is the purpose of decentralisation. That is the responsibility of the LC1 executive committee. And that is the government we must continue building — one village at a time.