Western Districts Dominance Persists: Isingiro Tops 2025 LGMSD Assessment As Eastern Districts Lag Behind
KAMPALA — The Office of the Prime Minister has released the 2025 Local Government Management of Service Delivery (LGMSD) Performance Assessment results, once again highlighting a familiar pattern—continued dominance by western Uganda in public service delivery, alongside persistent underperformance in several eastern and northeastern districts.
Isingiro District emerged as the best-performing local government with an impressive 98.37 percent, followed closely by Kiruhura District at 97.10 percent. The two western region strongholds maintained their reputation for consistent high performance, excelling across key sectors including education, health, water and sanitation, and production services.
Urban councils in the central region also delivered strong results. Nansana Municipal Council ranked third with 94.50 percent, marking a significant leap from its previous position. Kira Municipal Council followed in fourth place at 93.88 percent, while Njeru Municipal Council secured fifth with 93.75 percent, one of the most notable improvements in this year’s assessment.
Other top performers included:
* Kazo District – 93.12 percent
* Sembabule District – 92.35 percent
* Mukono Municipality – 91.75 percent
* Mpigi District – 91.08 percent
* Ibanda Municipal Council – 91.00 percent
These top 10 local governments demonstrated strong compliance with minimum conditions in staffing, financial management, accountability, and delivery of services across critical sectors such as education, health, water, production, and infrastructure.
Nationally, performance improved modestly to 67.23 percent, up from 60.15 percent in the previous assessment. Water and sanitation emerged as the best-performing sector at 73.08 percent, followed by production services. However, infrastructure and asset management remained the weakest link at just 60.24 percent, reflecting ongoing struggles in maintaining roads, bridges, and public facilities.
Struggling Districts Raise Red Flags
At the lower end of the rankings, several local governments posted worrying results, raising concerns about equity in service delivery.
Tororo Municipal Council ranked last with 33.74 percent, followed by:
* Bukwo District – 35.32 percent
* Kotido Municipal Council – 37.06 percent
* Kween District – 39.32 percent
* Bulambuli District – 40.22 percent
* Bugiri District – 41.00 percent
* Buyende District – 42.07 percent
* Kapchorwa District – 45.37 percent
* Agago District – 45.89 percent (down from 66.22 percent previously)
* Kaliro District – 46.56 percent
A clear regional pattern emerges, with many of the lowest performers concentrated in eastern and northeastern Uganda. Leaders from these areas cite difficult terrain, chronic staffing gaps linked to national recruitment freezes, and limited funding as key obstacles to improved performance.
Bukwo District Chairperson Marisa Cheptegei pointed to inadequate road funding and equipment shortages, particularly in mountainous areas, as major constraints. Other local leaders argue that the assessment framework does not sufficiently account for structural disadvantages faced by newly created or resource-constrained districts.
Policy Gains Or Persistent Gaps?
Government officials, including Justine Kasule Lumumba, have described the results as evidence that flagship programmes such as the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga are beginning to deliver incremental gains in service delivery.
However, critics remain cautious.
A national average still below 70 percent—after years of assessments—points to deeper systemic issues within Uganda’s decentralisation framework, including uneven resource distribution, limited fiscal autonomy at local level, and weak accountability enforcement in some regions.
Funding Implications
The LGMSD assessment carries significant financial implications. The results directly inform the allocation of performance-based grants for the upcoming financial year, meaning top performers are likely to receive larger funding envelopes, while low-performing districts are required to implement corrective action plans under the supervision of OPM and line ministries.
This dynamic, analysts warn, risks widening the gap between well-performing and struggling districts if underlying structural challenges are not addressed.
A Growing Regional Divide
Watchdog Uganda notes that while several urban municipalities have improved through enhanced revenue mobilisation and tighter financial controls, the persistent regional divide remains a major concern.
Western and central Uganda continue to dominate the rankings, while eastern counterparts struggle to keep pace—raising critical questions about whether Uganda’s decentralisation policy is delivering equitable outcomes across all regions.
The full league tables and detailed performance reports are expected to be published on the OPM website and OPAMS portal in the coming days.
For many Ugandans, especially in underperforming districts, the expectation remains unchanged: functional health centres, adequately staffed schools, reliable water sources, and motorable roads.
Until these basics are consistently delivered, the annual rankings—however improved—will continue to be measured not just by percentages, but by their impact on everyday life.
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Watchdog Uganda will continue to track how these findings translate into real service delivery improvements across the country.
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