Bushenyi municipality mayor seals off offices

Mar 02, 2020

The Greater Bushenyi regional police spokesperson Martial Tumusiime said: “As the Police, we are protecting the premises because the leaders have complained that there are funds and other issues they feel should be investigated.”

OFFICES           STAND-OFF

There is a standoff between technocrats and political leadership at Bushenyi/Ishaka Municipality headquarters.

The standoff has resulted in the closure of the offices pending the intervention of the ministry of local government.

The offices were closed on Thursday by the political leaders, led by Mayor Jackson Kamugasha before they handed over the keys to the Police.

This follows a council meeting that had been called before it flopped after the technocrats decided to boycott the council session.

The technocrats boycotted the meeting on grounds that there head (town clerk) was arrested by the Police and questioned before he was released on police bond.

The misunderstandings stem from a series of alleged corruption cases taking place at the town hall with the recent one being the alleged disappearance of sh194M local revenue money advanced by Central Government to the Municipality, theft of road funds, disrespect of elected leaders by technical staff, gross negligence of duty among others.

The offices have since Thursday been closed and guarded by the Police. The Greater Bushenyi regional police spokesperson Martial Tumusiime said: "As the Police, we are protecting the premises because the leaders have complained that there are funds and other issues they feel should be investigated."

On Monday morning, some officers were seen at the building stranded after they were denied entry by the Police and the residents under there social group Make Bushenyi Great Again (MBUGA) who have since joined the political leadership in a campaign they have described as cleaning the Municipal offices of corruption.

Kamugasha said they have already informed the minister for the local government about the decision they have taken.

"These issues can only be resolved by the minister, not any other person," he said. Kamugasha said there are so many cases of misuse of funds which they have been filing to relevant offices but none has been handled or attended to.

"Unless the Minister of Local Government intervenes, we will not allow any technical official to step at the town hall," he added.

The wrangles come at a time when the Municipality/town clerk is battling a case in court with one resident Apollo Lee Kakonge who sued the municipality for denying him access to information concerning road funds.

"I am happy to see that even the political leaders have realised what I have been pushing for," Kakonge said. "This struggle to clean our municipality of mafias has just begun," Kakonge vowed.

Pison Mugizi, the chairperson of MBUGA, hailed the mayor and other political leaders for taking the decision stressing: "it has been long overdue."

Earlier, MBUGA carried out a civil action by declaring a week of hooting and sounding vuvuzelas around the Municipal offices to protest corruption.

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