The Minister for Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has reiterated her call to the Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) to continue fighting corruption and ensure that the vice is eliminated in their respective districts.
“As the Office of the President, we are champions of a corrupt-free country. We do not work with corrupt staff. If you are caught red-handed, no one will defend you. After being involved in corrupt practices, some of you rush to politicians thinking that they will protect you. This is a waste of time,” she said.
Hon. Babalanda made the remarks today during the opening of a 3-day regional capacity building workshop for RDCs, Deputies RDCs, Assistant RDCs, DISOS and RISO in Kigezi Sub-region, held at Cepha’s Inn, Kabale.
According to Hon. Babalanda, for as long as she is still in charge of the Presidency, she will not tolerate corrupt staff.
“You will be individually subjected to the full course of the law just like any other Ugandan,” she said.
“I invite you to learn from the fountain of honor; His Excellency the President who constantly makes reference to the Constitution in every action and decision he takes. Yet as President you would assume he would act the other way, like those he succeeded. You must follow the law and be guided by it. I wish to state here, and remind you that after H.E. the President, I am your next immediate supervisor with the mandate to discipline the lazy and corrupt RDCs.”
The Minister further called upon the RDCs to to always listen and follow guidance of their supervisors to make right and informed decisions.
“Indeed, RDCs are supervised and they get orders from H.E the President, the Minister for the Presidency, the Secretary, Office of the President and the Head, RDC Secretariat,” she noted.
Hon. Babalanda also thanked some RDCs for listening to advice and instructions of their supervisors and have completely adjusted their working environments to allow for accountable decision making, good team work and cordial relationships.
Furthermore, Hon. Babalanda reminded the participants to take keen interest in the security situation in their districts especially at the border-lines, being aware of the deadly conflicts pertaining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“There could be criminals entering the country who may pose a big danger to our security. I ask the RDCs and DISOs to strongly team up and map strategies for securing your areas,” she urged.
“I request you to emphasize teamwork so that you all benefit from your collective successes and achievements.”
On the other hand, Hon. Babalanda reaffirmed that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni will stand again for Presidency in the forthcoming General elections.
“I therefore ask that you continue doing your work of auditing, monitoring and supervising government programs bearing this in mind.”
The Minister also thanked the people of Kigezi for hosting the President while on his tour of PDM performance in the subregion recently.
“This was a successful visit and I congratulate our staff from the offices of the RDC and DISO for a job well done. As Presidency, we did not observe any anomalies,” she said.
“The President is now heading to Ankole. We pray that the teams there are prepared well enough to receive him.
If you listen to him carefully, the President is offering very good advice to the people. And if you follow our guidance, as chief mobilizers in your respective districts and cities; you don’t have to worry about managing these visits.”
The Head of the RDC Secretariat, Maj. Martha Asiimwe thanked Hon. Babalanda for lobbying resources aimed at retooling the RDCs in order to fulfill their mandate and achieve the intent of the President and Commander-In-Chief.
“I know with all this going on, to our foot soldiers, in terms of service delivery, the sky will be the limit.”
Maj. Asiimwe also informed the Minister that the workshop is aimed at reminding the RDCs about their core mandates of supervision, monitoring and effective representation of the Central Government and H.E the President of the Republic of Uganda.
She also noted that the workshop aims at refocusing the commissioners to critical and prioritised government programs and projects where they should lead to set objectives and ultimate goals.
“During the workshop, we equip the RDCs and DISOs with more appropriate skills and tools to enhance their operations in their respective areas of jurisdiction,” she noted.
“To share and engage them on the challenges affecting them while in the field.”
The Deputy Head of the RDC Secretariat, Sr. Grace Akiror called for teamwork among the RDCs so that they are able to impact on their performance.
“Are you up to the task? Ask yourself, am I up to the task? And if I’m not, what should I do to prove my worth as RDC, Deputy or Assistant RDC. The reason why we are here today is to evaluate ourselves.Ask yourself If I’m not up to the task, who is the problem or where is the problem, what should I do to make myself better?” she advised.
“Take interest to learn from the people of value and continue learning until the last day. You are leaders and therefore the aspect of leadership must flow.”
The Assistant Commissioner in-charge of Monitoring and Evaluation-Office of the President, Mr. Felix Olum took the participants through a paper of Monitoring and Evaluation of government programs/projects/ service delivery.
He revealed that Uganda is ranked 127 out of 190 countries by the World Bank Global M&E Index report, 2022, saying such ranking is not good and the country needs to do more in terms of improving monitoring and evaluation.
He explained that monitoring is a management tool for tracking progress of ongoing projects. The basic idea is to compare actual performance with plans and to measure actual results against expected results.
“The purpose of monitoring is to steer a project towards its purpose and to detect any problems that make it probable that the project will not achieve expected results. Monitoring also involves routinely looking at the quantity, quality, timeliness of service in the district,” Mr. Olum emphasized.
“The work of the RDC is to monitor the implementation of central and local government services in the district.”
On the other hand, Mr. Olum defined evaluation as an assessment of a planned, ongoing or completed government intervention in terms of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, coherence, impact and sustainability.
The Kabale RDC, Mr. Godfrey Nyakahuma thanked the Minister for Presidency for improving the efficiency of the Office of the RDC through regular capacity building workshops and zoom meetings.
“Hon. Minister I also thank you for having revolved the power from the centre and decentralized the Presidency up to the regional level through the Regional commissioners,” he said.
The workshop was also attended by the Senior Presidential Advisor-Mobilisation in the Office of the President, Lt. Col. Kibrai Ambako, among other officials from the Office of the President.
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