On June, 18th, 2021, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni announced his new cabinet for his sixth term in office in what he came to refer to as ” a Fishermen’s cabinet.” The Presidency docket was one of the most surprising choices in the selections which caught many off guard.
Babirye Milly Babalanda was the name not many had speculated would make the cut, let alone in the arguably most powerful and sensitive docket of the Presidency. The Minister for the Presidency plays an oversight role over at least six subordinate ministries, such as, Kampala and metropolitan Affairs, the Vice Presidency, Monitoring and Evaluation, Security, among others. Besides, the Presidency supervises key government MDAs such as Uganda AIDS Commission, Patriotism Board, National Leadership Institute (NALI), Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation ( UPPC), Uganda Security Printing And Publishing Services (USPPS) among others.
It was therefore not surprising that the new Minister was subjected to an unusual degree of scrutiny with some doubting Thomases doing what they know best- writing her off.
For me and others who had had the opportunity to work with the holistic minister at close range, including President Museveni himself, we were certainly never going to be part of the naysayers. Over a decade ago, Babalanda was deployed in my home district, Busia as a Deputy RDC. Her humility and unrivaled dedication to her job won her multitudes of admirers and obviously, haters too. Humble, charismatic and a gifted listener, is all that defines the flamboyant Museveni “fisherwoman.”
I was, thus, not shaken by the decision by the President. While addressing Presidential Advisors in Kyankwanzinin September, 2021, President Museveni took time to address doubts over the person of his minister. He described her as a fighter he had identified and “I said why don’t I take her to fight from Kampala?” And indeed, the soft spoken charismatic leader did not disappoint on her very first assignment in Kampala overseeing the President’s Kyambogo ONC office.The President had witnessed glimpses of Babalanda’s expertise in mobilization when she coordinated economic empowerment efforts towards rural Busoga women under the Busoga Rural Development Agency (BURUDA).
In July, 2021, the fighter in Babalanda that President Museveni referred to got to work in diffusing a complex web of fraud and financial misappropriation at UPPC which facilitated to a cleanup at the parastatal that resulted into the recovery of billions in taxpayer money. Executives at the center to the deep-rooted money heist at the institution were prosecuted, with others fleeing the country. Naturally, there were attempts to frustrate the minister into giving up but perpetrators were proven wrong. She soldiered on, gaining the invaluable support of the appointing authority and the rest is history.
At the RDC Secretariat, the less that is said the better. Scandals ranging from abuse of office, corruption, land grabbing, sleeping on duty, that defined the RDC fraternity are almost becoming forgotten. Armed with her Carrot and stick approach, the minister has steadily transformed the institution into one of the most efficient conduits of effective service delivery. Beginning with the July, 2022, RDC/ RCC retreat at NALI, the minister intensified her capacity building intervention to enhance the efficiency of the newly appointed Presidential representatives that had largely been under debate from the public. Many had questioned the suitability of most of the officials appointed in the March, 23, 2022 reshuffle with many doom prophets foretelling a bad crash in the near future.
Two years down the road, however, the RDC Institution glows with experience and the minister can only look back and smile at her accomplishment. She is undoubtedly gifted in choosing the right people for the right job, no wonder, she has been able to succeed at things that seemed imposing at first. Critics repeatedly made cases against the periodic transfers for RDCs which they claimed were disruptive since they denied office holders time to settle in one place and cause an impact. The minister’s argument, however, was that an official who fails to effect change in a place in half a year will most likely not be able to do it even in five years. Besides, some officers are moved to new places where there is an urgent need that requires a specific skill he or she possesses. This too has proved a massive hit.
With the supportive experience of Hajji Yunus Kakande as Secretary to the Presidency, the success witnessed to day was always going to be obvious. The good cooperation between the political and administrative will have seen an immense improvement in the welfare of not only RDCs and RCCs but also the rest of the staff at the Presidency. The enhancement of the staff emoluments was done less than two months in office, while most of the RDCs and Deputies have been provided with transport to boost supervision efforts for government programs in their respective districts.
Effective service delivery, a significant drop in illegal land evictions with RDCs implicated, no cases of impunity and those who have been caught on the wrong side have been reformed through guidance or decisive reprimand and the result is all there for everyone to see.
The most significant test for the Presidency under Babalanda’s stewardship was the security strife of the Bijambiya criminals in the Greater Masaka Sub region in Buganda. At the time of Babalanda’s appointments, goons were on rampage hacking people to death in very devastating styles. The minister whose swearing in was delayed due to a Coronavirus infection took no time to pitch camp in the terrorist threatened region, forming the cornerstone for coordination efforts by intelligence and other security organs under the presidency. The outcome was a complete inhalation of the insurgency. This was a baptism of fire that foretold the big things we have continued witnessing at the Twin tower Office of the President. No wonder, her name was on the list of undroppables in a show of approval and support by President Museveni.
The writer is the Deputy RCC for Soroti East Division in Soroti City.
