Importance of ICT's especially FM radio's in Governance

The Uganda National ICT policy (2003) clearly explains the importance of access and use of the ICT tools to the local citizens. It highlights the potential of ICT tools to improve delivery of development services, transparency and governance through availability of public domain, particularly rural citizens [pg. 9]. However, the rural women and youth who comprise 70 percent of the total population in 7 districts of the Rwenzori region, face serious manipulation, and many times, intimidated to access public information and knowledge sharing on democratic dialogue and monitoring public accountability for improved service delivery from their political leaders. This is because of ignorance (local citizen not knowing what resources belong to them), illiteracy, and conservative cultures limiting women in decision making and demanding information concerning service delivery, economic dependency and poverty to access ICT tools like computers and the internet based tools, TVs and skills training.

Due to years of inadequate good governance traits based on transparency, engagement of local citizens in determining their priority needs and vigorously demanding public accountability without fear in Uganda, there has been tremendous manipulation and wastage of public resources. Transparency International ranks Uganda among the most corrupt countries in the world (TI Corruption Index 2011), while World Bank according to its 2010 Report estimates that between 500 to 700 billion Ugandan shillings is lost in corruption annually. Yet, the same amount of money is estimated to construct 50 modern hospitals to improve rural healthcare or 20 medium scale agro-processing industries to employ at least 100,000 jobless youth per year and increase exports of valued-added products. The same amount of money can build 100 modern secondary schools or construct 1,250 kilometers of tarmac roads to ease transport for rural agribusiness entrepreneurs to access better markets in urban centers, attract more foreign investors and ease access to health facilities for rural citizens particularly expectant mothers, to mention but a few. This trend of misappropriation of public resources has a negative impact on the Uganda National Development Plan (April, 2010), which desires to transform the Ugandan society from peasantry into a modern, industrious and prosperous one within the next 30 years. Interestingly, the same National Development Plan also acknowledges that there is serious lack of modern ICT skills and knowledge in the population that would propel local citizens to engage government for social economic development, especially in the rural areas (pg. 126), which this project specifically targets.

Being largely a subsistence agricultural population characterized by low incomes, FM radio fits well with the lifestyle of many people in Uganda and becomes a “hub” for converging all other sources/tools of information access for improved monitoring of service delivery. It is a popular media channel because it does not require electricity, and because people can listen to the radio while they work or walk. By broadcasting in local languages, radio goes a long way in addressing the information needs of the local citizens, especially on service delivery.