The Office of the President through the Manifesto Implementation Unit is set to update Ugandans on the progress of the implementation of the NRM manifesto for 2021-26.
This was revealed by Willis Bashaasha, the MIU director.
According to Bashaasha, these updates will be done during the manifesto week, which will commence on May 14, 2024.
The week will start with a grand launch by the Minister for the Presidency at the Office.
Thereafter, the chief manifesto implementers specifically the ministers and Permanent Secretaries of the various government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will present status reports on the progress of service delivery programmes under their respective dockets.
According to Bashaasha, Manifesto Week, which is an annual government accountability activity, is organized every year to give Ugandan citizens a chance to keep track of what the government they voted to lead and serve them is doing for them.
Conducted in line with the National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy (2013), the week also gives the government a chance to make its case to the Wananchi, offering correct information about the social contract it signed with the people during the electoral campaigns.
“We are aware that in this era of social media and the free flow of information, there is too much that the common person consumes in terms of information. However, it is critical to note that many times this information is laced with so many distortions which come in the form of misinformation, disinformation and utter lies. This is why we organize the manifesto week so that people can get the true data and information from the people charged with delivering service to them,” Bashaasha explained.
He added that what makes the manifesto week such a unique experience is that it is an open activity where all the media and wananchi are invited to have an interface with the manifesto implementers, who are all brought together in one place.
“The people can then get a chance to ask direct questions on anything of interest or for which they may have any doubt as regards service delivery in their areas; right to the lowest local government units,” Bashaasha said, urging all Ugandans to participate in the manifesto week this year.
Mid-term review report
The manifesto week is preceded by the manifesto mid-term review report which is compiled annually by the Manifesto Implementation Unit on behalf of the Office of the President to update Ugandans on the extent of fulfilment of the social contract the NRM candidate Yoweri Museveni Tibuhaburwa signed with Ugandans during the previous election campaigns.
This year’s report, which marks the first half of the current political term, was launched on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at the Office of the President Conference Hall.
Bashaasha explained that the report gives key highlights of the different service delivery programmes accomplished by the government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as dictated by the manifesto, which is the government’s cardinal guide to service delivery and hence the socio-economic transformation agenda.
On top of the accomplished programmes, the mid-term review report also highlights the programmes that are still in progress and those that have not yet been touched.
Particularly, the MIU compiled this report using the expertise of a mid-term technical review committee composed of a multi-sectoral team of technical officers who were drawn from the various manifesto-implementing MDAs.
Bashaasha explained that the team was carefully selected to help the MIU in undertaking the technical activities including data collection, analysis and documentation of the manifesto review process.
The technical people were drawn from the Office of the President’s Planning Unit, Directorate of Social and Economic Monitoring as well as Policy Development and Analysis Department.
Others were from the office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Finance, National Planning Authority (NPA) and Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBoS). Meanwhile, the staff of the manifesto implementation unit formed the secretariat which offered overall support during the exercise.
Bashaasha added that to ensure that the entire manifesto commitments are reviewed, the teams were distributed along the five (5) thematic areas of the NRM Manifesto 2021–26 for proper coordination.
