Bamugemereire team on the spot as Lukwago calls for reforms

Kampala. Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has said the Council will convene next month to debate the audit report into the expenditures of Justice Catherine Bamugemereire’s panel and the mismanagement of city markets.
In two separate letters dated September 5, Mr Lukwago instructed the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) director of internal audit, Mr Moses Bwire, to submit two reports to his office.
While addressing a press conference in Kampala yesterday, Mr Lukwago defended the audit and announced that council meetings resume on October 2.
“I commissioned and instructed the internal auditor to audit all issues to do with botched impeachment and I expect the report to be presented on that day (October 2),” Mr Lukwago said. He said the council and Ugandans would like to know how much Justice Bamugemereire’s team spent in investigating and impeaching him.
Mr Lukwago was accused of abuse of office, among other allegations. He denied the accusations and talked of “politically motivated charges.”
“We want to establish all the cases that were handled because up to now, they are telling me that all the cases are still pending, even when I demand what is due to me (Shs560m) after winning cases,” Mr Lukwago said.
“We want to know how much was given to hotels, Kiwanuka Kiryowa and company advocates who represented the councillors and the councillors as well. The audit will bring out all this information before the council decides what to do next. The money Justice Bamugemereire team used was public funds and it must be accounted for,” he added.
The Lord Mayor also backed the proposed merging of selected statutory agencies and called for radical reforms at KCCA to improve service delivery, including scrapping the Kampala ministry, reducing the number of directors and Resident City Commissioners (RCCs).
He called the Ministry of Kampala “redundant with no clear mandate”, adding that it was established to specifically eclipse the office of the Lord Mayor. “The reason all successive Kampala ministries have pushed for the amendment of the KCCA Act is to make the Minister for Kampala the political head,” Mr Lukwago said.
He also wants the directors reduced from 10 to five. The directors and their deputies earn between Shs20m to Shs18m each.
However, when contacted on the proposed reforms, Mr Peter Kaujju, the KCCA spokesperson, said they are implementing the KCCA Act as an institution.
“The Lord Mayor, just like any other person, has a right to raise a particular matter but we were established by an Act of Parliament hence if anything must change at KCCA as he proposes, Parliament has to revisit the law,” Mr Kaujju said.
He, however, declined to delve into the details of the proposed audit into Justice Bamugemereire’s expenditures as the head of the tribunal that investigated the impeachment.

was appointed by the then Kampala minister Frank Tumwebaze to look into Mr Lukwago’s impeachment process in 2013.