The Minister for Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has implored the Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and Resident City Commissioners (RCCs) to intensify mobilisation for government in order to make Ugandans appreciate the achievements of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government.
“As the chief mobilizers in the Districts and Cities; mobilisation is going to be a major preoccupation in the coming period up to 2026. But this should be simple. If you fight corruption in order to improve service delivery; if you monitor and supervise government programs; if you undertake performance audits aimed at assessing value for money and if you double-check expenditures for local governments etc, you will have covered much ground for mobilisation,” she said.
Hon. Babalanda made the remarks today during the closure of a 3-day capacity building workshop for RDCs, RCCs, their deputies, DISOs and RISO in Greater Masaka, held at Hotel Brovad, Masaka City.
The Minister informed the commissioners that they cannot be government representatives but fear to talk for the government or mobilise for it.
“Therefore, multiply your efforts at mobilisation. In the coming elections, the NRM must score much better in Buganda. Try to understand why the NRM did not perform well in your areas and bridge these gaps. If we did well in your areas, try to multiply these achievements,” she said.
Furthermore, Hon. Babalanda cautioned the commissioners against involving themselves in corruption tendencies.
“I have been receiving complaints about a few of you who are castigated for using a lot of force to handle the members of the public and for participating in corruption tendencies especially in land matters. There are also reports of some of you aiding land grabbers. These problems are largely reported here in the Buganda area,” she said.
“These are acts of corruption which the office of the president cannot put up with. These behaviours are very unfortunate especially if they are coming from Offices that represent H.E the President in the districts. They put the presidency in disrepute. You should be reminded here that you are public servants and you are not immune to the laws of this country. You will be personally held to account in these cases and you will be accordingly subjected to prosecution.”
Nonetheless, the Minister expressed gratitude to the RDCs for their continuous reports to the Presidency on their fight against corruption in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
“However, you are asked to go further by opening up General Enquiry Files against the Corrupt; have them arrested and then prosecuted in the Courts of Laws. Because of the overload of work that he has at the Centre, Brig. Gen Isoke will find you on the way. He cannot be everywhere at the same time,” she said.
“As RDCs/RCCs you have the mandate to arrest and cause investigations and because of this, I do not expect you to transfer to Kampala the matters of corruption where you have the mandate to act. Cause the arrest and the investigations and only share with us the reference numbers of the General Enquiry Files opened against the corrupt. My Office, that of Brig. Gen. Isoke and Hon. Beti Kamya will follow up on the serious cases deserving the interventions and attention of the centre.”
On the other hand, Hon. Babalanda advised the RDCs to work closely with Director General ISO and the Director of Crime Intelligence-Uganda Police to gather intelligence and ensure security of the country.
“The season we are heading into is filled with political activism where the enemies of Uganda usually take advantage to try to bring down the government by way of sponsoring local political agents who hide under the umbrella of activists.”
The Minister expounded that intelligence gathering is not only crucial in security but it is highly needed for political stability.
“We should not give room to the subversive elements to promote hatred and insecurity in our areas.”
Additionally, Hon. Babalanda reminded the RDCs/RCCs to utilise the free government airtime on radio and Television to mobilise and inform the public about government programs.
“I would like to advise that in your weekly radio programs, aim at appearing alongside technocrats to address the key service delivery matters of your districts. This will also aid in providing accurate figures to the public of the efforts being put in and the funds received in the district/city. We will soon introduce an online form for you to update us with the feedback from the public during your radio talk shows including the technical staff who appeared along with you on the program. This will assist us to assess your performance and also to address concerns raised by the listeners,”she said.
“His Excellency the President has intervened in some of the cases you have published in the Newspapers and those aired on UBC TV. The President watches the UBC TV, therefore I urge you to always utilise the UBC TV and the New Vision Newspaper which are government owned and mandated to cover government programs.”
Hon. Babalanda also commended the commissioners for popularising government wealth creation programs.
She said she has been receiving reports from Hon. Dennis Galabuzi from the PDM Secretariat and Hon. Haruna Kasolo from the Emyooga Program commending some RDCs for excelling in their deliveries.
“H.E the President is already on his countrywide tours where he is undertaking performance audits of the Emyooga and PDM and even on the matter of corruption in delivery of public services,” she noted.
“As you know, the President interacts directly with the citizens during these tours. It will therefore be embarrassing for the people to raise issues of corruption when as RDCs you do not have the information. Forewarned is forearmed.”
Hon. Babalanda further called upon the RDCs to encourage the people to participate in other opportunities being unveiled by the government such as the World Bank-funded GROW project which is targeting women in Business.
On the issue of Assistant RDCs and RCCs, Hon. Babalanda said the President took a wise step to appoint them, explaining that the personnel gaps that existed in the RDC Office were fixed.
“Since their recruitment, the discipline in the RDC office is better, mobilisation in the field and on radio has improved, the long lines of clients at the RDC Office have reduced significantly, all because we have a sufficient number of staff that can handle matters of the office,” she said.
“It is therefore important for the senior RDCs to nurture and mentor these Assistants. They need your encouragement to grow in the service and to support you even better.”
She consequently directed that in line with their roles of mobilisation and monitoring, the Assistants RDCs should also be assigned to monitor the government programs at the constituency level.
“The Regional Commissioners sitting in the regions, should be able to supervise implementation of this directive by ensuring that all the constituencies are monitored on a 24/7 basis by the ARDCs. This will help to boost mobilisation activities.”
The Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organization (ISO), Col. Emmy Katabazi tasked the RDCs and DISOs to mobilise and ensure security in their respective districts.
He informed them to interest themselves in the political economy of their areas if they are to serve better.
“Political economy is a tool that helps us to analyse and understand society. If you have not realised that you will make a lot of mistakes.”
Col. Katabazi also cautioned the participants against divisionism of loyalty while executing their mandate, saying the factor is a threat to security.
“Avoid those political camps because they are not helping us,” he warned.
Representing Dr. Nelson Musoba, the Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), Dr. Zepher Karyabakabo, the Director of Policy, Research and Programming-UAC called upon the participants to intensify sensitization among communities on HIV prevention.
He also informed them of the groups of people who are most exposed to HIV.
He said these include; sex workers, fisher folk, people who inject drugs, truckers, prisoners, among others.
Dr. Karyabakabo noted that engagements with these groups are critical to a successful HIV response.
“The RDCs/RCCs and their deputies supported by the district technical teams are expected to communicate the HIV messages in languages the communities understand. In doing this, they will mobilise and work with the technical staff and other leaders in the district and cities. The HIV focal persons will support the RDCs to coordinate this activity,” he stressed.
On the other hand, the former Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Daudi Migereko tasked the RDCs to mobilise the people of Greater Masaka to utilise the windfall profits from the increased coffee prices well.
He advised that instead of using the profits to set up mansions and commercial buildings or buy lavish cars, farmers should set up factories,process units or expand their agricultural units, for more returns.
“This value addition strategy would go a long way in addressing the challenge of the rising levels of unemployment and poverty,” he urged.
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