Kampala Members of Parliament (MP), led by Moses Kasibante, Allan Ssewanyana and Mubaraka Munyagwa are asking government through the Minister for Kampala Affairs to repeal the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Amendment Bill 2015 that was recently re-tabled before Parliament.
The legislators claim the bill was brought back in bad faith, without prior consultations with the affected stake holders including the KCCA Executive Director, the Lord Mayor, area MPs, Councilors and the people of Kampala.
The Rubaga North MP, Kasibante says they are concerned with the recent misunderstandings reported in the media between the Minister Beti Kamya and the KCCA Executive Director, Jennifer Musisi over the bill.
In a letter dated May 19, 2017 by Musisi to the State Minister for Kampala, Benny Namugwanya, the ED expressed concern over the manner in which the process of re-publication and re-tabling of the bill was done.
“The Lord Mayor and the Executive Director are not only stakeholders but the pioneers of the seats that they are holding; these must have been consulted before re-tabling the bill,” MP Kasibante said.
“We are now putting a specific request to the Minister of Kampala to unconditionally withdraw this bill from Parliament and have time to consult leadership structures of Kampala.
“When you read the contents of the bill, there is no justification as to why the ED was not consulted; the Minister is just greedily looking forward to take over both executive and legislative powers.”
Minister of State for Kampala, Benny Namugwanya
In response however, the State Minister for Kampala, Namugwanya refuted the alleged fights with the Executive Director noting that they are all working in harmony for the development of Kampala which shouldn’t worry the people of city.
“The MPs are over politicking, the people of Kampala elected them to do a service for them, let them tell the truth about the bill that it was re-tabling which didn’t need any consultations because these were done in 2015,” Namugwanya noted.
On withdrawing the bill, the Minister noted that there is no possibility of such undertakings since the bill is now a property of Parliament and there are no reasons as to why it should be repealed.
“We are not ready to repeal the bill, this is not a private members’ bill; whoever is not satisfied should wait and present their views before the Presidential Affairs Committee of Parliament which is currently with the authority of considering the bill,” Namugwanya said.