Legislators have questioned district officials over staffing shortages, inadequate funding and alleged illegal fees in public schools and health facilities, warning that the challenges are undermining services despite government investment.
Tororo District MPs have tasked education and health officials with explaining persistent service delivery failures in public institutions, citing inadequate funding, staffing shortages and allegations that schools and health facilities are charging for services meant to be free.
The concerns emerged during a meeting convened by the Tororo MPs' Caucus, bringing together headteachers, health sector managers and legislators to examine challenges affecting the two sectors and propose solutions to the government.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Tanga Odoi, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Electoral Commission chairperson, who challenged education officials over reports that schools were imposing additional fees on parents, particularly those struggling to support their children.
Odoi said such charges placed an unnecessary burden on poor households and called for accountability among school administrators.
“When I start telling you, my friend, you are increasing fees and doing this against poor parents, you say Tanga wants to interfere with my job. I have data and I am a fighter. For education, I will fight you because the peasants are suffering,” Odoi said.
The meeting followed reports that Minister of State for Local Government Balaam Barugahara had uncovered cases of public schools and health facilities charging for services that should be provided free of charge.
However, education officials at the meeting attributed some of the financial pressures facing schools to inadequate government funding, arguing that the current capitation grants were insufficient to meet operational costs.
Under the allocations cited by the officials, government provides Shs53,300 per secondary school learner and Shs6,600 per primary school pupil.
The officials also raised concerns about the reported directive discouraging parents from making additional payments to schools, warning that restricting such contributions without increasing government funding could worsen the institutions' financial difficulties.
One headteacher said the funding constraints had affected learners' welfare, including candidates sitting their national examinations without adequate meals.
“Right now, we have candidates sitting their national examinations on empty stomachs, so we need to call parents back to their responsibilities,” the headteacher said.
The concerns highlighted the tension between protecting parents from unauthorised charges and ensuring schools have sufficient resources to provide basic services to learners.
Health officials similarly cited funding constraints, particularly for medicines, as a major contributor to recurring stock-outs in public health facilities.
At Tororo General Hospital, officials said the facility receives approximately Shs151 million for medicines every two months, an allocation they described as inadequate to meet demand.
A health official said the hospital needed about Shs282 million per funding cycle to address recurring shortages.
“If we are actually to handle the issue of constant stock-outs, we need about Shs282 million in every cycle,” the official said.
The figures suggest a shortfall of approximately Shs131 million per cycle between the reported allocation and the hospital's estimated requirements.
The shortages raise concerns about the ability of public health facilities to maintain adequate medicine supplies while meeting the needs of patients who depend on government services.
Tororo MPs' Caucus chairperson Richard Owere Machika said several of the issues raised required policy interventions, particularly those relating to staffing and funding.
“Many of them are policy issues, for instance, staffing gaps. We shall table these before the government,” Machika said.
The legislators called for an increase in the government wage bill to facilitate the recruitment of additional teachers and health workers, alongside higher allocations to the education and health sectors.
They said addressing the funding and staffing gaps would improve service delivery, ease pressure on public institutions and strengthen accountability among officials responsible for managing government resources.
The caucus pledged to present the concerns and proposed interventions to the government for consideration.