Masaka gets fresh boost for city status

The push for the elevation of Masaka Municipality to a city status has taken a new twist with local leaders now proposing to incorporate the entire district in the proposed new city.
This follows a delay by leaders in the neighbouring Lwengo and Kalungu districts to allow some parts of their district to be annexed to Masaka.

Last month, Local Government minister Tom Butime gave Masaka Municipality leaders a two-week ultimatum to ensure that they secure district council resolutions from Lwengo and Kalungu endorsing annexation of their areas to the municipality.

But Masaka District chairperson Jude Mbabaali said the ultimatum elapsed on July 5 before the two districts passed the resolutions, prompting them to think about “plan B”.

“We had nothing to do but to convince all sub-county council leaders within the district to pass resolutions and we achieve the minimum population of 300,000 required by government to give us a city,” Mr Mbabaali said during an interview at the weekend

He said endorsing the entire Masaka District as a city is possible under sections 4 and 7(2a) of the Local Government Act Cap. 243, which state that a city and district are equivalent although a city can operate under a district. “The resolutions of all the six sub-county councils in Masaka have already been submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and only waiting for their response,” he added

Daily Monitor has seen copies of resolutions of the six sub-county councils in Masaka; Kabonera, Bukakkata, Buwunga, Kyannamukaaka, Kyesiiga and Mukungwe endorsing elevation of the entire district to a city status. The resolutions were passed between June 21 and June 27.

But Masaka Municipality mayor Godfrey Kayemba Afaayo said the district chairperson never consulted them as stakeholders when convincing sub-county councils to pass resolutions to have the entire district covered under the new city.

Disagreements
“What he [Mr Mbabaali] is pushing for will make Masaka District cease to be on the map of Uganda, which we can’t accept. We are considering writing to the Minister of Local Government to halt that process,” Mr Kayemba said, adding: “Mr Mbabaali forgets that if Masaka District ceases to exist, it will no longer receive Shs25b annually yet we need it to support projects in the area.”

In May, Cabinet approved the creation of nine cities, and seven of them will become operational effective July 1, 2020. Although Masaka and Mbale were not initially part of the five cities to become operational next year, President Museveni has since directed they be added onto the list given their historical and cultural significance. Kalungu District chairperson Richard Kyabaggu said they had accepted to annex Kalungu Rural Sub-county to the proposed city but the leadership of Masaka has not been cooperative.

“We expected a team from Masaka to come to Kalungu and meet the people and explain to them how they will benefit from the city but they didn’t show up,” Mr Kyabaggu said.

Lwengo District vice chairperson Christopher Ssensalire also blamed Masaka District leaders for failing to engage them and choosing to drive their campaign for city status through the media.

State Minister for Local Government Jennipher Namuyangu said with or without the resolutions of Kalungu and Lwengo district councils, Masaka merits to be a city and it is going to attain its city status.

“We have received resolutions from all sub-county councils in Masaka District and if the other districts declined to submit theirs, we shall go with what we have because Masaka has to become a city come next financial year,” Ms Namuyangu said in telephone interview on Saturday.
Complied by Gertrude Mutyaba, Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa & Wilson Kutamba