KAS

As multipartyism is relatively new in Uganda, there still is a high demand on trainings which are aiming to promote the key tenets of democracy and pluralism in the country. Therefore, KAS partnered with the Directorate of National Guidance to train local government leaders from Busia District on effectively collaborating in a multiparty-system at local level as working closely together results in a more effective service delivery.

John Oyambi, DNG representative and moderator of the event, gave some opening remarks and called attention to the participants that even in case you have natural resources you remain behind if there is no good leadership as it leads to progress and development in the country. This statement was used by Dr. Milton Mutto who made a presentation about the role of civic education and its importance in the process of nation-building.

While the participants not only discussed their duties and roles as elected and appointed leaders, they were also emphasised to take action as they can’t expect anything from others if they are not willing to work for it by themselves. Therefore, Sango Richard discussed with the audience the key principles of nation-building and responsible leadership pointing out that no matter what party the leaders belong to, they are all citizens of the same country and strive to achieve a better Uganda.

While making a presentation about the concept and key pillars of good governance in a multiparty system at the district level, Mr. Joel Wanjala posed the question to the participants how to solve the current food crisis in Uganda as the food insecurity is increasing. ‘What is your role as a leader? What are you going to do in your district to tackle this problem?’

As the participants already discussed the key values of Uganda, Leonie Staas and Marius Hupperich held a presentation about the key values of Germany and pointed out, that, looking back to the country’s history, also Germany was and still is confronting many challenges and that democracy and nation-building is an ongoing process as every nation is facing new emerging challenges.

The workshop enabled the local leaders not only to create awareness about the concepts of democracy and political pluralism, but also emphasised the need to work together in a multiparty system and to identify priorities for their district as the training raised awareness about the importance of civic education in successful nation-building.