Last week, local government minister Francis Kaboneka criticised local leaders of Northern Province for general poor performance in performance contracts (Imihigo). No district in Northern Province was rated among the best ten in the country, an indictment on the leaders in the districts.

However, leaders of the poor performing districts should look at this failure as an opportunity to reflect and come up with viable solutions. They should use this challenge to think out of the box and borrow a leaf from their colleagues in districts doing a better job. What is it that leaders in other provinces are doing that their counterparts in the Northern Province are not doing? What lessons can they pick from them?

Leaders from the struggling districts should undertake study tours to the districts which have performed outstandingly well and pick ideas which they can replicate. There is need to have more partnerships among districts in terms of exchanging ideas because Imihigo should not be looked at as a competition but rather a race where all the districts should reach the finish line together.

Everyone should be a winner in this race; no one should lag behind in this marathon to national development.

Leaders of the districts which are performing well should help their colleagues in the struggling districts.

The help can come in form of sharing experiences, and from such engagements, under- performing leaders will learn from their failures and work harder for better results.

Grassroots, local government and opinion leaders should collectively seek solutions to improve service delivery through teamwork.

With team work, we can overcome all the hurdles stopping some districts from meeting their Imihigo targets.