Minister Babalanda Warns Against Collusion Between CAOs and RDCs, Ghost Learners, and Diversion of Medicines

What the report says

Kampala’s Imperial Royale Hotel was the setting for a meeting of local government leaders where Minister for the Presidency Babirye Milly Babalanda urged officials to intensify efforts against corruption in public service delivery. Watchdog Uganda reported that she framed corruption as a direct drain on education, health care, roads, water and other services, and said President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had directed institutions to act without fear or favour.

Babalanda singled out alleged collusion between some Chief Administrative Officers and Resident District Commissioners as a serious problem. According to the report, she said such cooperation can lead to false certification of unfinished projects, payments for work not done, concealed poor construction and manipulated monitoring reports. She also directed RDCs, DISOs and GISOs to provide truthful, evidence-based reports to the Presidency.

The minister raised concerns in the education sector, including inflated enrolment figures, ghost learners under UPE and USE, and teachers who abandon their posts while hiring unqualified replacements and sharing salaries. In health, she condemned the diversion or hoarding of government medicines for private gain and the referral of patients to private clinics. She also warned District Service Commissions against treating public jobs as commodities, saying recruitment should be based on merit.

Watchdog Uganda said the meeting brought together ministers, permanent secretaries, district leaders, mayors, CAOs, RDCs and security officials. Babalanda praised inspection efforts by the Ministry of Local Government and the RDC institution, and called corruption an economic obstacle that slows investment and national transformation.