I Haven’t Come To Subscribe To Particular Sheds Of Opinion, Says Arua RCC Kumakech
Kumakech while addressing journalists in his new office in Arua on Tuesday Photo Credit Andrew Cohen Amvesi
ARUA. The new Arua Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Salim Kumakech, has warned that he has not come to subscribe to particular sheds of opinion in the city.
Instead, Kumakech observed that he is in Arua to serve everybody regardless of their political, religious and tribal affiliation.
Kumakech, formerly the Kagadi Resident District Commissioner (RDC) made the remarks during his maiden media briefing on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, in the office he took over from Charles Ichogor following the recent reshuffle.
“I have come with my open heart, my open mind, my ten fingers and my full commitment first of all, to work with everybody, secondly, to serve all the people of Arua. Thirdly, to implement government programs as provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda supplemented by the Local Government Act,” Kumakech said.
“But I’m not coming to subscribe to particular sheds of opinion; I’m not coming to serve cliques, I’m not coming to fulfill the interest of tribe A, tribe Y. Arua is a cosmopolitan entity that all other Ugandans find themselves here. So, I’m here to work with everybody,” Kumakech vowed.
Kumakech said for the last six days in Arua, he has realized that there is a lot of political polarization in the city for one reason or the other.
He said political polarization is what the President of this country, Yoweri Museveni, discourages on grounds that the politics of identity is detrimental to the development of the country.
“And therefore, it would be suicidal for me as his representative to be otherwise. It would be suicidal, it would be a big sanction on my own integrity, it would be a letdown to my appointing authority that he sends me to Arua, the office he has trust in me that I will represent the office very well and I come and begin aligning myself with political groups, political cliques, tribal leanings, tribal chiefs, no!” Kumakech stressed.
He added that: “I have come as a person who will serve with all these groups if they don’t want to play their cards with immunity, with cohesion, with transparency. I will serve all of them and I want to appeal to them that let them work with me as is, as not they wish me to serve. I want to serve the people of Arua as they are.”
Kumakech said all the different groupings should take heart that he will be a neutral person and a middleman in playing good, and if need be, he wants to be the bridge in lessening the gap of politics of identity in Arua city.
Kumakech noted that politics of identity retards development and social service delivery yet Arua is one of the cities that enjoys a lot of economy of scale comparatively to Mbarara city.
“So, we should harness this advantage, work with existing leadership to develop Arua city. I’m not coming to reinvent the will, I’m only coming to work with existing will to deliver the expectation of the NRM manifesto in Arua city,” Kumakech promised.