Babalanda warns against CAO-RDC collusion in local government corruption

What the report says

Minister for the Presidency Milly Babalanda has accused some Chief Administrative Officers and Resident District Commissioners of colluding in ways that enable corruption in Uganda’s local governments, according to Nile Post. Speaking at a meeting in Kampala on implementing a presidential anti-corruption directive, she said such cooperation can lead to incomplete projects being certified, payments being approved for work not done and poor construction being hidden from scrutiny.

Babalanda said the alleged practices are contributing to wasted public funds and weak service delivery, with examples including unfinished health centres, cracked classrooms, damaged roads and stalled market projects. She urged political, technical and security leaders to take greater responsibility for protecting public resources, and said President Yoweri Museveni had directed institutions to intensify the fight against corruption “without fear or favour.”

She also warned District Service Commissions against what she described as the commercialization of recruitment, saying public jobs should not be influenced by bribery, nepotism, favoritism or sexual exploitation. In her remarks, she called for cooperation among district leaders, accounting officers, security agencies and oversight bodies to expose and prevent graft. The article notes that Uganda has continued to face concern over misuse of public funds, especially in local governments, while auditor general reports have repeatedly pointed to procurement irregularities, ghost payments and abandoned projects.