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Rakai, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of Local Government Raphael Magyezi, has intervened in Rakai district council’s decision to remove the District Executive Committee (DEC) from office.
In a letter dated March 1, 2022, addressed to William Kamara, the Rakai Chief Administrative Officer by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Benjamin Kumumanya, Magyezi seeks to meet the councilors to deliberate on the same issue for the good of the district.
According to Kamara, Minister Magyezi has proposed to meet the district council on March 9, 2022, at the District Agricultural Training and Information Centre-DATIC in Kiwaguzi village for the said engagement.
Magyezi’s intervention comes just three days after Kamara disregarded the council resolution to censure the executive saying it was misguided and unlawful. He told local reporters that the censure of the district executive did not follow the correct procedure and technical guidance from the CAO.
Kamara’s reaction to the censure provoked bitter reactions among the councilors most of whom vowed not to work with the executive members who were censured until they get a new committee.
A district official who preferred anonymity told URN that it is the consistent bickering that prompted Minister Magyezi to seek a meeting with the councilors and district technocrats.
On February 15, 2022, the district council passed a resolution to throw out the executive committee members accusing them of secretly passing a supplementary budget worth over 1.5 Billion Shillings without involving the councilors.
The accused committee members include Samuel Kaggwa Ssekamwa, the Rakai LCV Chairperson, Patrick Nuwabine Karakwende, the LCV Vice-Chairperson and Secretary for production, Chris Lujumba, the Secretary for Finance, Esther Mugarura, the Secretary for Health and Gender, and Derrick Tusubira, the Secretary for Education and sports.
Their censure followed a petition signed by 16 of 34 councilors to the District Council Speaker for alleged abuse of office, withholding information about the budget, and misconduct.
Chairman Ssekamwa explains that they passed the budget without the council because they were following government directives that prohibited gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Attempts by the CAO William Kamara to guide the councilors on the matter were turned down by the speaker who claimed that he did not help the executive committee in time to avoid the mess.
According to Kamara, the speaker wrote earlier seeking guidance on the matter but the best time was during the council sitting when the councilors and the technical team were present.
Now Pastor Wilson Mwesigwa, the councilor representing Kibaale town council who was also the petitioner in the matter, says they are not ready to change anything.
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