“If you give me chalk, I will teach discipline and impart knowledge, if you give me a lesson scheme, I will plan for development. If you give me a microphone, I will speak truth to the people and sensitize the wanainchi if you give me a ledger, I will account for every shilling. That is how I will run Dokolo.”
With those words, Peter Ogwang “Petero”, newly sworn in as LC5 Chairman of Dokolo District, opened a new chapter for a district sitting on one of Africa’s most vital arteries: the Jinja-Mbale-Soroti-Lira-Gulu corridor that stretches north to Juba and forms part of the Trans-Africa Highway.
For Petero, that geography is not a footnote, it is a mandate.
“Dokolo is not on the sidelines of history, we are on the highway that connects East Africa to South Sudan, that carries trade, culture, and ideas across borders. A district on the Trans-Africa Highway cannot afford to think like a village. We must think like a gateway”, he said.
There is already an aura of excitement among stakeholders, especially the technical staff, who are eager to see and work with the mid-age man with three trades.
They expect him to employ his skills and experience to govern a district whose name excites Ugandans from Kisoro to Kyenjo, Bushenyi and Ibanda to Masaka and Nakasongola, Hoima up to West Nile, Acholi and Karamoja alike.
“Dokolo is not an obscure name, it sits on the map of Uganda’s imagination” Petero said and quickly added: “When a district is known from the mountains of Kisoro to the cattle corridors of Karamoja, failure is not an option. The country is watching.”
From Classroom to Council: The Tools of a Teacher.
Petero, a secondary school teacher by training, abandoned blackboard chalk for the microphone and became a household name as “Petero” on Rhino FM 96.1 Lira and Kiira FM 88.6 Jinja. He later moved into business consultancy; he now says those three trades are the instruments of his governance.
“In the classroom, I learned that nothing works without a plan, the lesson scheme is sacred because it respects the time and mind of the learner.
In Dokolo, our budget will be our lesson scheme. Every project will have an objective, a method, and a measurable outcome. No more teaching chaos and calling it development”, Peter Ogwang declared.
He pledged the same discipline he used behind the microphone to public communication: “A leader who cannot explain policy to a farmer in Adok or Alapata cannot lead that farmer. The microphone is not for slogans, it is for clarity, for accountability, and for listening., so I will speak often, but I will listen more”, the former radio presenter cum political leader said.
From the studio, he brings a rule no presenter can ignore: “No presenter goes live without a script, without research, without prior preparation. You do not guess on air. In Dokolo, we will not govern by guesswork either. Every decision will be researched, prepared, and defended with facts. That is how you respect the people.”
And the ledger? “Every shilling that enters Dokolo is not ours, it belongs to the mother in Amuda who walks 5km for medicine, to the youth in Agwata who need skills, to the trader on the highway who needs security. I will govern with an open ledger because a leader who fears scrutiny has something to hide.”
“Corruption Must Not Be Lip Service”
Administered by Lira Chief Magistrate His Worship Humphrey Joe Adoko, Petero Ogwang’s maiden ceremony at the District Headquarters was blunt. He said the fight against corruption must not be a slogan to numb the population. Key stakeholders must be seen doing the right thing.
He reminded civil servants, who prefer the title ‘technical staff’, that they are the implementors of government programs from the center to the village.
“Do not sleep on the job, this will be a term of no sleep and zero corruption, just as the President promised. I will offer you maximum cooperation and a harmonious working relationship. My style is leadership by and through consultation”, he told CAO Oryomo Grangfil Omonda and his team.
He called for value for money and an end to procurement scandals. He also warned against the sale of jobs through the District Service Commission, which he described as an “eye sore for years.”
“Service delivery also means sons and daughters of the district whose poor parents sold land to educate them get jobs, instead of those jobs being sold to children of the wealthy who are already empowered”, the LC5 boss said.
Challenges on the Ground.
Petero Ogwang, who hails from a humble background in Bar-dege, Bata Sub- County, cited Dokolo’s urgent needs: poor roads, ill-equipped health facilities that force mothers to use unsafe Traditional Birth Attendants, a laughable standard of education, dysfunctional water sources including dead boreholes, and inadequate funding.
He noted the irony of his village name: “Bar-dege means a place of many aero planes, yet not even a single scrap or spare part of a plane has ever been seen in the entire sub-county. We will change that symbolism; we will build a district that flies.”
Politics Ends at the Ballot. Service Begins After.
Though he is “100 percent UPC” and won under the Uganda People’s Congress banner, Petero said campaigns are over.
“I will religiously ensure that the NRM manifesto under President Yoweri Museveni, who won with 71% on January 15 and was sworn in on May 12, is implemented to the dot, together with our district programs. Both target the ordinary citizen.”
“When health centers have no drugs, when roads are bad, when education fails, when waterborne diseases spread, everyone is affected irrespective of party. So let us work together”, he appealed.
He urged households to embrace Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga, and Operation Wealth Creation.
“Poverty knows no boundary, color, or faith. Every home in Dokolo must join the money economy.”
Dokolo on the Highway of Opportunity.
Petero Ogwang’s first act will be to convene technical staff, security, religious, and cultural leaders.
“My approach is leadership by consultation. The highway that runs through us carries many voices: Acholi, Busoga, Bukedi, Teso, including traders from Juba, truck drivers from Mombasa. If we listen, Dokolo can become the rest stop of ideas, investment, and integrity”, he said.
Running under UPC, he says the party’s founding ideals of national unity and service are not nostalgia but a blueprint for healing.
“The UPC taught us that Uganda is bigger than tribe and bigger than fear. Dokolo, sitting on the Trans-Africa Highway, must live that truth. We will not be a district that begs for attention. We will be a district that earns it through discipline, production, and peace.”
Like President Museveni has repeatedly told Ugandans, being along the tarmac alone does not automatically translate to wealth. This follows years of persistent demands by locals and their leaders for paved roads.
Building on that warning, Petero Ogwang urged Dokolo residents, especially the youth to stop merely sitting by the highway to count and admire the numerous vehicles that ply the route.
“You must be strategic, produce goods and services that passengers and travelers can buy, turn this highway from a spectacle into a marketplace. That is how you get daily income and improve your living standards”.
For Petero Ogwang, the Jinja-Mbale-Soroti-Dokolo-Lira-Gulu-Juba corridor is not a mere roadside attraction but Dokolo must trade on it not just live beside it.
Restoring Dokolo’s Image.
Carved from Lira in 2005 and operational since July 2006, Dokolo has been selected for the national malaria vaccination program alongside Oyam, Kole, Alebtong, and Lira City.
“When investors look at the map, they see the Jinja-Mbale-Soroti-Lira-Gulu-Juba corridor. When they look at Dokolo, I want them to see opportunity. We will clean our image, secure our routes, educate our children, and protect our people. The world passes through us. Let them say Dokolo works.”
Conclusion.
With an MBA from UMI, a Bachelor’s in Development Studies, and a Diploma in Education from Kyambogo, Petero blends academic rigor with street-level business and communication.
He closed with a promise: the speech on Friday is not a performance, it is a contract. Dokolo’s time on the margins is over. Our time on the highway of progress has begun.
About Peter Ogwang ‘Petero’.
Peter Ogwang is a business consultant, entrepreneur, former radio presenter, and educator. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from UMI, a Bachelor’s in Development Studies, and a Diploma in Education from Kyambogo University.
He is now the LC5 Chairman of Dokolo District under the Uganda People’s Congress, running on a platform of servant leadership, unity, and inclusive development.
The Exposure Uganda Conclusion / Position:
TEU therefore advises both the political and technical leadership in Dokolo and across all districts to abandon the politics of supremacy and embrace the discipline of service.
The LC5 Chairman must lead with humility and consultation, not confrontation. The CAO must execute with integrity and transparency, not defiance or delay.
Corruption, ego, and arrogance are not tools of governance; they are the very reasons districts fail. Ugandans did not vote for noise, and they did not recruit technocrats for sabotage.
They entrusted both offices with one mandate: to deliver. Let the chairman hold the chalk, let the CAO hold the ledger, but let both write on the same blackboard: the welfare of the wanainchi.
There is no prize for winning internal fights. There is only shame in losing the public trust. Dokolo is on the Trans-Africa Highway. Let it be known as the district where politics and technocracy worked together, not where they worked against each other.
We Expose, You Decide.
