State Minister for Local Government Justine Nameere Nsubuga has pledged tougher supervision of local government officials to ensure agricultural extension services reach farmers and government programmes, including the Parish Development Model (PDM), deliver the intended results.
Nameere made the commitment during a high-level two-day meeting convened by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, bringing together political and technical leaders from local governments across the country.
The meeting brought together LCV chairpersons, city and municipal mayors, chief administrative officers, town clerks, resident district commissioners and resident city commissioners to discuss strategies for transforming Uganda’s agricultural sector.
Representing the Ministry of Local Government, Nameere delivered a statement on “Effective Delivery of Delegated Functions to Local Governments,” focusing on the role of local governments in ensuring government services reach citizens.
She highlighted staffing and funding gaps in agricultural extension as major obstacles to the success of government agricultural interventions.
According to government monitoring data, Uganda’s extension worker-to-farmer ratio stands at about one extension worker for every 1,800 farming households, compared with the recommended ratio of one to 500. Government monitoring has previously attributed the poor coverage partly to inadequate staffing, funding and facilitation.
Nameere said more than half of farmers have never interacted with an extension worker, a gap she said is affecting the implementation and impact of PDM.
She identified staffing and retooling of extension workers, adoption of the four-acre model, stronger accountability through Local Government Performance Assessments, farmer cooperatives and improved rural infrastructure as key interventions required to close the service delivery gap.
She said the Ministry of Local Government would take what she described as a “bulldozing role” in ensuring extension workers and other public servants perform their duties.
“We will push, supervise and hold everyone accountable until services reach the people they are meant to serve,” Nameere said.
The minister also linked effective agricultural transformation to the broader fight against corruption and negligence in local governments.
She reminded leaders of President Yoweri Museveni’s call for public servants to fight corruption and end what she described as “slumber” or “otuulo” in the execution of government responsibilities.
She also cited Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s appeal for public servants to serve with patriotism and reject corruption.
Nameere’s emphasis on accountability comes amid her ongoing work with the Ministry of Local Government to strengthen oversight and combat corruption in local governments. Since taking office, she has participated in inspection and accountability drives targeting alleged misuse of public resources, absenteeism, irregularities in government programmes and poor service delivery.
In August, the Ministry said Nameere’s inspections in Budaka included scrutiny of PDM funds, possible ghost workers and learners, recruitment complaints and the quality of service delivery.
She has also called on citizens to report corruption and poor service delivery, saying whistleblowers are critical to strengthening accountability at the local government level.
The minister told the local government leaders that agricultural transformation cannot be achieved through policies and funding alone if the personnel responsible for implementation do not reach the people at community level.
She urged political and technical leaders to work together, monitor government programmes closely and ensure resources allocated for farmers translate into tangible improvements in production, incomes and livelihoods.
The meeting comes as government continues to rely on PDM and other agricultural interventions to move households from subsistence farming into commercial production, making the effectiveness of local government structures critical to implementation.
Nameere concluded by urging the leaders to embrace integrity, patriotism and responsibility in public service.