Demand for good governance

UDN shares its experience

Civil society needs to come together into a joint taskforce and form a strong clout which speaks with one voice in order to strongly campaign for good governance. The Senior Program Officer, Uganda Debt Network, UDN Allen Ruhangataremwa Barugahare stressed this need in an exclusive interview.

UDN is a network of non-governmental and community-based organisations that advocate for anti corruption policies and monitoring the use of public resources saved from the cancellation of the nation’s external debt.

Ruhangataremwa said civil society organisations currently spend valuable time competing with each other for resources and credibility, which undermines the demand for good governance. It’s for this reason that UDN shifted strategy from networking with national NGOs to working directly with the grass root communities.

"The demand for good governance requires civil society organisations to jointly advocate for strong laws that can curb corruption and violation of human rights", she said adding that strong anti graft institutions are also paramount in this regard.

According to UDN, the way leaders are voted into public office in Uganda today is wrong. It is mostly the corrupt that make their way through because they can afford to buy off the unsuspecting electorate. This makes it difficult for the demand for good governance to bear results.

According to Ruhangataremwa, the high levels of poverty and illiteracy in Uganda today make it difficult for civil society to sustain broad-based demands for good governance.

Skills in advocacy, lobbying, monitoring and evaluation, she says, are essential for improving service delivery and good governance.