Presidential Awards Boss Urges Entebbe Leadership to Scrutinize Nominees

By Sadique Bamwita

Entebbe

The chancellor and secretary to the presidential awards committee Hajat Zaminah Malole has urged the leadership of Entebbe Municipality to properly scrutinize all nominees submitted to her office for national awards by the President of Uganda during national celebrations.

She noted that because of some gaps that exist during the nomination of presidential awards, her office thought it wise to traverse different parts of the country to sensitize and create awareness among the nominators on who deserves the presidential awards and honors.

She made these remarks on September 10, 2024; at Entebbe Municipal council head offices while addressing Resident District Commissioners, their deputies, LC3 Chairpersons, Mayors and members of Entebbe security committee.

She explained that in pursuant to the Presidential Awards Act, 2001 the Office of the President, through the Chancery has a system of recognizing and rewarding outstanding acts and achievements of its citizens, and that such recognition puts on record public appreciation for the contribution of persons who have distinguished themselves in service to the nation.

She adds that the Awards are in the form of Orders, Medals and Decorations, and Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government, Corporate Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations and individuals submit proposals for Honor and awards in the fields of; Civil and Military sector, Academia, Culture, Media, Religion, Industry, and Sports among others, to the Chancery which is the permanent custodian and administrator of Uganda’s National Honors.

“We are currently sensitizing and popularizing the national honors and awards to our local leadership within the districts and municipalities in the central region. In the central region, we shall take 10 days and so far we have covered districts of Wakiso, Gomba, Mityana, and Nakaseke among others. In the remaining few days we shall go to districts of Buvuma, Kayunga and Mukono and we hope at the end of the sensitization exercise we shall have the right nominees for the presidential honors and awards,” Ms.Malole expressed optimism.’

Hajat Zaminah Malole noted the ongoing sensitization program of district leaders and members of district security committee who work closely with her office would help to identify, select, vet and forward nominated persons to the President for approval and consequently confirm award of medals during national celebrations.

“This sensitization program is hoped to help the nominators improve on methods used to identify ,select and vet nominees who are submitted to the office of president for awards in recognition of their distinguished services to the nation. The Resident District commissioners do this job on our behalf by mobilizing people and providing information about the processes and programs under the president’s office.

“My observation throughout the interaction with the leadership of Entebbe Municipality is that they are appreciative because they have had a lot of gaps when it comes to awarding the national honors and awards. We have sensitized them on the criteria that should be used when nominating nominees for presidential awards and honors.

“We have discovered they have been allowing people to fill forms without vetting the right people. So, through sensitization they will be able to use the proper criteria when choosing the people to submit for presidential awards and honors. The RDCs and other officials have been accused of working in silos without sharing information on the names that are read during the national celebrations. This makes people question the criteria used saying they don’t do enough vetting about the actual contributions of the nominees. However, we have educated them on how they can vet, the kind of things that deserve honors, incidents and medals that go for particular contributions.

“In most cases, people can nominate a person for a medal which is fit for an army person and as a result the contribution doesn’t match with the kind of medal to be awarded.  It’s not just a matter of awarding medals but there is a connotation of motivating but also inspiring others to emulate what these people have done for themselves to be able to contribute to their community development as far as the national honors and awards are concerned. Therefore, RDCs are expected to do a better job because they are the chairpersons of the security committee and they should make it top on their agenda during their security meetings. They should look at the nominees and this should not be done individually because some people will be disgruntled and will question the procedure or criteria for that matter, “Ms. Malole noted.’

The Entebbe senior Assistant town Clerk, Dan Fred Lutaaya who represented Municipal council, expressed concern on the exclusion of Kayunga district in Luweero triangle medal awards arguing that the district was also affected by the bush war and it’s the immediate neighboring district to Luwero district.

“It has been a great moment to receive a team from the presidential awards office but the question is that the NRM ten point program talks about correction of past mistakes and I have been waiting for the moment to interface with the people concerned with recognition of persons and now we have received them and made it clear on who deserve the presidential awards and honors.

“Kayunga district contributed greatly to the NRA bush war and remember the war spilled from our immediate neighboring district of Luweero, and during that time people could move freely from Luwero to Bugerere. Being immediate neighbors, the war also affected us but we are surprised that Kayunga is not part of the Luweero triangle medal award beneficiaries. We feel cheated because the minister for the Luwero triangle has been facilitating people to recover from the bush war.’

“We need to correct the past mistakes. I witnessed the NRA bush war and we would run from one town to another and we would receive people from Bulemezi County and we supported them. During the bush war we lost a cooperative bank in Kayunga plus human lives. The people we lost are not yet decently buried till to date and I invite the president to honor their monumental contributions. Good enough the first commander of NRA Ahmed Seguya was buried in Ntoke village, Kayunga district and we have a monumental institute in Kayunga called Ahmed Seguya Institute. However, the real people who contributed to the bush are still without the recognition they deserve. Since Hajat Zaminah-you are moving around the country sensitizing people about the presidential awards I invite you to Kayunga district to consider our people for recognition and accord them the honor and respect for their contribution towards the bush war.

“We have prominent families like Mulangira Paul Juuko who lost his sons during the war because he had joined the bush war in Luweero and all his sons got across were slaughtered and some were my schoolmates including Junju among others. The late Juuko has never got honors befitting his contribution towards the bush war. We want the deceased persons to benefit from government awards in respect to their contribution to the war struggle. They should be given monumental burial, their families be supported in any way, and be given equal opportunities on jobs. When you look at the list of cabinet ministers we have few ministers yet we contributed enormously during the NRA bush war, ‘Mr.Lutaaya expressed his dissatisfaction.’

The Entebbe Municipality Deputy Mayor, Charles Kabwama, asked the presidential awards committee to consider awarding distinguished places of worship and their clergy with some medals and honors for their contributions to the people of Entebbe. However, Hajat Zaminah replied that awards are not given to institutions but to outstanding individuals.

The Entebbe Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Hakim Kirigwa, asked Hajat Malole to consider giving some monthly allowances to medalists arguing that it doesn’t make sense for one to get a medal when he/she sleeps in a leaking house. In response, Hajat Zaminah Malole assured him that no single medalist shall be paid monthly allowances.