The Executive Director Cross Foundation – Uganda (CCFU) Emily Drani, has appealed to Uganda leaders preparing to contest for 2011 Uganda General elections to incorporate issues of culture in their manifestos.

Activities of cultural heads like King Oyo will be incorporated in Citizens Manifesto

As part of the team preparing a Citizens Manifesto for Ugandans in preparation for Uganda 2011 general elections being developed by a collation of Civil Society Organizations, Drani says culture is an important component of development.

In a statement seen by Ultimate Media, Drani says that CCFU will ensure that all development processes in the country including governance initiatives take into account cultural dimensions.

The manifesto which was conceptualized by the Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform (UGMP) in 2009 aims at placing Ugandan citizens at the forefront of shaping their political future by holding their leaders accountable inform of manifestos that reflect their social, economic and political demands for which leaders success or failure will be gauged.

The citizen’s manifesto was conceived by Uganda Civil society organizations after realizing that Uganda citizen lack of concern to political issues was a major hindrance to demand for good governance. Uganda’s political leadership was also not responsive to citizen’s demands because they were not properly articulated in the political system.

According to Drani, the citizen’s manifesto will be a long term project that will establish ‘a Mechanism for sustained dialogue/conversations between citizens and leaders’.

She says, the post election citizen manifesto agenda will be the bedrock of a Movement for Political Accountability in Uganda and will be anchored around issues of Regular Citizen Surgeries, Citizen Parliamentary or Council Calls, Budget Analysis, Policy and Legislation audits and annual presidential manifesto audits.

By Solomon Akugizibwe, Ultimate Media