Uproar as Kigezi district council chairs are left to waste

Kigezi, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  There is uproar among leaders across Kigezi over the failure by Kabale district to preserve the seats during the sittings of Kigezi district council. Before it was split, Kigezi district council used to host councilors from Ndorwa, Bufumbira, Rujumbura, Kinkiizi, Rubanda, and Rukiga counties.

Each of the counties has since been elevated to an independent district namely Kabale, Kanungu, Kisoro, Rukiga and Rubanda. In Kigezi district council each councilor sat on a chair engraved with the name of the county they represented.

Kabale district local government retained the chairs when Kigezi was split to give birth to new districts. However, some of the chairs are now dilapidated and have been dumped on the verandah of Kabale district council hall. This hasn’t gone down well with some leaders, saying the chairs should have been repaired and preserved because of the history of Kigezi districts.

Our reporter visited Kabale District council hall and found the chairs that belonged to the Ndorwa and Bufumbira county representatives outside the hall. A top civil servant from Kanungu district told URN on condition of anonymity that he was perturbed when he saw the seats dumped on the verandah of Kabale district council hall.

He wonders why Kabale District leadership has failed to preserve the chairs for future remembrance. Abel Bizimana, the Kisoro District LC 5 Chairperson faults Kabale district leadership for failure to keep the chairs in the museum for the preservation of the history of the area and promotion of tourism.

According to Bizimana, preserving such chairs helps to teach the young generation the history of the political leadership of the country so that they generate expertise while analyzing as well as predict the future political trends.

Bizimana says that he is considering withdrawing the chair, which belonged to Bufumbira County for preservation since they are in talks with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to construct a museum in their district.

Andrewson Kateebire, the Rukungiri District LC 5 Chairperson agrees with Bizimana, saying the seats should be repaired and exhibited in a museum. Kateebire says that such chairs help to promote tourism since it looks interesting once tourists get to know about tools that were used during early council sessions.

Kateebire is still optimistic that Kabale district local government will repair the chairs after recognizing their importance. 

However, Loy Zikampereza, the Speaker Kabale District Council, says despite knowing the importance of the seats they are unable to maintain them due to lack of a museum. She also notes that has hasn’t received any complaints about the chairs.

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URN