Lango, (UF):- LIKE Charles Dickens generally considered the greatest English novelist of the Victorian era said in one of his beloved classic Oliver Twist (1968)” Please Sir, Can I Have Some More…”, the Lango Paramount Chief-elect known as Won Nyaci Me Lango Eng Dr Michael Moses Odongo Okune has lauded President Yoweri Museveni for the appointment of some subjects to serve as Assistant RDCs.
President Yoweri Museveni recently appointed about 300 people; mostly the youth have been appointed ARDCs who will serve under RDCs and Deputy RDCs in mobilization, promotion of patriotism and fighting corruption.
Lango sub region with 9 districts, plus a city namely Apac, Alebtong, Amolatar, Dokolo, Kole, Kwania, Oyam, Otuke, Lira and Lira City have also benefited where the new appointed ARDCs are already on duty.
“…we welcome this development with two hands which is a practical gesture that the president not only cares for the welfare of the citizens but desires that service delivery is improved…” Eng Dr. Michael Moses Odongo Okune commends.
The Won Nyaci-elect, whose highly billed coronation is slated for 2nd November 2024, also makes a passionate appeal to President Museveni to look around and appoint more sons and daughters from Lango to senior positions.
Saying there are highly educated and well-qualified sons and daughters with integrity, Eng Dr. Odongo Okune suggests that the president can appoint them to key positions as Permanent Secretaries and Executive Directors of government statutory bodies.
In the same message, Won Nyaci has urged all his subjects to fully participate in the forthcoming 10-day National Housing and Population Census (NHPC) starting on Friday, 10 May 2024.
Eng Dr Odongo Okune says the census, which is done by the government every 10 after years, is a very critical national exercise that will also take into account the clan of every person.
“…endeavor to be counted, cooperate and give true and correct information to the enumerators because the findings will also be useful to the Lango Cultural Institution to know the population of each of the clans…”, he stressed.
There has been outcry about the ever-increasing number of clans in Lango, with some having as low as 300 members, something the new cultural leadership will have to critically look into.
Some experts are advocating for minimum standards to be enshrined in the new cultural constitution to state what qualifies the establishment of a clan, instead of leaving it in the hands of some unscrupulous who split after disagreements with fellow clan elders.
This census will be an added advantage to the cultural leadership to streamline dozens of issues that have been a challenge to the growth and development in the region.
Asst RDCs/RCCs wage bill
The newly appointed ARDCs will cost the Ugandan taxpayers close to 3Bn/=, which some critics claim is counterproductive at a time the country is facing economic challenges.
The 2023/24 salary structure for political leaders issued by the Ministry of Public Service indicates that each Asst RDC will pocket a monthly 817,216 shillings, which translates to 2.9Bn/=annually
Uganda has 147 RDCs who take home close to 3.9Bn/= annually while Deputy RDCs swallow 2.4Bn/= yearly, meaning the total wage bill for RDCs jump to 9.2Bn/= annually.
The money for the ARDCs was approved by parliament as the appropriation body of public funds, meaning MPs can not turn around now to complain about the big wage bill.
MPs have demanded the list of the appointed ARDCs for scrutiny, arguing that some of them have questionable integrity-related issues and poor academic qualifications.
This prompted the Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among to direct the Presidency Minister Milly Babirye Babalanda to lay before the house the list of all the RDCs/RCCs, their deputies, and assistants for MPs to scrutinize their qualifications.
Oliver Twist in Context:
Many people in Uganda and Africa always say Oliver Twist to mean, “…add more or I want more…’.
Oliver Twist is the title character and protagonist of the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. He was the first child protagonist in an English novel.
In the novel, Oliver asks for more gruel, which was a type of hot cereal, usually made by boiling a grain such as oatmeal in hot water or milk. The children were fed on gruel for their meals and were often very hungry.
The boys in the workhouse always drew lots to see who would be the one to ask for more.
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