By KT Reporter
The Minister for the Presidency, Milly Babirye Babalanda, urged Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and Resident City Commissioners (RCCs) in the Acholi Sub-region to prioritize teamwork and enhance monitoring of government projects to improve service delivery.
Babalanda appealed on Friday at the closure of a three-day retreat for RDCs, RCCs, their deputies, and assistants in Gulu City. The retreat was aimed at improving coordination and performance among presidential representatives.
Her appeal followed concerns by some of the officials that the RDCs were not cooperating with their deputies and assistants.
Babalanda described such actions as “ideological immaturity”. She argues that teamwork promotes effective service delivery and easy monitoring of various government programs across the sub-region.
“In-fighting amongst RDCs and their deputies has been common in the past, and that is a clear sign of ideological immaturity. Why do you fight your colleagues? Are our interests the same? We are serving the same government. So I don’t see why you people continue bickering,” she said.
The minister emphasized that the Presidency will continue building the capacity of RDCs and their teams to improve teamwork, monitoring, and evaluation of government projects and ensure accountability in service delivery.
She reminded the RDCs that their roles include residing in their districts, monitoring all government and donor-funded projects, chairing security meetings, and mobilizing citizens to participate in government programs.
“You are Resident District Commissioners, not visiting RDCs. Your duty is to physically verify what is being done, advocate for what is right, and stand against what is wrong,” she said.
Babalanda also urged the RDCs to ensure visibility of government interventions in their respective areas through community engagements and the media.
The minister called on RDCs to intensify mobilization efforts ahead of the 2026 General Elections, saying they must ensure President Yoweri Museveni secures at least 95 percent of the vote in their districts.
“His Excellency the President was here for the campaigns. You should now intensify mobilization to ensure he scores 95 percent in the forthcoming general election,” Babalanda said.
Daudi Migerko, former Lands Minister, one of the facilitators, said teamwork lies at the center of the success of any program. He observed that no individual can work alone to successfully implement or monitor a government program.
“Teamwork lies at the center of the success of every program that is being undertaken by the government in various parts of the country. If we are going to succeed in matters of security and others, we need teamwork,” he said.
Migereko advised that the RDCs and RCCs must take advantage of the specialties the new individuals bring so that they don’t carry the whole burden of working alone.
He explained that some of the newly appointed presidential representatives could be experts in the field of agriculture and would make better representations on matters of agriculture with technocrats and the community.
“They should be able to sit together as a team and responsibilities and duties allocated in line with areas of specialty. That way, the entire district, the entire region will be able to benefit from those individuals who are specialized and serving in RDCs,” he said.
The three-day retreat by the Office of the President deliberated on key topics, among them security matters, monitoring and evaluation, alternative dispute resolution, leadership and team building, and mobilization skills.
Some of the Resident District Commissioners called on the office of the President to streamline data collection in the various districts. They noted that there are discrepancies in some of the data from the manifesto implementation unit.
Dr David Ssengendo, an official from the Office of the President, had presented data on the status of health, education, infrastructure development, tourism, land and housing, and security, among others, in Northern Uganda. Some of the RDCs disagreed with the findings, saying they don’t tally in certain aspects.
Jimmy Segaawa Ebil, the Kitgum RDC, particularly pointed out data provided on disbursement of the Parish Development Model fund, which he said was understated at only 21 billion shillings, yet the district disbursed 23 billion shillings.
He equally highlighted that data from the manifesto implementation unit indicates access to water stood at 63 percent,t yet the district water coverage stands at 83 percent above the national average.
Geoffrey Osborn Oceng, the Amuru Resident District Commissioner who doubles as the RDCs whip in Acholi, however, appealed to the manifesto implementation unit to update their database to portray accurate and up-to-date information about a particular district or sub-region.
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