KCCA councilors defy RCC to hold council meeting

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA councilors on Tuesday defied the Resident City Commissioner-RCC and attended a council meeting.

The Speaker of the Council Zahara Luyirika called for the meeting indicating that 20 councilors would attend the meeting physically while the rest will follow the proceedings via zoom.

However, by 11am, more than 30 councilors had turned up at City Hall to attend the meeting.

The RCC, Hud Hussein arrived and deployed police from the Field Force Unit-FFU to block the councilors from attending the meeting. He insisted that only 20 councilors would be allowed to attend physically and after testing for COVID- 19.

Last week, Hussein suspended council sittings as a procedure to control the spread of Covid-19.

Jeremiah Keeya Mwanje, a councilor representing Kasubi rejected Hussein’s directives. He said that if the RCC wants to stop the meetings at KCCA, he should start with Parliament.

A few minutes to mid-day, the Speaker of the council arrived and so did the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and members of the City Executive Committee. However, no member of the technical wing including the clerk to council attended.

Luyirika sought legal guidance from the Lord Mayor on whether the council could sit in absence of members of the technical team. Lukwago said the council can sit for as long as there is a quorum.

Lukwago expressed dismay that the technical team had absconded the meeting.

A decision was later taken that another person, who is not a member of the council writes the minutes and shares them with the clerk for filing. Ishak Kabuye, the personal assistant to the Speaker was appointed to write the council minutes.

*****

URN