The Minister for Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has appealed to all public officials who may have misappropriated funds meant for public service delivery during the First Quarter of APEX platform implementation, to swiftly return it or face consequences.
Hon. Babalanda made the directive on Friday as she briefed Ugandans on the current progress of APEX platform implementation.
In June this year 2022; His Excellency the President of the Republic of Uganda inaugurated the APEX platform which is a mechanism for ensuring that government policies are implemented as directed in all parts of the country.
The platform, whose First Quarter 2022/2023 ends this month (September), has been active for now three months and the Presidency Minister was assigned to be in charge of its operations and implementation.
Hon. Babalanda revealed that the Office of the President is working jointly with other stakeholders such as the Inspectorate of Government – IGG, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, the Judiciary, the Security Agencies, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and others to implement the platform, noting that each one of these has their roles and functions on the platform.
“The Minister of State for Economic Monitoring, Office of the President; has begun receiving updates on implemented projects and programs of the 1st Quarter 2022/2023 which ends this month of September 2022. I have issued additional guidance to the Resident District Commissioners(RDCs) and Resident City Commissioners (RCCs) who are Central Government Representatives in the Districts and Cities to ensure that they visit all the projects/programs of this quarter that are completed and those that are yet to complete,” the Minister told Ugandans in a statement dated 16th September, 2022.
“RDCs, RCCs and Deputies are under instruction not to commission any project that is sub-standard, that is
unfinished, that is not implemented as per the approved Bills of Quantities -BOQs. Any RDC/RCC that will contravene this requirement will be made individually accountable.”
She added that regarding the Parish Development Model; RDCs/RCCs and Deputies will visit the groups and individuals that have so far received money under this program and they have to ensure that the individuals who got the money were the very ones entitled to get in the first place.
“The RDCs/RCCs will address quarterly sub-county meetings where all LC 1 Chairpersons will be briefed on the monies and projects to be implemented in their respective areas. The RDCs/RCCs will use the government air time on radio and TV to brief the public on the projects lined up for implementation by government every quarter,” the Minister guided, adding that, all the RDCs/RCCs and CAOs/Town Clerks are required to display on noticeboards the lists of the government projects and programs in their districts which are financed per quarter.
According to Mrs. Babalanda, this should enable the members of the public to access this information and make necessary follow ups since information is power.
She further noted that the Minister of State for Economic Monitoring will traverse the country with a team of technical staff from the Ministry to evaluate and double check on the commissioned projects and other implemented programs.
“The Minister will also verify the respective accountabilities for the use of public funds. I therefore appeal to all the public officials that may have misappropriated funds meant for public service delivery in this 1st quarter 2022/2023 to swiftly return these monies or else be tasked by the Minister,” she warned.
“We do not intend to spare anyone who is caught red-handed. Please arrange your records well in time, ahead of the Minister’s visits. Note however that we will mostly verify evidence on the ground rather than rely on your records.”
Hon. Babalanda concluded by assuring Ugandans that the Office of the President will not entertain individuals sabotaging national development for the sake of personal gain.
“As government, we have a 5-year mandate of the people and we have to account to the public at the end of this period.”
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