President Museveni orders IGG to investigate KCCA
NEWS EDITOR MEDIA
PRESIDENT Museveni has directed Kampala Minister Hajjat Minsa Kabanda to stop payments of councilors who deliberately abscond from council meeting calling it corruption if councilors are paid tax payers money which they haven’t worked for.
A tough speaking Museveni also directed that, KCCA ED Dorothy Kisaka, through Kampala minister should takeover Urban councils where councilors are misbehaving so that tax payers are able to get services they deserve without any disturbances.
Museveni said, “I am told there are councilors who are indisciplined, they cause violence in council meetings instead of having discussions on how to give our people services. I don’t want to hear that you are paying those lazy councilors tax payers money. If they don’t want to work, please send them away and don’t pay for what they have not done. There is no free money in government. I don’t want to hear that you are promoting corruption.”
President says, he doesn’t want violence in Kampala and those councilors who are ringleaders must be sent back home, stop paying them and work should be done by the technical wing of KCCA just like it was when Lord mayor Lukwago was impeached in 2013.
If the presential directive is put into consideration, that means, councilors with Bank loans will be in trouble since KCCA ED will not be paying them salaries.
This comes at a time when opposition National Unity Platform leaders have ordered their councilors at Rubaga Urban Council to boycott council meetings convened by NRM Speaker Musah Mbaziira.
Today, Speaker Mbaziira has called for a council meeting and the order paper has solid waste management but NUP which has majority councilors have stopped them from attending today’s council.
This is because, Speaker with the guidance of the Learned Attorney General suspended 25 indiscipline councilors and mayor Zacchy Mberaze for two ordinary council meetings and two committee sittings.
According to councilor Ronald Mutumba who is the chairman NUP Caucus Rubaga Urban Council, any councilor who will attend today’s Special council will have disobeyed the party which dictated that no councilor should go for council sittings.
Councilor Alex Kyagaba yesterday told us that, “We agreed not to attend today’s council as NUP councilors. We petitioned the minister to impeach Speaker Mbaziira and therefore has no moral authority to convene a council meeting. We don’t expect any NUP councilor to attend.”
This has been re echoed by Rubaga North MP Abubaker Kawalya saying, there is a party position for all NUP councilors not to attend today’s council until further notice.
“As party, there are unresolved issues in Rubaga urban council. So we asked all our councilors not to attend council meetings until we come up with a solution.” Said Hon. Kawalya.
Speaker Mbaziira has however laughed at NUP defiant councilors saying, they are risking losing their seats.
“The law is very clear, if they abscond from four council sittings, they automatically forfeit their seats. Let them continue boycotting, by the time they wake up, they will no longer be councilors.” Said Speaker Mbaziira.
We are told, today’s council will determine the next step. If NUP councilors boycott and the quorum of 35 councilors fails, Mbaziira will call for another meeting on Monday ando see whether NUP will abscond until four sittings and the NUP councilors will cease to be councilors.
There are also some councilors who have been dodging council sittings. Mbaziira has already written to them warning that if they continue, they will lose their seats.
This makes NUP councilors to be at the crossroad, their party leadership is stopping them from attending councils while they risk losing their seats.
In Kawempe Urban council, KCCA has already taken over council business after suspending council sittings indefinitely. This was after the councilors’ demonstrations to put pressure on government so that it releases Kawempe North MP Mihammad Ssegirinya.
ED Kisaka directed Kawempe councilors to go home. This is exactly what likely to happen in Rubaga if councilors continue boycotting council sittings.
President Museveni says, amidst this drama, councilors should not be paid tax payers money.
Let’s watch the space !
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