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Discussion turns rowdy
When Lukwago,called for a session to discuss the KCCA bill, urban division councillors who were sitting in the gallery disrupted their colleagues who were making the presentation bringing the discussion to a halt.
The majority of members in the KCCA session are from the opposition and if the bill is brought back for debate they will likely reject it. However, in parliament which is largely dominated by the NRM, the bill will be passed it law but the introduction of the salary emoluments may have brought more division than ever.
A KCCA division councillor currently earns Shs3.5 million. If the 30% increment is approved they will be earning a salary of Shs4,550,000 plus a sitting allowance of Shs200,000 and transport allowance of Shs100,000.
Authority Councillors currently earn Shs3,450,000 monthly. They will be earning Shs4.4 million, a sitting allowance of Shs200,000 and transport allowance of Shs100,000 if their pay is increased by 30%.
A Deputy Division Mayor gets Shs8.2, which will increase to Shs9.8 million if their salaries increase by 20%. Division Mayors earn Shs10.7M that will increase to Shs12.9M. Deputy Lord Mayors earn Shs11.5M which will increase to 13.8M.
Lord Mayor to earn sh19million
The Lord Mayor earns Shs16m and when the 20% increment is added he will earn Shs19.2m. Members of parliament representing constituents in Kampala all had their opinions regarding the bill with most bent awards rejecting it.
In 2015, the bill was introduced at a time when the political atmosphere was tense ahead of the elections.
It was consequently shelved and has now been brought back with new proposals to devolve the functions of Urban Division Councillors, raise salaries and separate powers of leaders within KCCA.
When it was introduced in 2015, the draft law was castigated by several critics and sections of the civil society who argued that it was aimed at denying city dwellers their voting rights since it proposed that the Lord Mayor would be elected by elected city councillors.
While presenting the bill earlier, the minister told the council that once the bill is passed into law it will improve service delivery.
She added that where as the bill proposes that the Lord Mayor will be elected from amongst the councilors, it is government’s consideration that they will not deny the people of Kampala the right to elect their leaders.
“The proposed amendment we are reconsidering is the election of the lord mayor but we shall uphold all other clauses. We cannot withdraw this bill because the process of improving it into the best way for this city is well outlined,” said Namugwanya
The bill was tabled in Parliament by Namugwanya, the State minister for Kampala City Authority in May. Upon receiving it, Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker to Parliament tasked the Presidential Affairs Committee to handle it expeditiously within 49 days.
THE BILL
The Kampala Capital City Authority Amendment Bill 2015 by The Independent Magazine on Scribd
