Wakiso district leaders disagree on delayed city status

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Wakiso district chairman Matia Lwanga Bwanika has expressed reservations on the omission of Wakiso from the list of administrative units which attained city status this financial year.

Wakiso was among the new areas approved for elevation to attain city status. However, the operationalization of the status was pushed to July 2023, alongside Moroto, Nakasongola, Soroti and Kabale. The seven municipalities which were elevated this financial year include Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Jinja, Masaka, Mbale and Mbarara.

But Bwanika says that the districts and towns which were prioritized didn’t as much deserve the new status’ as Wakiso which was ready to attain seven years ago. He says that the exclusion from the initial list of cities is a political act.

According to Bwanika, Wakiso meets all the conditions needed by law among them population size, infrastructure, geographical location and a masterplan to be elevated sooner than the proposed date.

But Wakiso Woman MP Rosemary Sseninde told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that the district chairman is only politicking. Sseninde says that seeking to be elevated ahead of the rest depicts greed and lack of generosity by the local government leaders.

She says for long, the district leaders and residents yearned for an opportunity to be elevated to a city, which has since been granted and would call for celebration.

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