The prospect of losing their positions should not keep Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), Resident City Commissioners (RCCs) and their deputies awake at night, Minister for the Presidency Milly Babalanda has told the officials.
Instead, Babalanda wants the presidential representatives to let their work determine their fate, as she warned that those who fail to deliver should not assume they will survive any future changes in deployment.
Her message came on Wednesday in Jinja City, where she addressed RDCs, RCCs, their deputies and assistants during a capacity-building training.
The meeting unfolded against a backdrop of speculation about possible changes involving officials serving under the Office of the President. Babalanda, however, sought to shift the focus away from the rumours and towards performance.
She said officials appointed to represent government in districts and cities are assessed on the basis of their work, with their supervisors providing regular evaluations and guidance.
Babalanda said the rumours surrounding appointments and transfers had become a distraction for some officials, with some allegedly becoming so concerned about their positions that they had begun disregarding their supervisors.
She urged them to leave decisions about appointments to those responsible for making them and instead concentrate on the responsibilities that come with their offices.
“Do not concentrate on speculation about appointments, reshuffles and transfers, which are beyond your control, but instead concentrate on improving service delivery, which is the very reason for your appointment,” Babalanda said.
The minister then drew a clear line between officials who perform and those who do not, warning that occupying a government office should not be treated as a guarantee of continued deployment.
“Those who fail to perform should not expect to retain offices,” she said.
For Babalanda, the real test of an RDC or RCC is not how often they attend meetings or issue statements, but how closely they follow government interventions and whether those interventions produce results.
She directed the officials to spend more time outside their offices inspecting projects, identifying shortcomings and ensuring that public resources are being used for their intended purposes.
“The responsibility before you, therefore, is much greater than occupying offices or attending meetings, but rather monitoring government projects extensively. It is about being in the field, understanding what is happening, identifying problems, protecting government interests, and ensuring that public programs have resulted in tangible results for the benefit of the people,” she said.
The minister also tied the officials’ performance to the broader government effort to improve household incomes, pointing to programmes such as the Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga and the four-acre model.
She said citizens should be able to experience the impact of government interventions in their everyday lives instead of merely hearing about them through official communication.
“Make sure that the government’s presence is not only felt through official statements, but rather through the direct impact it can have on individual lives. The people of Uganda expect results and not endless talk. Let us focus on improving the livelihoods of our people through poverty eradication programs like Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga, four-acre model, among others,” Babalanda said.
Babalanda further sought to keep the commissioners out of political confrontations, warning them against getting drawn into public exchanges with politicians.
She said political commentary and rumours could consume the time and attention officials should be devoting to their administrative assignments.
“Recognize the political environment in which we operate and desist from entertaining political commentary and rumours geared at destroying you. Don’t spend time responding to statements made by political actors, but instead concentrate on your work,” she said.
The minister also assigned the commissioners a more active role in combating corruption, urging them to help protect government resources within their areas of responsibility.
But she cautioned that the fight against corruption must not be turned into a means of pursuing personal disagreements.
Babalanda said any corruption allegation should be supported by evidence and that individuals accused of wrongdoing must be given a fair hearing before being subjected to prosecution.
The warning places renewed emphasis on performance among the officials whose role is to monitor government activities at the local level, with Babalanda signalling that effectiveness, rather than anxiety over political rumours, should remain their primary concern.
Meanwhile, recently, there was an update on the promise of salary increment for RDCs that left many of them heartbroken, as reported Here.
