VZCZCXRO3431
RR RUEHGI RUEHRN RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #1326/01 3240508
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200508Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1960
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 001326 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL UG
SUBJECT: UGANDA: DISTRICT PROLIFERATION AS POLITICAL PATRONAGE 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  On November 11, Uganda revealed plans to create 
seven new administrative districts in addition to the 14 districts 
already proposed for 2009 and 2010.  Opposition parties and civil 
society groups have demanded a halt to creating new districts until 
after the February 2011 elections, citing concerns over their cost 
and role as political patronage tools.  European donors have also 
expressed concern, as each new district spreads their budget support 
that much thinner.  The Ugandan government, however, continues to 
reward battleground constituencies with new districts and new 
government jobs.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------- 
District Proliferation 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On November 11, Minister of Lands Adolf Mwesige asked 
Parliament to approve the creation of seven new administrative 
districts on top of the 14 districts already slated for creation in 
2009 and 2010.  If approved, this will bring the total number of 
administrative districts to 101, or three times the 33 districts 
existing when Museveni took power in 1986.  The government argues 
that new districts will bring government services closer to people 
as many rural Ugandans live hours from the seat of their local 
district headquarters. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Presidential advisor Moses Byaruhanga told the Embassy that 
Uganda is trying to carve out districts for discrete ethnic groups 
so citizens can conduct local government business in their 
respective local languages.  He said the plan would also enable 
teachers to use local languages for instruction in primary schools. 
He dismissed the view that trying to reduce local administrative 
structures to single homogenous ethnic units could actually 
exacerbate ethnic divisions. 
 
¶4. (SBU) However, the re-districting process is already fueling 
conflict as groups scramble to claim resources and carve out their 
own local governments.  Ongoing discussions to split the Tororo 
district in eastern Uganda along ethnic lines is exacerbating 
tensions between the area's ethnic Iteso and Jopadhola populations. 
Likewise, Acholi leaders in northern Uganda have accused the Jonam 
community of land grabbing to create a new district.  Both sides met 
in Nebbi, just north of Lake Albert, on November 11 to calm fears of 
violence. 
 
------------------------ 
Unfunded and Unnecessary 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to the Commissioner for Local Councils, Patrick 
Mutabwire, all of the 39 districts created between 2005 and 2009 
depend on the central government to cover 90 percent of their 
expedenditures.  At the moment, government service provision in new 
districts remains poor or nonexistent. 
 
¶6. (U) Viewing the creation of the new districts as a Presidential 
re-election tool, opposition parties have repeated demanded a 
moritorium on new districts until after the February 2011 elections. 
 The Director of Uganda's NGO Forum, Richard Ssewakiryanga, argued 
that instead of benefiting local populations, new unfunded districts 
are further impoverishing them, and added that Ugandans want roads 
and doctors, not new administrative districts.  European donors 
responsible for providing the Ugandan government with budget support 
have also expressed concern, as the creation of each new district 
spreads finite financial resources thinner and means donor funds fo 
for administrative rather than programmatic costs. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Will More Districts Mean More NRM Votes? 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) According to the Commisioner for Local Councils, new 
district start up costs range from USD 300,000 for smaller districts 
to USD 1 million for larger ones, and each new district employs 
between 250 to 500 local government employees/ new districts are 
attractive job creation mechanisms for the Ugandan government. 
These appointments provide a chance for the ruling National 
Resistance Movement (NRM) to reward specific constituencies and 
individuals, or entice opposition members back into the NRM camp. 
 
¶8. (U) On November 14 an editorial in the opposition newspaper said 
the "creation of districts for political expediency in the face of 
spiralling public expenditure is therefore retrogressive and 
unacceptable to the Ugandan tax payer."  The African Peer Review 
Mechanism's 2009 review for Uganda stated: "the proliferation of 
districts that are created largely on political grounds, and not on 
the basis of economic viability, has become a controversial issue 
that requires a political solution." 
 
¶9. (SBU) Many, but not all, of these new districts are in areas were 
the NRM suffered significant election losses in 2006, when 
 
KAMPALA 00001326  002 OF 002 
 
 
opposition presidential candidate Kizza Besigye won 19 of 69 
existing districts. Five of these 19 districts were split between 
2006 and 2009.  Six more Besigye districts are slated to be split in 
2009-2010, meaning that more than half of the districts won by the 
opposition in 2006 will have been significantly altered by the next 
presidential election in 2011. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Comment: Re-Districting as Re-Election Strategy 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶10. (SBU) It is difficult to identify a clear pattern to new 
district creation as many also occur in areas which supported of 
President Museveni.  Some new districts appear designed to weaken 
opposition support by elevating the status of local constituencies 
and giving the NRM an opportunity to reward key groups and 
individuals with government appointments.  Other districts seem 
designed to shore up support in pro-NRM areas where Museveni may be 
slipping, or quiet areas critical of the central government. 
Whatever the logic for creating so many new districts, the NRM 
clearly hopes the addition of more districts will lead to more votes 
in 2011. 
 
LANIER