Kampala takeover Bill ready

Mar 14, 2009

THE Kampala takeover Bill has been drafted and will soon be tabled in parliament for debate, according to the outgoing local government state minister, Hope Mwesigye.

By Francis Kagolo

THE Kampala takeover Bill has been drafted and will soon be tabled in parliament for debate, according to the outgoing local government state minister, Hope Mwesigye. The Bill, if passed, will put the Government in charge of running Kampala city.

Handing over office to her successor, Perez Ahabwe, Mwesigye said: “The Bill is in very advanced stages.”

In 2007 the Government said it would take over the city from KCC, citing financial mismanagement.
In the proposal, Kampala is to have a metropolitan planning authority and an executive director appointed by the President.

The mayor will be chosen from elected councillors and will be the political head of the district, to preside over council meetings and perform ceremonial functions.

Opposition parties and Buganda opposed the move, which had also proposed the extension of the boundaries of Kampala to some parts of Wakiso district. They argued that the spirit of decentralisation “was being killed”.

Mwesigye expressed concern over the stinky garbage in the city and urged Ahabwe to devise means of using the garbage to generate electricity or produce fertilisers.
She also urged him to settle the border disputes between Katakwi and Moroto and the Yumbe-Sudan border. Ahabwe said he was new in public service but expressed strong will to perform.

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