KYANKWANZI: The Minister for the Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has advised leaders to work together if they are to achieve the government’s goal of proper service delivery and implementation of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Manifesto 2021-2026.
According to Hon. Babalanda, some actors at local level work in isolation yet as civil servants they look to the same goals and objectives.
“Let us not work as opponents because at the end of the day when we fail to perform, we will all be losers. In all, when the ratings are done, they are aggregated to overall district/city performance and not to the contributions of particular individuals,” the Minister made this call while addressing leaders from Busoga, Bugisu, Bukedi, Sebei and Karamoja who are attending a 5-day retreat at the National Leadership Institute (NALI), Kyankwanzi.
“This business of counter accusations between and amongst RDCs, CAOs, LC 5 Chairpersons and NRM Chairpersons will not help us. Absence of cooperation should not be tolerated by any means. You should stop acting like co-wives. For example, the resolutions for chasing RDCs are for what? The point of CAOs denying information to RDCs is meaningless because it is futile to hide public information. RDCs undermining NRM Chairpersons, forgetting that NRM chairpersons are stakeholders in implementation of NRM manifesto should end. What do we benefit from all this?” She said.
Hon. Babalanda also reminded the leaders that the government has entered the second year of Manifesto implementation (2021-2026) and they should ensure that they fulfill their mandate as far as the execution of the program is concerned.
“You do not need to wait for the President or ministers to tour your areas before you can discuss the manifesto. Implementation of the manifesto is a responsibility for all the leaders at all levels, especially; to participate in implementing the key areas of interest.”
The Minister further cautioned the leaders against corruption, saying its the major disease that has affected implementation of the manifesto.
“When we talk of corruption the fingers quickly point to actors at national level. But you forget the actors at the local level who play an even greater role in implementing government policies. As we are here, all of you should be knowing what was planned in your districts/cities for the financial year 2022/2023. You should know how much was received, how many programs were implemented as planned, and how many programs were fraudulently implemented,” she told the leaders.
She also urged that if they manage well the resources at their disposal and also do proper monitoring and supervision of government programs, the issue of corruption will be minimized.
“The more we lose money at the hands of corrupt officials, the more we curtail our transformation. Therefore, I humbly appeal to you to take the issue of fighting corruption as very serious so we can save resources for service delivery. You cannot continue to occupy your offices when in actual sense nothing on the ground is being appreciated. We need to work as teams in the fight against corruption,” Hon. Babalanda emphasized.
“The saying goes that information is power: we should give priority to the issue of sensitizing the masses on government policies. This is the only way we can equip members of the public with information in order for them to effectively play their part and in order for you to get first hand feedback from the public on programs under implementation. This will also help to popularize the government programs.”
The Minister concluded by commending the Secretary, Office of the President , Hajji Yunus Kakande and the Director, Manifesto Implementation Unit, Mr. Willis Bashasha for organizing the retreat. She revealed that the Unit through Mr. Bashasha continues to do a commendable job of organizing these trainings and updating the public through the media on progress of manifesto implementation.
“I need to say that the crucial element in all this is for us to address the issues of service delivery to our people. We need to listen to each other and resolve our issues amicably. The principle of NRM is to listen to each other and put things to dialogue,” she noted.
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