Why roads, markets, health centres and schools deserve the same scrutiny as local government failures
KAMPALA — Uganda’s development journey has evolved over decades, with the decentralisation system introduced in 1995 playing a significant role in bringing government services and public investment closer to citizens.
As journalists continue to report on challenges and failures in local governments, there is also a need to ask a broader question: What has Uganda achieved through decentralisation, and how are citizens experiencing those achievements?
The answers are visible in communities across the country—in roads, health centres, schools, markets and other public infrastructure that have brought services and economic opportunities closer to the people.
The development journey under President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s government since 1996 therefore deserves to be documented and examined alongside the challenges that remain.
This is not an argument for journalists to ignore failures. Where there is corruption, poor workmanship, delayed implementation or misuse of public resources, the media must investigate and report the facts.
But development journalism should also ask: What has been achieved? Who has benefited? What has changed? And what evidence demonstrates that change?
Look at Entebbe
Take Entebbe Municipality.
The story of local-government development can be seen on its roads, in its markets and in the services available to residents.
Under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development programme, Entebbe Municipal Council implemented the rehabilitation of several roads, including Church Road, measuring 2.072 kilometres; Fulu Road, 0.171 kilometres; Basudde Rise, 0.32 kilometres; and Nyondo Close, 0.131 kilometres.
According to the municipal council, the first phase was valued at Shs9.025 billion, with the completed roads commissioned in September 2016.
These figures are more than entries in a government document.
For a resident travelling to work, a trader transporting goods, a student going to school or a businessperson moving around the municipality, road infrastructure is part of everyday economic life.
The development story has continued.
In March 2025, Entebbe leaders broke ground for the 4.3-kilometre Kitooro-Kiwafu-Nakiwogo road project, with the municipality saying the upgrade would improve mobility and support economic activity.
The municipal council has also identified the 4.7-kilometre Sebugwawo-Bunono-Abayita Ababiri road and the 1.4-kilometre Kitinda link among its infrastructure projects.
These are the kinds of projects journalists should follow from planning and budgeting through procurement and construction to completion and, most importantly, their impact on residents.
Kitooro Market: Where infrastructure meets enterprise
Then there is Kitooro Market, another example of where infrastructure meets economic activity.
The modern market was inaugurated in 2021 and constructed under the Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Project Phase II.
According to Entebbe Municipal Council, the market has 1,075 spaces comprising stalls and lock-up shops, alongside sanitation, security and parking facilities.
This is an important economic story.
A market is not simply a building. It is a place where farmers meet traders, traders meet consumers, businesses create employment and families earn incomes.
A journalist visiting Kitooro Market should therefore ask: How many traders are operating? What businesses are growing? What products are being sold? How has the new infrastructure changed trading conditions? What challenges remain?
That is how a newsroom can turn an infrastructure project into a meaningful economic story.
Busia shows another side of decentralisation
The same approach can be applied to Busia.
Located in eastern Uganda, Busia’s economy is closely connected to trade and cross-border activity. The district’s development records show public expenditure in sectors directly connected to citizens’ livelihoods.
For the 2018/19 financial year, the district reported Shs30.97 billion in central-government releases, including more than Shs664 million for rural-road maintenance, Shs3.53 billion for health and Shs15.48 billion for education.
In the following financial year, the district projected Shs31.86 billion in total releases, with about Shs664 million for rural-road maintenance, Shs3.53 billion for health and Shs15.53 billion for education.
These figures demonstrate why local-government reporting should go beyond political statements.
Behind every budget allocation is a real question:
What did the money deliver?
Did the road improve access to markets? Did investment in health improve services? Did education spending improve learning conditions? Did citizens receive value for money?
These are questions journalists should answer by going to the ground and independently verifying the evidence.
The road is the beginning of the economic story
A road should never be treated merely as asphalt, gravel or kilometres.
A road is a connection between producers and markets. It can improve the transportation of agricultural produce, increase access to schools and health centres, and make movement easier for businesses and households.
That is why local-government infrastructure deserves sustained reporting.
A reporter should not only arrive when there is a pothole.
The reporter should also return when a road has been constructed and ask:
What has changed? Who is benefiting? What businesses have emerged? What challenges remain?
Those questions provide a more complete account of development.
Health centres and schools deserve the same attention
The same principle applies to health centres.
When government or local authorities invest in a health facility, the newsroom should establish what that investment has delivered.
Are health workers available? Are medicines and essential services available? How many patients are being served? What has improved? What remains unresolved?
Education requires the same scrutiny.
A new school building is important, but the journalist should look beyond the walls.
Are there enough teachers? Are learners attending? Are classrooms adequate? Are desks and sanitation facilities available? What has changed for parents and learners?
That is the difference between merely reporting a project and reporting its impact.
Tell the complete local-government story
Uganda’s decentralisation system was designed to bring government closer to citizens.
The Ministry of Local Government currently lists 135 districts, 10 cities, 31 municipalities, 1,487 sub-counties, 589 town councils, 10,716 parishes and 71,218 villages.
That represents thousands of communities where the development story can be investigated.
The newsroom therefore has an opportunity to move beyond press conferences and political exchanges and go where public investment is visible.
Go to the road.
Go to the market.
Go to the health centre.
Go to the school.
Talk to the people.
Examine the figures.
Ask the difficult questions.
Then tell the story.
Criticism remains necessary—but so is recognition
There is nothing wrong with exposing failures. Indeed, journalism must remain a watchdog.
But effective watchdog journalism should examine both problems and progress.
If a project fails, report it.
If public money is misused, investigate it.
If a contractor does poor work, establish the facts.
But if public investment has delivered a road, market, school or health facility that is serving citizens, that too deserves scrutiny and space in the newspaper.
The public deserves journalism that is critical, independent, evidence-based and complete.
Uganda’s development story cannot be written only from government offices. It must also be written from the roads of Entebbe, the stalls of Kitooro Market, the communities of Busia and the many schools and health centres spread across the country.
The question before the newsroom is therefore not simply, “What has failed?”
It is also:
“What has changed, who has benefited, what challenges remain, and what evidence can we show the public?”
That is how Uganda’s local-government story can be told with accuracy, conscience and clarity.
Ben Kumumanya is the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government.
The post Beyond the Failures: Kumumanya urges journalists to tell Uganda’s local government development story appeared first on Watchdog Uganda.