GEORGE OWANYI: Deploy RDCs on 5 Year Contract Renewal once Upon Satisfactory Performance

What the report says

George Owanyi, identified in the piece as an RDC in Kasilo Town Council, argues that Uganda should rethink how Resident District Commissioners and District/Internal Security Officers are deployed. In an opinion published by Watchdog Uganda, he says the fight against corruption has exposed failures in district-level oversight and suggests that some officials have become too settled in the areas they supervise.

Owanyi’s main proposal is a five-year contract for RDCs, renewable only once if performance is satisfactory. He says the current practice of keeping officials in one post for a long time can weaken accountability and create conflicts of interest, especially where watchdogs develop close personal or business ties with the people they are meant to monitor. He also argues that RDCs should be assigned based on their skills and local challenges, with clear performance targets.

The article places this idea in the broader context of Uganda’s decentralized governance and anti-corruption efforts. It cites different regional development and security concerns across the country, such as insecurity, poverty, land issues, water access, and gender-based violence, to support the case for more tailored oversight. As background, RDCs are presidential representatives in districts and are commonly tasked with supervising government programs and coordinating state security functions.