Resume induction courses for our appointed leaders

Last week, the Secretary for the Presidency, Mr Yunus Kakande, suspended Luuka Deputy Resident District Commissioner (DRDC) Paul Waiswa Bweni Bwamwiko for gross misconduct.

The move was precipitated by the circulation of a video in which the DRDC was allegedly captured beating the daylights out of a young man who he had earlier failed to convince to buy into his thinking on matters around the politics of the district.

Whereas Mr Bwamwiko is “the man of the moment”, that kind of indiscipline has become quite commonplace.

In September 2019 another DRDC, Mr Richard Tabaro, was caught on camera slapping and kicking one Elizabeth Katungi.

Other RDC’s have been involved in wife or husband grabbing, land grabbing, grabbing of properties under the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board (DAPCB), closure of schools, and other acts that have left sections of the citizenry hurting. This has been happening over a period of time.

The problem, however, is that government has since quit the practice of inducting newly appointed RDCs and other newly elected leaders into their new jobs within the very first few months of their appointments or election.

It is not enough that appointees to the office of the RDC are only walked through their functions as spelt out in Article 203 of the 1995 Constitution. They must be schooled into learning that their offices transcend monitoring service delivery, presiding over district security committees, coordinating government services and carrying out any other duties assigned to them by the President.

The process of education should include strict teachings on etiquette and rules of decorum. Representatives of the President must act, or be seen to act, in a presidential manner.

There should be a strict code of ethical conduct guiding the way they behave in public. It should spell out even to the minutest details about things like dressing, handling of cutlery, what constitutes courteous behaviour and all those small things that tell who we are before we open our mouths to say so.

The country has over the past several years been able to turn some of our rustic politicians into some of the finest non-career diplomats, thanks to such trainings. 

It should not be difficult for the Ministry for the Presidency and the National Leadership Institute (NALI), Kyankwanzi, to borrow a leaf from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We either train them, or continue suffering the ignominy that many of them are causing the presidency.