RDCs to lose jobs over fake papers

More than 35 Resident District Commissioners and their deputies will lose their jobs following reports that they lack the requisite qualifications or presented fake academic papers to the appointing authority.

This follows a verification exercise by the Office of the President to ascertain the qualifications of RDCs and their deputies after a Presidential directive two years ago.
The exercise launched last month has, according to sources, triggered off panic among RDCs following the demand from the Office of the President that they submit copies of their certificates certified by Uganda National Examinations Board and National Council for Higher Education.

Article 203 of the Constitution stipulates that an RDC or deputy must have qualifications similar to that of an MP which is a minimum of an A-Level certificate or its equivalent.
“Some of our RDCs don’t have those qualifications. We told them to take their qualifications to the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) or National Council for Higher Education for verification,” said Mr Yunus Kakande, the undersecretary in the Office of the President.

Saturday Monitor investigation found out that out of the 175 RDCs and their deputies, 140 have so far submitted their verified papers to their head office, meaning that 35 of them could be on the chopping board.

Mr Kakande declined to comment on the numbers, but he nevertheless told this newspaper what they are going to do. “We shall send the names to the appointing authority to make a decision. There are those who don’t have papers,” he said.

RDCs are the President’s representatives at the district level, who chair district security committee meetings and monitor government programmes in their jurisdiction. However, accusations abound that several of them have been overzealous, especially when handling opposition party activities.

Mr Kakande said the parliamentary Committee on Presidential Affairs had earlier tasked them to weed out unqualified RDCs. Saturday Monitor understands President Museveni had in 2009 asked then Presidency minister Beatrice Wabudeya to ask the affected RDCs to retire.

“If the Constitution says an RDC or deputy must have the same qualifications as a Member of Parliament, then those requirements must be respected,” reads Museveni’s letter, adding: “Therefore, invite all the persons involved and discuss with them the issue. I can give them a package to enable them to retire and do other things.”

However, the executive directive has taken two years to be implemented. Efforts to get reasons for the failure were yesterday slow to come-by as many technocrats this newspaper talked to declined to comment on the matter.

“We were going for an election and it would have created chaos if we communicated bad news to the RDCs,” a senior government official, who requested not to be named for fear of reprisal, said.

Taxpayers’ burden
An RDC earns Shs2 million per month with two escorts, a car and a chauffeur as part of the package, while a deputy takes home Shs1.2 million with a car, fuel and an escort.
Critics have often attacked the recruitment of RDCs, saying it is draining the public purse as it widens public expenditure. The critics also say RDCs are mainly appointed as a way of returning favour to the President and the ruling NRM party and also to keep the RDCs from joblessness.

Meanwhile, the President’s office yesterday declined to explain why presidential advisors at the same level were being remunerated differently. For instance, former Prime Minister Kintu Musoke and former Finance minister Ezra Suruma, both senior presidential advisors on politics and economic planning, respectively, are paid differently.

According to documents renewing their contracts, copies of which Saturday Monitor has obtained, Mr Musoke is paid a consolidated package of Shs27.4 million annually, while Mr Suruma receives the same amount annually in addition to a salary of Sh31.2 million as an individual by the Finance ministry.

“Those are the contradictions; Suruma came with his terms as a minister but Musoke didn’t get them,” said a senior State House official.

cobore@ug.nationmedia.com