In 2006, while campaigning in Kyotera town – Rakai District, Dr Kiiza Besigye said he would abolish the office of the RDC once elected as president. He based this argument on the fact that the government was spending 1.7 billions Uganda shillings on paying salaries of RDCs yet the teachers were earning only 200,000shs. To him this was unnecessary expenditure that ought to have been stopped. This assertion was inherited by different opposition leaders who keep saying that the office of the RDC is not important and should be abolished. They frequently ask “What is the work of an RDCs?”, “What’s the qualification of an RDC?”, “How are the RDCs appointed and under which procedure?” I believe all these questions are asked out of lack of information. To begin with, the office of the RDC exists and operates in accordance with the law. The constitution of Uganda article 203 grants the President powers to appoint RDCs. This provision outlines the crucial responsibilities of RDCs in ensuring peace, security and monitoring government Programs.
The offices of the RDCs in the districts have suddenly turned into the only hope for Ugandans. On a single day, large numbers gather at the office of the RDCs waiting to be attended to and to get solutions to a number of the problems they have. These challenge include among many; land related issues, domestic violence, security related issues and several others. This happens because in most places the LCs no longer solve the issues of the people. Some demand money before handling the issues while others mishandle their issues. Even when the government of Uganda through the ministry of local government has tried to provide what is needed for LCs to operate. For instance each LC chairman received a bicycle and they get a small payment after every month. The ministry also provided modern stamps after some criminals started duplicating them. Unfortunately, it’s not only the LC1 chairmen who are not working. The courts at the LC III are also dormant. They do not sit to hear cases and make judgments on small maters like land etc. Some demand alot of money to visit the locus and when the affected person is unable to raise the funds they decide to ignore.
The judiciary which is an arm of government and which is mandated by law to solve some of the disputes has not done its work well. The time to which cases spend in courts without being decided upon have made Ugandans lose hopes in the courts. Some indisciplined judicial officers demand for bribes before deciding upon cases. This has pushed Ugandans away from courts leaving them to the rich people who are able to raise that amount of money. In instances where the issues which are in courts delay, Ugandans decide to put the law into their hands by either committing suicide of causing danger to the persons they’ve grievances with. The judicial officers who decide upon cases without visiting locus also make wrong decisions on land cases that lead to appealing and delaying matters in courts. In order to solve these challenges, recently the judiciary has made a few important changes like recruiting other judicial officers and adding more court circuits. We hope this will change the mindset of Ugandans on the courts of juducature and start seeking assistance from courts.
The RDCs maintain peace and security in districts with the help of commanders of police, the judiciary, the UPDF and intelligence services. The RDC chairs a crucial committee called the District security committee and most of the challenges are discussed and resolved from these committees. It’s also from this committee that the president was able to solve the issue of illegal evictions with each eviction supposed to be discussed before it’s implemented by police. The committee doesn’t solely discuss security matters but also discuss other issues that can cause instability if they’re not handled with well.
RDCs have acted as shock observers of Ugandans to the most challenges they face. Most Ugandans feel that it’s the only office where they run to for instant or quick solutions, that’s the reason at to why the offices are always full of clients as early as 8:00am in the morning. This however antagonises the RDCs from performing other crucial roles like monitoring government programs and dealing with the corruption. The civil servants or implementing officials can take advantage of that to do showdy works and cheat on the citizens.
This however, shouldn’t be something to boast about. Even when the RDCs are carrying out this patriotic job, other arms of government and other government departments should do what they’re supposed to do. Those which have gone to sleeping mode should be awakened because they’ve what it takes to help Ugandans from the problems that they face. For instance if someone is paid to handle cases in court, why should he or she play delaying tactics even when they continue to draw salary from the coffers of government? How about the political leaders who are given mandate by the electorate to guide and also provide solutions to some challenges? There should be guidelines to put to order to the leaders who do not perform their duties even when the government spends a lot of money to give them what to use in doing their work.
The writer is a deputy RDC Sheema District.
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