RDCs tasked to attend District planning meetings to improve service delivery

15 March 2026, 13:24

By Ambrose Okwanga

RDCs in Lango have been urged to attend district planning meetings to strengthen monitoring of government programs

The call was made on Friday 13.03.2026, during the closure of a three day capacity building training that brought together RDCs/RCCs, DRDCs/DRCCs, ARDCs, DISOs, and RISOs from the Lango Sub-region.

The training aimed at strengthening coordination and improving oversight of government programs at the district level. The Chief Guest, Hajji Yunus Kakande, the senior presidential advisor RDC Secretariat represented by Lt. Col. (RTD) Kibrai Mbako, the Secretary in the Office of the President cautioned Resident District Commissioners against waiting for information from Chief Administrative Officers.

He emphasized that RDCs should actively participate in the primary processes rather than relying on reports from district technical staff.

He said RDCs and the district security leaders are great linkages of Central government and local government as their main core is to ensure effective service delivery. He emphasized on service delivery, adding that RDCs should be vigilant to avoid duplication of efforts by different actors, saying that it’s important to maintain high standard of professionalism.

Sister Mary Grace Akiror, the Deputy head of RDC Secretariat tasked RDCs to always be part and partial of their district/City planning processes for easy monitoring during implementation.

“The biggest mistake that RDCs make is to think that they are too big to sit in some of the district planning meetings and at the end they complained that they are being left out” Okiror said.

She blames some of the growing concerns on the RDCs, Saying that they are the president by extension but they are not taking action only to wait to lament in the workshops.

She also slammed them of not including some of the critical issues like staffing gaps, planning issues, corruption among others in their reports.

The Deputy RDC of Kole Samuel Odong said staffing gaps are making it difficult for them to effectively monitor government programs.

He noted that many senior positions in the district are currently held by acting officers, which makes it challenging to properly assess their performance and ensure accountability.

Francis Abhengana, the Assistant RDC of Oyam, called on the Office of the President to pay closer attention to Chief Administrative Officers at the district level, saying that many of them behave as though they are above everyone else and expect everyone to obey them.He further appealed for the centralization of recruitment of district workers to reduce influence from local authorities.

According to him, most district recruitments are marred by corruption, which he said continues to undermine the effective implementation of government programs.