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OPINION

August 1981, Timuna Village, Luwero district (now Nakaseke district). Benjamin Kibuuka received three visitors to his home, in the early hours of the night. One of these was a person he knew very well, a short stout young man called Zziwa, who had worked as his tone boy on his Bedford lorry. The other two were banyankore, though they spoke some luganda. He later identified one of them as Jackson Tushabe Bell, one of the first commanders of the National Resistance Army (NRA). Bell died at the rank of Brigadier in June 2020.

Under a tree about 50metres from his house and without any lighting, the visitors sat him down in a long conversation. Kibuuka had already heard about the war, but he had not contemplated joining it.

“Mukama wange, ndeese abantu bano kubanga balwanirira gwanga. Bansabye omuntu omukulu asobola okukulembera ekitundu kino,” (I have brought these people because they are fighting for the freedom of Uganda).  They want you to become the civilian leader of this area. They call them Resistance Councils). Kibuuka, had earlier lost his lorry to marauding UNLA soldier at Katikamu near Wobulenzi. He did not need further convincing to join the cause. On that night, Kibuuka became the first RC chairman of Nambega/Timuna village. The NRA had already established similar structures in areas of Kapeeka and Semuto where the war had started in February 1981.

“These were led by eminent people in the villages,” Kibuuka said.

Throughout the war, the RCs played a crucial role in mobilization of new recruits, mobilizing resources for the NRA fighters, primary intelligence gathering for the fighters etc.

“We acted as the clandestine links of the fighters. We looked for food, medicine, fighters and even shelter for the soldiers. We were first responders when the UNLA came to our villages,” Kibuuka said.

In 1986 when the NRA captured power, the RCs were transferred across the country as the primary, village level leadership arm.

“Their first task was to help government in distribution of scarce basic necessities like sugar, soap, tea leaves,” remembers Godfrey Walusimbi, current LC chairman, Kanisa zone, Kawempe division. Walusimbi has been an LC chairman since 1990. The other big task for RCs was to fight localized insecurity in villages. This is when the first Local Defence Units were created. They were highly respected by the residents because they could solve any challenges in the village.

The early RCs saw the first recruitment of Local Defence Units (LDUs) in 1987.

“These are perhaps the most effective group of LDUs in Uganda ever mainly because their recruitment was conducted with the approval of RCs and all of them were selected from their respective villages of residence,” Walusimbi says.

The current leadership expired in December, however, on December 18, 2023, government extended it for the second time. The latest round of elections was to be held last year, but the Electoral Commission (EC) announced that the exercise was suspended due to lack of funds. According to Minister of Local Government, Rapheal Magezi, a guideline to empower the current LC1 leaders to continue working. I am in touch with the Finance Minister and the Attorney General to ensure that we issue fresh guidelines through a statutory instrument to allow them to continue in office,” Magyezi assured.

The Parish-Omuluka

The LC leadership has five levels. From up, these include the LC5 (district), the Mayors (Municipalities and Cities), the LC3 (Sub-county), the LC2 (Parish Chiefs) and LC1 (villages), while the top three have had regular elections, the lower two, (the parish and villages) have had no regular elections.

A parish is made up of a number of villages which could range from five to about ten. Each parish has a Local Council II (LCII) Committee, made up of all the chairpersons from the LCIs in the parish. Each LCII will elect, from among themselves, an executive committee.

Today, LCIIs are largely involved in settling land disputes and mobilising the community for various activities. The parish is largely run by a parish chief – a government employee who provides technical leadership to the LCII.

The village/zones

A village usually consists of between 50 and 70 households and may be home to anywhere between 250 and 1,000 people in the case of urban areas. In Komamboga Central zone, Kawempe division, numbers go beyond 2,500! Tuba and Kasana zones in Nakawa division have over 3,000 residents each!

Each village is run by a local council – local council I (LCI) - and is governed by a chairperson (LCI chairperson) and nine other executive committee members. These, according to the Constitution are supposed to be elected every after 5 years.

“As you can see, it is me the LC1 chairman who has the list comprising the names of these people. This is how important an LC chairman is,” says Joseph Mulindwa, an LC official.

The 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, Article 181(4) states that local government elections will be held after every five years. The Electoral Commission had not been able to hold the LC elections when Uganda was still passing off as a one-party system of governance, because it was challenged in the case of Late Rubaramira Ruranga Vs Electoral Commission and another in the Constitutional Petition No. 21 of 2006 as inappropriate in a multi-party dispensation. So, in other words, the current impasse is not the first of its kind.

The delay in holding the election was stated to be due to the high cost involved in holding the election through a secret ballot. Uganda currently has over 71,230 villages that must hold elections, initial budgets indicated that this election would cost over 59bn if it were to be held this August, through lining up, up from about sh20bn for the 2018 elections. Government says that the sh59bn is not available.

As stated in the Local Government Act, A chairperson of a lower government council is among other duties; to be the political head at that level, Preside over the council and executive committee meetings, Monitor the general administration of the area under his or her jurisdiction, oversee the performance of persons employed by the Government to provide services in the council’s area of jurisdiction and to monitor the provision of Government services or implementation of projects in the area under the council’s jurisdiction and also to Perform other functions that may be necessary for the better functioning of the council, or which may be incidental to the functions of the chairperson or imposed on the chairperson by any law.

“LCs are the first eye to anything that happens in this country. Every crime starts in a given LC area. This is why they must be taken seriously,” says John Jjingo, a defence secretary in Dungu zone, Kawempe Division.

Village leadership set up

There are six levels of Local Councils. The lowest level is the Local Council I (LC 1 or LC I) and is responsible for a village or, in the case of towns or cities, a neighborhood. The area covered by Local Councils II through IV incorporates several of the next lowest levels, while a Local Council V (LC5) is responsible for the entire district. To put it into context, 71,230 villages, each with 9 leaders means that there are 641,070 LC1 leaders in the country, making this the largest group of leaders in the country.

In theory, a problem at a local level is relayed up through the various levels until it reaches an LC with sufficient authority or power to resolve it, while centrally planned directives are relayed downward through the local councils until they are implemented at the local level.

Each Local Council has a certain number of identical positions, such as Chairman, Vice-Chairman, etc. The Local Council does not transfer nationally. But due to various reasons, by the end of the five years, the elected leaders have been torn down by various divisions, in most cases it is only the C/M and the Secretary that remain active. “In my council, we were long alienated by the Chairperson. It is now a one man council that is running the village. We had thought that elections would be held and we get rid of these people but now we are stuck,” complains Sarah Namulindwa from Kira. This scenario is playing out in many other areas.

Conveyor for leaders/vacant posts

After the war, Benjamin Kibuuka was elected as one of the Nakaseke RC3 leaders, up from the village level. Over the years, LC1 committees have produced leaders to the upper LC levels, especially at the LC3s. Indeed according to a wide survey, thousands of LC1 leaders competed for and were elected at the over 2,000 sub counties in the country. Majority of these are councilors, but a few are now sub-county chairpersons.

In Nambega village for example, Hassan Galiwangoformerly LC1 chairman is now the councilor. In Ddungu zone, Kawempe Division, Teopista Nambi formerly the LC1 chairperson is now the area councilor at Kawempe Division. Although they still try to assist residents, it is not easy.

“This means that there is a vacuum of leadership in villages where these leaders came from. This is why elections must have been held on time,” Nambi says.

In addition, there are also tens of them who have since died and are yet to be replaced.