By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
The Minister for the Presidency, Milly Babalanda, has directed all Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), Resident City Commissioners (RCCs), their deputies and assistants to intensify monitoring of government programmes and crack down on corruption to improve service delivery.
Addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on Thursday, Babalanda said the directive is in line with President Yoweri Museveni’s renewed campaign to strengthen accountability and eliminate corruption in public service.
She said corruption, negligence, poor supervision and weak accountability continue to undermine government investments in roads, schools, health facilities, water projects, electricity infrastructure, markets, industrial parks and agricultural programmes.
“The government will not tolerate any conduct that undermines service delivery or wastes public resources,” Babalanda said.
She instructed RDCs and RCCs to treat monitoring as a continuous exercise covering every stage of project implementation, from planning and procurement to execution, completion and commissioning.
According to the minister, every government-funded project, including classroom blocks, health centres, roads, bridges, markets, water systems, electricity extensions and Parish Development Model (PDM) projects, must be closely supervised to ensure compliance with approved plans, timelines and contractual specifications.
Babalanda also directed all RDCs and RCCs to maintain updated district project monitoring registers detailing project progress, implementation challenges, contractor performance and recommended interventions. The reports, she said, should be submitted regularly to the Office of the President to facilitate timely decision-making.
She warned against abandoned projects, unexplained delays and poor workmanship, saying contractors who compromise quality must be held accountable.
The minister also raised concern over reports of corruption in public recruitment, saying government had received information about the sale of government jobs at both central and local government levels.
“Public employment is not a commodity for sale. Recruitment into public service must remain merit-based, transparent and competitive,” she said.
Babalanda further ordered accounting officers, procurement officials and technical staff to report cases involving bribery, procurement fraud, abuse of office, ghost workers, ghost projects, inflated contracts, diversion of public funds and falsification of accountability documents to the relevant authorities.
To encourage public participation in the anti-corruption drive, she directed RDCs and RCCs to prominently display the government’s toll-free anti-corruption hotline, 0800-320-320, at their offices to enable citizens report suspected corruption.
She noted that monthly reports submitted by RDCs have helped inform President Museveni on challenges affecting implementation of government programmes and shaped the ongoing nationwide anti-corruption campaign.
Babalanda also revealed that an inter-ministerial committee led by the Ministry of Local Government has intensified nationwide monitoring of government programmes, while the Ministry of the Presidency will soon begin countrywide inspections to assess implementation of the Parish Development Model.
