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Uganda: Councillors Disagree, Storm Out of Meeting
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New Vision (Kampala)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Charles Kakamwa
Kampala
A council meeting recently flopped after councillors stormed out in protest of alleged incompetence by the district planning unit.
The meeting, chaired by speaker Agnes Nabirye, had convened to approve the three-year development master plan that was presented by the district planner, Nathan Mubiru.
After the presentation, councillors, led by Simon Muyanga Lutaaya, accused the planning unit of failure to include pertinent issues.
"Issues like granting Jinja town a city status, transfer of the district headquarters to Kagoma County and construction of schools in areas where they are lacking were not captured in your paper.
"Instead the plan tackles issues such as allowances and staff salaries. Are we going to pay them salaries without performing," Muyanga, the chairman of the health and education committee, asked.
Together with the LC5 chairman, Hannington Basakana, councillors moved out of the council hall, saying the district planning team had exhibited laziness.
"The problem is not with technocrats. The planning unit does not have any problem, but the councillors do not understand how things are done. They seem to have their own problems," Mubiru explained.
He said they included in the paper what came out of the sectoral committees, adding that it was a draft which could be passed with amendments, something he says the councillors could not understand.
"This means there is a gap between the sectoral committees and the executive," James Bamwete, a senior economist, commented.
Councillors claim during their committee meetings, the transfer of the district seat from Jinja town to Kagoma County, which is about 25km from the town on the Jinja-Kamuli Road, had been prioritised.
They argued that since there were plans by the Government to elevate Jinja town into a city, the district headquarters needed to be relocated to a rural area to streamline service delivery.
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According to Muyanga, they also resolved to build schools in areas like Mpambwe in Busedde Sub-county, where students trek long distances to Iganga district in search of education.
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