ACODE Research Fellow, Lilian Tamale, says although the gap looks insignificant, it is not because it instead shows how great women councillors performed because of the challenges they go through in mostly male-led district councils.
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Mbale District Council Speaker, Muhammed Mafabi, who narrowly beat Amuria's Ketty Akol as Best Speaker 2016/17
The 2016/17 Local Government Councils Scorecard Assessment shows that district councils chaired by male speakers tend to stifle female councillors' participation in debates and other council activities.
The scorecard, released by policy think-tank Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), shows that male councillors generally performed better than their female counterparts.
The scorecard covers 35 districts, ranging from small, medium and large. Of the 35 districts, only four have female speakers.
The results show that the average total score for male councillors, 46 points, was slightly higher than that of women councillors, at 42 points.
ACODE Research Fellow, Lilian Tamale, says although the gap looks insignificant, it is not because it instead shows how great women councillors performed because of the challenges they go through in mostly male-led district councils.
According to Tamale, says male speakers tend to undermine and skip female councillors, going for mainly male ones, a trend noted in most of the districts assessed.
Tamale says to the contrary, councils headed by female speakers had near equal participation of both males and females, pointing that the female speakers are more democratic in handling council businesses.
She says women councillors by scoring 42 points, to the males 46, is proof of how hard they are working in settings that are structurally against them.
Tamale says the performance is even juicer when one factors in the fact that women councillors tend to represent two sub-counties compared to just one by their male counterparts.
Among the speakers, the second best performer was a female, Ketty Akol of Amuria District, representing Kapelebyong sub-county and belonging to the Uganda People's Congress party.
The third best speaker is also a female, Kabarole's Stella Kyorampe.
The other two female speakers in the scorecard also performed well, with Moroto's Rose Adero coming 8th and Kabale's Ruth Loy Zikampereza in 21st position.
Speaking at the event, Amuria District Speaker, Ketty Akol, who emerged second best performer, said she always vouch for collective effort of councillors and technocrats, adding that the scorecard energises her to perform even better.
Akol said she is not happy being awarded for best performance and not the district, meaning that there is still work to do to make Amuria District better.
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Producer/Staff Reporter
