RDCs Tasked on new Anti-Corruption Drive, Public Projects monitoring

KAMPALA — The Government has intensified its nationwide campaign against corruption, directing Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and Resident City Commissioners (RCCs) to take a more proactive role in protecting public resources, strengthening accountability and ensuring that every government programme delivers tangible results to Ugandans.

The renewed anti-corruption drive was unveiled by the Minister for the Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda, in a ministerial statement delivered on behalf of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at the Uganda Media Centre Thursday. Speaking to the media, Minister Babalanda reaffirmed Government’s unwavering commitment to eliminating corruption, improving service delivery and entrenching a culture of integrity, transparency and accountability across the public service.

“The President has made it unequivocally clear that corruption remains one of the greatest threats to Uganda’s socio-economic transformation,” the Minister said. “He has therefore directed all Government institutions to intensify the fight against corruption and ensure that every public official is fully accountable for the resources entrusted to them.”

She emphasized that corruption is not merely an administrative weakness but a direct assault on national development, denying citizens quality public services and undermining Government’s investments in roads, schools, hospitals, water systems, electricity, markets and wealth creation programmes.

The Minister noted that despite substantial Government investment in development programmes, corruption, negligence, weak supervision and poor accountability continue to manifest through inflated contracts, abandoned projects, ghost workers, ghost beneficiaries, fraudulent payments, diversion of public funds and substandard works.

She said such practices will no longer be tolerated, warning that Government is strengthening oversight mechanisms to ensure that every public official upholds the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.

RDCs Ordered to Lead Corruption Fight
Recognising RDCs and RCCs as the President’s representatives in their respective districts and cities, Minister Babalanda directed them to become the frontline defenders of accountability by closely monitoring every Government project from planning and procurement through implementation, completion and commissioning.

She instructed all RDCs to maintain comprehensive district project monitoring registers capturing project progress, contractor performance, implementation challenges and recommendations, with regular reports submitted to the Office of the President.

The Minister further directed RDCs to work closely with Chief Administrative Officers, District Engineers, District Planners, Community Development Officers and other technical officers to ensure that Government funds are utilised strictly for their intended purposes.

She warned that bribery, procurement fraud, ghost workers, ghost projects, inflated contracts, diversion of public funds, collusion between public officials and contractors, and certification of incomplete works constitute serious acts of corruption that must be detected early, investigated thoroughly and reported without delay.

To strengthen citizen participation in the anti-corruption campaign, the Minister directed all RDC offices to prominently display the Government’s toll-free anti-corruption hotline (0800-320-320), encouraging members of the public to report cases of bribery, misuse of public resources, abuse of office and poor-quality Government projects.
She stressed that accountability is a shared national responsibility requiring vigilance from both public officials and ordinary citizens.

Strengthening PDM Oversight
The Minister also announced that the Ministry for the Presidency will shortly commence nationwide monitoring of the Parish Development Model (PDM) to ensure that funds are reaching intended beneficiaries and delivering meaningful improvements in household incomes.

RDCs were instructed to work closely with local government technical teams to verify beneficiary records, monitor enterprise performance, oversee extension services and strengthen loan recovery mechanisms.
She further directed full utilisation of the Parish-Based Management Information System (PBMIS) to improve transparency, data accuracy and accountability throughout programme implementation.

Highlighting Government’s commitment to wealth creation, the Minister cited data from the Ministry of Agriculture and the African Development Bank showing significant growth in agricultural production under Government interventions, with banana production increasing by more than 140 percent, root crops by 67 percent, cereals by 34.5 percent and oil crops by 32 percent.

She also noted that Government has doubled PDM funding from UGX 100 million to UGX 200 million per parish as part of efforts to accelerate wealth creation and support Uganda’s long-term objective of growing the economy to USD 500 billion by 2040.

Public Officials Urged to Support Local Production

Meanwhile, the minister expressed concern over Uganda’s growing trade imbalance with Tanzania, noting that according to the URA 2024/25 Databook, Uganda imported goods worth UGX 12.46 trillion from Tanzania while exports stood at between UGX 602.25 billion and UGX 675.25 billion.
She challenged public officials to champion local production by supporting Government programmes aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and reducing dependence on imported commodities that can be competitively produced within Uganda.

“We should be producing sufficient food for our domestic market while exporting surpluses to the region instead of importing commodities that Ugandans are capable of producing,” she said.

Citizens Called Upon to Join the Fight
Minister Babalanda concluded by urging all Ugandans to become active partners in safeguarding public resources by reporting corruption, bribery, misuse of Government funds and poor workmanship on public projects.

She also directed RDCs to mobilise communities for the forthcoming Women Councils, LC I and LC II elections scheduled for July 23, July 28 and August 10, while ensuring peace, security and adherence to the law throughout the electoral process.
“Let your offices become centres of accountability, transparency and responsiveness. Let every Government project receive your close supervision from commencement to completion,” she told the RDCs.

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