Museveni is completely wrong on Kampala F.N Lugemwa Speaking about the controversial Bill tabled before Parliament to allow the Central government take over the management of Kampala City, President Museveni said Buganda Kingdom’s opposition to the plan would not stop the proposal.
The Bill provides for, among others, a legal basis for the central government to take over the administration of the city. The President said: “Kampala is in the Constitution as the capital of Uganda. It’s got a separate status. It is in Buganda but it will be administered by the central government; in any case, nobody is going to export Kampala; it will be managed by the Central government and it is in order.” The President seems to have forgotten that the 1995 Constitution was amended to remove term limits. Clause 2 of Article 105 of the 1995 Constitution on tenure of office of a President stated that, “A person shall not be elected under the constitution to hold office as President for more than two terms as prescribed by this article,” and that was in order-- but the President nevertheless went ahead and pushed very hard for the amendment. Apparently, if the President will gain from an amendment to the Constitution he will push for the amendment; however, if his fortunes will multiply by sticking to the Constitution, he’ll stick to it. If the President is serious about constitutionalism, he should stick to the Ugandan Constitution all the time, not when he wants to grab Buganda’s land, or when he wants to benefit himself in any other way. Once the Bill is passed, Kampala will reduce Buganda’s territory by extending to Mukono, Entebbe and Wakiso districts and parts of Mpigi District and will also put an end to the direct election of the mayor. The new city structure provides for an executive director, a resident city commissioner and division heads, all appointed by the President. The Constitution that mandates people to freely decide how they are governed will be violated if people do not pick their leader. In a democracy, power belongs to the people and they should be allowed to govern themselves-through exercising the constitutional right to pick for themselves and from among themselves their leaders. The proposed Bill is a threat to this right, and to the power of the people. Already, the President has the power to give and the power to take away. He settles teachers’ strikes in schools; he mediates in doctors’ disputes in hospitals; he will also give chunks of land to foreign investors; in addition, he will allocate a city market to an individual. The President through Uganda Revenue Authority can give grants to different districts, but the President has never allocated money to have new public toilets (rest rooms) built in the city since he took office 23 years ago. Three quarters of Kampala District is rotten and needs a complete rebirth. How can anybody live or work in a place like that? The roads are dilapidated and full of pond size potholes, and that includes Kampala Road, a major street that runs through the city. The roads that used to be quite big are now fractions of their original widths. If you cannot maintain a small area in good condition, why are you trying to acquire more territory to hand to a corrupt executive vulture? Can Uganda afford to continue following a one man’s vision? As space gets scarce in Kampala, the plan is to expand to neighbouring areas ( Mukono, Entebbe, Mpigi and Wakiso distiricts) so that the looting can continue. Who will stop that political silliness? lugemw...@yahoo.com
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