The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Rakai, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | William Kamara, the Rakai Chief Administrative Officer-CAO has rejected a resolution censuring the entire district executive committee, saying it is illegal. Last week, Rakai district council passed a resolution to throw out the entire District Executive Committee for alleged incompetence and abuse of the powers.
Those who would have been affected include the LC V Chairperson, Samuel Kaggwa Ssekamwa, who also doubled as the district Works Secretary, Patrick Nuwabwine, Secretary for Production, Chris Lujumba the Secretary of Finance, Derrick Tusubira the Secretary for Social Services and Ester Mugarura, the Secretary for Gender.
The council resolved to eject the executive following a petition endorsed by 16 out of the 36 councilors. The petitioners accused the executive members of misconduct, hiding public information about financial releases and secretly approving a supplementary budget without informing the council.
During the district council chaired by the speaker, Charles Ssegirinya, the councilors overwhelmingly voted to censure the executive. However, the Rakai CAO, William Kamara, says that the resolution did not follow the right procedure, which makes it illegal.
He says that the councilors acted out of anger when debating the matter and passed the motion without giving the accused chance to defend themselves. He explains that the councilors acted like a mob against the district executive committee when they failed to clearly explain the offence of each of the members of the executive and allow them to defend themselves before the council.
He advised them to avoid passing decisions out of anger and seek to understand each other to avoid causing conflicts in the administration. Kamara explains that the disputed Shillings 1.5-billion supplementary budget was passed with guidance from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, which guided against big meetings.
Wilson Mwesigwa, the representative of the Kibaale Town council who was the lead petitioner insists that they will no longer work with the executive committee whose members were censured. He has threatened to petition the Ministries of Local Government and Public Service to demand the transfer of the CAO should he fail to honour the resolution of the council.
Samuel Kaggwa Ssekamwa, the Rakai LC V Chairperson, says that he has started reaching out to the individual councillors to understand the cause of their anger. According to the Local Government Act of 1997, the Chief Administrative Officer is the Chief Technical Advisor of the council during debates.
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