Why Banya Is A Beacon Of Hope For The People Of Koboko County

ARUA. In his third year of diligent service as Muni University Secretary, Emmanuel Banya Natal has said he is now ready to resign his position for the sake of the people of Koboko County in Koboko district.

Banya has shown interest in contesting as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Koboko County, replacing James Baba, who is retiring from active politics at the end of this term.

He appreciated the former diplomat and minister for his distinguished service to the people of Koboko and Uganda and said that his approach, though different, will be to augment what Hon Baba has accomplished.

Banya, a professional Public Administrator, served as a Town Clerk in Koboko Town Council, Tororo, Hoima Municipality, Soroti and Kitgum Municipality before becoming the University Secretary, all leaving a tremendous mark of development.

Wherever he worked, Banya was able to unite the people, improve education standards and build modern markets under Market and Agriculture Trade Improvement (MATIP) program among other forms of development.

As a result, while bidding farewell after his transfer to Soroti Municipality, the people of Hoima rewarded Banya with a 46-inch television screen and a mattress in appreciation for the good service he rendered to them.

Meanwhile in Soroti and Kitgum Municipalities, Banya was appreciated with two cows each while leaving, a rare sign of love from the people.

Now at Muni University, Banya has been challenged by the leadership gap back home, a reason he has decided to resign from his juicy job next year so as to go and make a contribution in the lives of his people in Koboko County.

He says that he had already started making small contributions through provision of a tractor for a farmers’ group and training of teachers to upscale education in Koboko district.

“You see, politics is not an employment, politics is not a job, politics is service. Over the years, from my experience of managing Tororo, Hoima, Soroti, in Acholi, I have learnt a few things that I feel have a very big dichotomy between what is done there and what is done here in our region as West Nile. At a personal level, one of the reasons why I am aspiring to go to politics is because there are challenges that we find at the local level that we think would be addressed by leaders, but somehow these leaders seem not to see the reality of what is going on the ground,” Banya told journalists on Tuesday, December 10, 2024.

He added that: “Take my own place, Koboko County, for the last three years, I have been following the trend of performance in Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). If you look at last year for example, in the whole of Koboko County, a County of six Local Governments (Sub-Counties), we had only nine first grades in PLE. Now the question is what are we doing as leaders to improve this situation? I have tried at my level here, as a university, we have tried to prepare our pupils for national examinations. I took teachers here with sample examinations and administered them for the pupils there in Koboko, they did it and there was slight improvement but it was not really measurable.”

Similarly, Banya said the performance in their giant secondary schools like St. Charles Lwanga College has been deteriorating over the years.

“Now if those of us who have achieved something in life and have risen to these positions don’t take leadership to go and stimulate new energy in the communities, who else will do that? So, you will realize now that the passion for going to politics is not personal, it is community oriented. If it was personal, I think I’m satisfied with the job I have. With this job I can pay school fees for my children and I can live a decent life as a family,” he remarked.

However, Banya said he has made contributions in all other parts of the country, adding that time has now come for him to give back to his people of Koboko County before retiring.

“The longing to make a contribution in the lives of the people down there is what is taking me for politics,” Banya stated

Once given the opportunity, Banya said he will use his office as an MP to ensure that there is a reboot of the whole education system to ensure that teachers are taken through refresher training so that they are able to set examination questions other than relying on questions set from elsewhere.

He also intends to work hard to ensure that most of the teachers in Koboko become national examiners to acquaint them with the current examination standards.

“Besides, as an MP who has people in mind, you can own a small room in town, put printeries there for schools to come with reams of papers to print, photocopy and take the materials back for the children to have revision, introduce reward systems for teachers who excel, introduce bursaries for children who excel in the district, lobby and bring parents together to understand that a child can’t study when they are hungry,” Banya explained.

“I realized our communities listen to politicians; they respect politicians but the disappointing part of it is that most politicians don’t take advantage of the respect that the communities give them to change their lives and that is why I want to go and serve my people of Koboko County to empower them socially and economically. We need leaders who have a clear diagnosis of what the community challenges are so that we don’t just miscalculate resources,” Banya emphasized.

Apart from education, Banya said there is also a need to encourage the communities to move into smart agriculture using technologies such as tractors among others.

He appealed to the youths who are in the Boda Boda industry to give part of the money they make to their parents to invest in smart agriculture which will in turn support them.

“But again, we need to diversify the sources of income for our youths. At the moment, the only thing which comes to a young man’s mind is Boda Boda. I think as Muni University, we have tried to diversify that; we are already doing skills development in so many things like carpentry, wielding, motorcycle repairs, mechanics, bakery, saloon and the rest. We are doing all these so that youths have a livelihood in a different way, so those are the ideas I want to go and promote in Koboko County to transform our society,” Banya promised.

Banya, a long time NRM member who started his journey with the party in 1998 as the Midia Sub-County NRM Youth Wing Secretary, intends to work closely with the government to ensure that the health sector is equally well funded.

He also wants to use his position when elected, to attract and encourage the people to embrace the different government programs like EMYOOGA, the Youth Livelihood and the Parish Development Model (PDM) among others.

Who is Emmanuel Banya Natal?

Banya was born on December 26, 1976 in Angule village, Lurunu Parish, Midia Sub-County in Koboko County, Koboko district.

He went to Anyakalio Primary School (PS) and studied up to P.6 before changing to Teremunga PS where he completed his P.7 in 1991.

Banya later joined St. Charles Lwanga College – Koboko in 1992 up to 1995 when he completed his Ordinary Level of Education.

After four years in St. Charles Lwanga, Banya then joined the Comboni College in Lira for his Advanced Level of Education.

From there, he joined Uganda Martyrs University where he did Bachelors in Development Studies.

When he completed his undergraduate studies, Banya started his career as a volunteer in Kamuli district with Students’ Partnership Worldwide, a British Charity Organization working with the young people on life skills. He was deployed in Budiope Secondary School (SS) and worked there for eight months.

Banya later came back to Arua and got a job as the Sub-County Chief of Rhino Camp Sub County in 2003.

He worked at Rhino Camp Sub-County up to 2005 when he got a scholarship to go to the Netherlands to do his Masters in Public Policy and Management.

After completing his course, Banya returned to Uganda and Arua district posted him to Adumi Sub-County as a Sub County Chief.

He later enrolled for a Postgraduate Diploma in Urban Governance and Management at Uganda Management Institute (UMI).

Banya also enrolled at UMI for another Masters in Business Administration and Management, a second Masters to his name.

But prior to that in 2004, Banya went to Law Development Center and got a Certificate in Administrative Law besides many other short courses he did like Certificate in Foreign Relations attained in China, Certificate in Drip Irrigation in Israel, Certificate in Strategic Management at UMI, and Certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation also at UMI among others.

While at Adumi Sub-County, Banya realized that the work load was too small for him given the work pressure he was subjected to during his Masters abroad.  

Banya would work up to 11:00am and feel he is already idle without any more work to do. He felt the job wasn’t giving him the challenge he deserved and decided to resign.

He then joined Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD) as a Programs Manager. While at CEFORD, Banya was able to pursue two big projects for the West Nile sub-region worth over two billion Ugandan shillings from the Netherlands Embassy.

The project funds were used for mainly constructing a number of teachers’ houses in Arua and Nebbi districts. He worked at CEFORD for six months as the Programs Manager and later acted as the Executive Director (ED) for another six months when the contract of the then ED was terminated.

From CEFORD, Banya was called by the people of Koboko to come and serve them as the substantive Town Clerk of Koboko Town Council.

It took Banya time to decide to leave the job at CEFORD from which he was earning Shs2.3m per month, to go for a job of Shs750,000 per month. But because of the love and the need to serve his people, Banya left CEFORD and applied for the job at Koboko Town Council and passed the interviews.

He served at Koboko Town Council from 2008 up to 2012 when internal adverts were made by the Public Service Commission.

Banya applied and also passed the interviews and was promoted as the Town Clerk of Tororo Municipal Council.

He worked in Tororo for a year and he was later transferred to Hoima. From Hoima, Banya was taken to Soroti Municipal Council and then to Kitgum Municipal Council.

In all these transfers, the Ministry was relying on Banya to go and solve problems that were affecting service delivery in those Municipalities, a job he did diligently before applying for the post of University Secretary which he is currently holding at Muni University.