RESIDENTS of Mengo parish in Central division have rejected a proposal to become part of either Mengo municipality or Wakiso district.
This and other proposals were contained in a five-page document, which they presented to the parliamentary committee on pubic service and local government, chaired by Anthony Yiga (NRM) on Monday. The committee is gathering views from stakeholders on the Kampala Capital City Bill 2009. If enacted into law, it would put Kampala, the capital city, under the central government.
The team was led by Zubair Kitagaana, the Mengo parish chairman.
“Residents of Mengo parish reject the proposal to relocate to another administrative unit,” said the statement read by Kitagaana.
The residents argued that if the Government’s decentralisation policy is to take services nearer to the people, “there is no justification to suggest that remote places like Katabi sub-county in Entebbe municipality and areas adjoining Goba sub-county in Mukono district be brought under Kampala and then exclude Mengo, which is a stone’s throw from Kampala City Council headquarters.”
They also opposed the idea to elect the mayor through electoral colleges, saying it can be manipulated. They preferred the current system of adult suffrage.
“We also find it untenable to reduce councillors in urban councils to 15. Any proposal to restrict the number with only six directly elected councillors would presuppose merging the existing parishes.”
Yiga, however, explained to the delegation that the proposed law derives its mandate from a Constitutional provision that is meant to give Kampala a special status.
He added that their committee had no right over the Bill because their role is to collect views and present them to Parliament. He said the law is intended to make the country’s capital city a better place to work and live in.
