Survey: National leaders don’t take into account ordinary Ugandan’s views when making decisions

Findings of a survey by Twaweza, a civil society organisation, have revealed that most ordinary Ugandans feel national leaders do not consider their views while making important decisions.

The survey report titled “Active and Engaged: Ugandan’s experiences of participation and citizen’s agency” based on data from Sauti za Wananchi, Africa’s first nationally representative high-frequency mobile phone survey.

The data was collected from 1,872 respondents across Uganda between 8 to 20th, December 2018.

According to the survey, citizens were asked if they agree or disagree that those in authority at national or sub county level take the opinion of ordinary Ugandans into account when making decisions on issues of public interest.

At least 52% of the respondents said national leaders only take into account what they believe or want but not the views of ordinary citizens while taking decisions.

Another 13% of the respondents said that they don’t know while only 35% appeared to believe that the leaders at national level take into account their opinions while making decisions.

In a separate research by the same institution, findings revealed that most public officials do not know that they are legally obliged to release information to the public.

Many think that they have discretion over what information to release and to who and are less willing to engage the ordinary citizens to come up with a solution.

Majority of the civil servants that were interviewed also claimed that people’s priorities have limited influence on policy.

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