Before President Museveni Yoweri Kaguta announced the 23. 03. 2021 RDC reshuffle, Rtd Assistant Superintendent of Police(ASP) Hope Atuhaire had wielded the gun for the majority of her adult life.
Having served the country in the Uganda Police Force for 30 years, the time came for the career policewoman to call it quits. At the time of her retirement, she had been at Nsambya police barracks under the police headquarters where among others, she served as Special branch personnel, In charge of Administration Crime Intelligence, Deputy Commandant and finally Commandant.
When her time in the force was finally up after an enviable three-decade period, Atuhaire thought it was finally over for her in the public service. But President Museveni had other plans.
When the list of the new RDCs and Deputies was released on March 23, 2022, Atuhaire’s name was on it as the new RDC for Oyam in Lango Sub Region, Northern Uganda. ” I couldn’t believe my eyes after many years of dedicated service in the force, the president recognised me with this big responsibility and I was taking it without a second thought.” She recollects.
The following days were particularly busy ones for the retired officer who was now faced with the challenge of adjusting to life in a new career after 30 years of keeping law and order in the police. ” What made me confident is what I had heard that the RDC takes charge of the security in the district. After all, I have been in security all my career life, I believed this wouldn’t be hard for me.” she narrates.
When she arrived in Oyam, the station of her deployment, Atuhaire was hit with the reality. She had been wrong all along. The role of an RDC was far bigger than just managing security. Here, she realised that she had to be involved in every aspect of life in the district. Even couples with “domestic quarrels would come to my office!” She then realised there was a need to change the plan. She needed to learn, learn, and re-learn. She knew she needed everybody on board if she was to succeed.
Atuhaire says she spent her first month reaching out to various stakeholders in the district, including members of the public to acquaint herself with enough knowledge of how things run. She also encouraged an open-door policy which allowed a sizable number of visitors to her office. These, she says carried loads of information that she very much needed to form the basis of her work.
” Within less than a month, everything was running smoothly. I knew this was a winning formula and I wasn’t gonna change it. I continued consulting from those above and below me especially on policy matters and you can’t imagine how seamless things got.” she notes with pride.
She says she ultimately enjoyed a lot of support from the leaders and the community in general which made her work ” an exciting adventure”.
The Commissioner, however, notes that it was not all roses as it seems. Just like anywhere else, Oyam had its unique challenges. She for instance singles out instances of corruption that bedevilled service delivery in the district. She recalls an instance where she received fierce resistance while trying to push for the sacking of a public servant who had been indicted by the Inspectorate of Government. Despite the existence of a letter from the IGG interdicting this errant Sub County Administrative Officer, he had remained in office for two years at the time.
Acting on complaints from the public, she followed up on the matter and secured another letter from the IGG to the effect that he leaves office. The Chief Administrative Officer wrote to the Chairman District Service Commission instruction that the dismissal is effected. This wasn’t going to be, unfortunately. By the time she was transferred, the official was still in office. She recounts that this is when she realized that corruption was a deep-rooted voice that needed to be tackled collectively.
She also cites a case where she ordered the arrest of an Inspector of Schools who had been soliciting bribes from job applicants promising them deployments. The errant Inspect at least extorted 8 million from two job seekers.
Another challenging task she encountered is implementing the presidential directive on evictions from wetlands. She says that being a densely populated region, Lango has a lot of its populace getting their livelihoods from wetlands. It was therefore going to be a tough task to get them moved out willingly. In some cases, some resistances were being backed by local leaders who insisted their land was given to them by the government. She, however, salutes some leaders, like Minister Betty Among who teamed up with her to gradually convince the people about the good intentions of the move. At the time of her transfer, there was a commendable response from the community.
She, however, appeals to the government to speed up plans to devise alternatives for the people who have given up their economic activities in the wetlands in order not to return. She roots for alternative interventions like irrigation, and fish farming among others.
At the time of her transfer, Atuhaire operated a largely successful demonstration garden where she planted bananas, vegetables like eggplants, carrots, beetroots, plus sweet potatoes to show the communities that one can utilise a small acreage and harvest more for home use and sell. This, she says, excited both the leaders in communities as well. This was done following the President’s call for improving people’s livelihood and nutrition in homesteads.
The garden is on a 3/4 acreage and she appeals to her predecessor to maintain it to allow the communities to continue learning and reaping the benefits of the project.
In Kween where she was recently transferred, Afande Atuhaire expresses her excitement “to work with amazing people” going by the splendid welcome she has received from the district leaders and the general public.
“In Kween communities are hard-working. They dig a lot of Irish, maize. Cabbages, onions among others,”
The commissioner, however, is concerned about the spiralling cases of land grabbing, especially along the highly arable river bank areas of the Kiriki River. She revealed that the areas that neighbour Amudat, Nakapiripirit, have been tainted with contestation over ownership. She appeals to the Minister of Lands, Hon Jiudith Nabakooba to intervene and open the borders to start the catastrophe that continues risking lives and affecting agricultural production.
The former police officer revealed that cattle raids by the Kajongs and Pokots have been a major development hindrance in Kween. As a result, r many farmers have lost their animals. Besides, the security risk posed by the voice has left residents restless. She, however, hails the government for efforts to parody the region by scaling up security to keep rustlers at bay.
“We have the Army down and we have beefed them up with ASTU at least these few days we have not had any attacks. I heard that the attackers have shifted to Bulambuli.” The RDC revealed.
Ms Atuhaire unearthed a plan by the district leadership to contain rustling which will see all animals in the district marked which will make it easy to trace them in the event they are stolen. She said the method will also address cases where residents sometimes tend to claim more animals were stolen yet in the actual sense it’s a different number.
” We are going to count
the cows wn brand them this will minimize the thefts or raids coz the cows will easily be identified and returned to owners.” she revealed.
Atuhaire hailed the office of the president for the support they have regularly provided to them which she says has made them better officials than when they joined. She specially thanked the office for providing transport in terms of vehicles which has improved their mobility.
In the same vein, Atuhaire has appealed to the government to speed up the process of constructing houses for RDCs and deputi3s in the districts which have been a big problem for the officials. ” In some districts, it’s hard to find a house yet we must sleep at the workstation. This makes life complicated. The earlier this is addressed, the better.” she appealed.
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