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By Aggrey Baba
A proposed national political settlement could fall short of its promise if the regional economic disparities and poor public service delivery are not addressed through targeted government spending and stronger community accountability, a working paper by Gen Salim Saleh warns.
The document which Museveni’s brother reportedly gave to all opposition political parties during a recent two-day retreat in Jinja, argues that national unity cannot be secured through political cooperation alone while communities continue to experience unequal access to services, resources and development opportunities.
In outlining the rationale for the proposed Consociational Democracy Agreement, Saleh and his co-author Professor Ogenga Otunnu identify regional disparities, exclusion, poor public service delivery and historical grievances as issues requiring substantive intervention.
They argue that these problems must be addressed through government policies, institutional reforms and budget allocations rather than declarations of national unity that are not reflected in people’s everyday experiences.
Gen Saleh recommends that government systematically integrate the proposed agreement into its policies, institutional frameworks, budgets and programmes, working with Parliament, all political parties, religious institutions, development partners and civil society.
It also proposes dedicated budget lines across sectors to address historical and contemporary grievances and disparities.
Under the suggested implementation framework, regional reconciliation forums would operate alongside regional development efforts, while district councils and service-delivery accountability panels would help connect national commitments to local needs.
At community level, local government structures, including parish and village institutions, would provide channels through which villagers could raise grievances and monitor whether promised interventions were reaching them.
The paper again recommends annual community impact assessments of government programmes, including affirmative-action policies, to strengthen public accountability and ensure that services respond to local priorities.
It also proposes annual reporting to Parliament and the public on progress under the agreement, supported by independently verified data.
Gen Saleh also argues that implementation should prioritize regions where grievances are most acute and best documented, while national-level structures are developed concurrently.
The approach is intended to prevent the proposed settlement from becoming an arrangement that benefits political leaders while leaving communities with the same development complaints that existed before negotiations began.
The paper’s argument is that national cohesion requires more than representation at the top, and it must also be reflected in the distribution of public services, resources and opportunities.
The authors say that for the proposed agreement to succeed, cooperation must therefore be connected to practical interventions capable of addressing the conditions that sustain exclusion and resentment.
The document presents this as a central test of whether the proposed framework can deliver inclusive development and lasting national integration. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
