The Ministry of Local Government is currently studying proposals and demands to create 20 new districts.
Cabinet recently approved the creation of 14 extra districts to be operationalized over the next to years. This means that in the next three years, Uganda will probably have over 120 districts.
Local Government State Minister, Perez Ahabwe, says there are so many requests for new districts because of government services to be taken closer to the people.
//Cue in: iThere are so many demands #i
Cue out: i# more than twenty.i//
The 2008 Uganda Report by the African Peer Review Mechanism criticized the creation of new districts. It said that the proliferation of districts was occurring largely on political grounds and not on the basis of economic viability.
The report noted that many of the new districts lack financial autonomy and depend on the central government for funding. Additionally, the tribal or ethnic nature of the districts is a potential cause of the balkanization of Uganda.
However Local Government state minister says this isn't so. He says each new district will come complete with a road unit and an opportunity for 11 students to have free education in public universities through a government-funded quota system.
