Mr. Orone Derrick who walked his way out of Merry land High School, later on joined St. Lawrence University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration, a degree that ushered him to have public in mind than self. Ostensibly, he further managed Rydim Empire, an umbrella that housed musicians like; Eddy Kenzo, Mary Bata, David Lutalo and Grenade Official
With a calling to serve his people(Gogonyo), Derrick took an initiative to call off chasing individual interests and accolades to uplifting and raising the welfare standards of the people of Gogonyo, the then newly created constituency
Notably, Derrick, centered his manifesto on ten pillars; Improving health, Improving Education, Enhancing Communication, Job creation, Setting up of sub-Counties, Initiating SACCOS, Enhancing talents, Reviving of cultural dressing for women, Free scholarships and Agriculture innovation. These and many other sub-benefits were largely welcomed by the people of Gogonyo and on 14th January 2021, voted in his favour( and maintained the same in the by-election on 11th August, 2022)
With 2026, knocking the corner, it’s prudent to analyze and evaluate the performance of the smart, fashionistas, joyous and action hero MP, given his intent to move and walk the talk for another hot term
Based on the ground work(manifesto-wise), it largely appears, Hon.Derrick has so far delivered 85% of his manifesto to his people, with 2024-25 still at hand for proper harnessing and maximization of service delivery, a lot can be expected at the end of his first term.
To start with; Hon. Derrick has succeeded in securing more than 300 scholarships for Gogonyo County and scholastic materials for over 500 pupils in Gogonyo County and beyond, hence fulfilling his manifesto in fostering and improving education
Besides, Hon. Derrick has appended his name in the history of Pallisa district, for becoming the first person to launch a radio station(Pallisa FM), which has helped to ease communication within and across the district
Health- wise, Hon. Orone, has additionally succeeded in improving health, through purchase of ambulance to respond emergency matters and lobbing more from the Ministry of Health. Besides, he has further embarked on improving the standard of health centers within his constituency, an account meant to revamp the constituency’s dilapidated health structures
Agriculture being a backbone and a center for development, as per the Parish Development Model, Hon. Derrick has so far done ground work on agriculture through disbursement of fast growing seeds to constituents. To back up this, the already successful Farmers have been linked to good market for their produce hence raising the standards of living
Further, Hon. Derrick has funded SACCO Groups for Women, Fishermen, Farmers, Youth, mention them. This is intended to create self reliance among the people of Gogonyo other than dependency, which continues to be the major factor limiting economic growth country-wide. With such a move, it will definitely enable people to win the fight against absolute poverty
To teach a man how to fish and feed him for a life time, Hon. Orone has further used his diplomatic and visionary leadership to create employment opportunities for the people of Gogonyo and outside his constituency. This has been orchestrated through labour exportation to countries such as Dubai, Emirates and many others, training and skilling of people to be self reliant within the country.
With, majority of people benefiting from the projects so far, it’s apparent that Hon. Orone Derrick remains a devoted philanthropist, whose ideology is based on self reliance as opposed to dependency. It will be very obnoxious, if the intended beneficiaries don’t see the progress so far, contrary to that, they will have lost a diamond in search for a baited gold
The Author is a political commentator, a researcher/ a social worker – 0788620893/odekebazel2@gmail.
