HE President Yoweri Museveni has said that his government introduced the decentralisation system of government to strengthen the local government as a way of empowering communities to participate in the development process. He said this was a great way of working to find solutions to the challenges facing them as a community than relying on the centre for solutions. President Museveni was speaking at the opening the 2013 Commonwealth Local Government Conference in Kampala, Uganda on 14 May which is run by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum and this year was hosted by the government of Uganda. He described local governance and the decentralisation of power from the centre to local governments as the most important tool for service delivery and development planning.

President Museveni, who is also the Patron of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, also welcomed Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa who also spoke at the opening.  They were joined by CLGF Chairperson Lawrence Yule, Uganda Minister for Local Government and CLGF Vice-chairperson Adolf Mwesige, EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera, Uganda Local Governments Association President Cllr Odok Peter W’Oceng and CLGF Secretary-General Carl Wright. After the opening session, the two Presidents opened the trade exhibition CLGCExpo2013 which ran alongside the conference and met with the stallholders.

Full text of President Museveni’s speech to the 2013 Commonwealth Local Government Conference