President Yoweri Museveni has urged Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) to expend their efforts at knowing the kind of people that they lead in their different places of work in order to appreciate and serve them better.
The President was yesterday speaking at the closing of the one-week retreat for RDCs and Deputy RDCs at State House, Entebbe. The retreat had been held at the National Leadership Institute, (NALI) in Kyankwanzi District.
During their induction course in the RDCs and their deputies received lectures with regard to their role in monitoring and implementing government development programmes, budget monitoring and evaluation, the need for regional integration under the aegis of the East African Community (EAC) and patriotism among other topics.
The President told the RDCs and their deputies to avoid cheap populism but instead focus on studying and learning the people they serve so that as leaders, hey are better placed to meet their needs.
“The people that you want to manage have not just started existing today; so study them. Society is like a patient, you cannot treat a patient unless you carry out a diagnosis first,” the President said.
Mr. Museveni encouraged them to embrace the four principles of the Government of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), which are educating the masses, social economic transformation, democracy and patriotism.
“Love Uganda, love Africa rather than practicing religious and tribal sectarianism. If you love your country, prosperity is better served,” he remarked.
The President stressed to RDCs that it was their role to teach people, especially those with big pieces of land, to shift from subsistence production to commercial farming to help create wealth in their homesteads.
He further emphasized to the RDCs to endeavor and attend to youth groups and see to it that they are engaged in youth activities that have been established by government to curb unemployment challenges.
The Minister for Presidency, Hon. Esther Mbayo, said the retreat fulfilled the expectations of making local leaders new agents of transformation.
“We hope they will be able to carry out what they have learnt. If RDCs can effectively mobilize wananchi, they will be able to handle district matters more effectively,” she noted.
