IGANGA, UGANDA: The Minister for presidency Hon Babirye Milly Babalanda has warned the Resident District Commissioners(RDCs) and other civil servants against incompetence and absenteeism at work saying that she is ready to filter the system and bear with only those willing to work as per their job.
The minister was on Wednesday attending the NRM Liberation Day (NRM Day) for Iganga district as the chief guest at Bunyiro Muslim primary school in Nawaningi sub-county, Iganga district.
“I don’t accept issues of sleeping at work and you know what happened to Masaka RCC when I sacked him. President Museveni went to the bush to protect the rich and the poor, the homeless, hopeless and voiceless,”
“You mean they want president Museveni to turn to issues which can be ironed and managed by RDCs, this is why I was forced to suspend Masaka RCC and this should wake others up and do the needful because I’m still eliminating RDCs who are incompetent from the system,” Minister Babalanda said.
Ms Babalanda gave an example of the Masaka Resident City Commissioner Ronald Katende whom she recently suspended for not executing out his work as stipulated and his failure to implement the presidential directive on land evictions.
It is alleged that Mr Katende aided the eviction of a family from its ancestral land at Kasijagirwa Village, Kimaanya-Kabonera Municipality in Masaka City without following rightful procedures.
Babalanda condemns Homosexuality
The minister also condemned the increasing acts of homosexuality and terrorism which are manning the country and advised all leaders and the general public to be alert and vigilant as they fight the ungodly habits. She says that acts of terrorism have increased in areas of Busoga, and urged parents to educate their children other than leaving them unattended to, an issue the minister cited that’s causing many to look for money in all avenues including homosexuality and terrorism activities.
“We should strongly condemn the act of homosexuality but also the act of terrorism. I have heard a number of leaders talking about the dangers of homosexuality but still, we also need to prevent our children from joining rebel activities which have increased in Busoga area and I urge you parents to speak to your children about the dangers of these vices. Some are joining activities of homosexuality and terrorism to get huge money but it’s meaningless, otherwise, you need to educate your children in good schools,” Babalanda added.
The chairperson of the National Ruling Movement – NRM in Iganga district Hajji Walubi Abubakar challenged the minister to advise president Museveni who is also the NRM National chairman to empower the structures of the party.
“Hon Minister, I have always said this before the president, let us empower the structures of the party. We have 30 people per village, parish, sub-county and others at the district but they continue asking me what to do since they don’t know what next. We can empower our structures of NRM through amending the constitution of Uganda and local government acts to have all members involved in the system other than making use of them only during specific times like during elections,” Hajji Walubi said.
He also said that Parish Development Model(PDM) could be done by giving money to groups directly through bank accounts other than involving committees at various parishes and involving a number of middlemen citing that it has promoted bureaucracy in the system. Walubi also reported to Hon Minister that corruption has eaten up the country in various sectors, not only politics but also public service, among others.
Hajji Walubi termed the corrupt people as ‘thieves’ and also complained about the public servants who are absconding from work and advised whoever is not willing to work in Iganga to quit instead of absenting themselves from work during working days.
The function was attended by among others the state minister for agriculture Hon Bwino Fred Kyakulaga who cleared the air about the controversial issue of Karamoja relief iron sheets where he was listed among the beneficiaries. Hon Fred says the iron sheets in question were the ones which he received from Office of the Prime Minister(OPM) as assistance to schools and individuals whose structures were blown off by the storm. He said the iron sheets were given to Nakalama, Buwolomera, Muyira and Nasuuti primary schools on addition to 15 individuals who were too affected.
“I took the concerns to the prime minister’s office and they were kind and gave each of the 15 individual 8 iron sheets making a total of 120 iron sheets. Nasuuti p/s got 180, Muyira p/s got 116, Buwolomera p/s got 116 and Nakalama p/s got 116 iron sheets,” Minister Bwino said.
“If I’m to ask, does the office of the prime minister work only in Karamoja? How come whenever we get relief assistance from OPM, we’re labelled to have stolen that relief from Karamoja, I want to tell Ugandans that OPM serves the entire country and wherever there are disasters, it’s that office that comes in to assist the people affected and no one should divert us,” Minister questioned before saying that if there are individuals that were involved in any kind of fraud, it’s a different matter.
The function was attended by Iganga LCV chairperson Gabula Ezera, MPs in Iganga i.e Hon Muwuma Milton(Kigulu south) and Hon Kauma Sauda Alibaawo(woman MP), RPC Busoga East SSP Asiimwe Samuel, DPC Iganga SP Byaruhanga Patrick, NRM officials from Iganga and beyond, RDCs led by Wandera Sadala of Iganga, the NRM fraternity, among others.
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