Lugazi leaders divided over transfers

BUIKWE.

Lugazi Municipality town clerk, Mr Vincent Okurut, has refused to reverse his recent decision that saw the transfer of town clerks in the municipality and appointment of new ones.

Mr Okurut insists that all the transfers were effected within the law.

Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, Mr Okurut said he will not reverse his decision and urged division chairpersons who are opposed to the decision to accept and work with the new town clerks.

‘’It’s within my mandate to do what I did, and I am not going to change it because there is no law which I bleached,’’ Mr Okurut said during an interview yesterday.

This comes days after division chairpersons in Lugazi Municipality rejected town clerks who were posted to work with them, accusing Mr Okurut of carrying out transfers without consulting them.

The chairpersons who have refused to receive the new town clerks include Willy Kiwanuka of Najjembe Division, Steven Mpima of Lugazi Central Division and Mr Emanuel Kivumbi of Kawolo Division.

During a meeting at the municipality headquarters last Friday, the chairpersons told the Buikwe District chairperson, Mr Matthias Kigongo, who chaired the meeting, that Mr Okurut has no respect for them which is why he didn’t consult them when implementing the changes.

“The town clerk makes a lot of transfers that sometimes affect the performance of these technical staff. Imagine transferring one person three times in a month, how do you expect such a person to concentrate and perform as expected?’’, asked Mr Kivumbi, the chairperson Kawolo Division.
The leaders also blamed the town clerk for not releasing money in time, something they said has affected service delivery in their areas.

“We want to give services to our people for example like working on roads because this is the right time when it is shining, but the town clerk takes his time to give us funds meant for such construction works,”Mr Kivumbi added.

However, Mr Kigongo pleaded with the division chairpersons to let the transferred staff take up their offices at the new stations as they try to sort out other grievances, but this was out rightly rejected.

Attempts by Hajj Nasser Munulo, the Buikwe District Resident Commissioner to convince the leaders to stay put also yielded no fruits.
Mr Kigongo warned the divisionleaders about the dangers of blocking and frustrating government officers from performing his duties, but this fell on deaf ears.

The division leaders said their stand can only be changed after the town clerk has reversed his decision of transferring the staff, until they are consulted on the matter. The meeting ended without reaching consensus.

Asked about the delay to release to divisions, Mr Okurut said there are various procedures which must be followed before disbursing government funds which he has to follow.

“The problem is that some of those gentlemen want money to be released as soon as they ask for it, which is not possible. There are processes followed to release public funds and which is what happens even here,” Mr Okurut told Daily Monitor.