Residents petition Parliament over Kabale city

Two citizens from Kigezi Sub-region on Monday petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, demanding that Parliament defers elevating Kabale Municipal Council to city status until due consultations are done.

The duo, Pierre Mbabazi Ntegyereize and Dixon Tukamusiima, raised 18 grounds in the petition as to why Kabale Municipality must not be granted a city status.

Their petition was received by the Office of the Speaker of Parliament on Monday.

They claim that the due process of the law should be followed including the resolutions from the Rubanda and Kabale District councils blessing the creation of Kabale City.

The petitioners are also demanding that the views of religious leaders and all stakeholders should be considered through a meaningful participation, involvement and discussion to resolve the existing boundary disputes.

“Your humble petitioners pray to Parliament that the due process of the law should be followed in the creation of Kabale City and alteration of boundaries in the district local government units be part of the proposed city. The deliberations on transforming Kabale Municipality to a city be halted until the underlying concerns are addressed,” the petition reads in part.

In May 2019, Cabinet approved the creation of 15-cities in the country in a phased manner.

In the first lot, Arua, Gulu, Jinja, Fort Portal and Mbarara would be elevated to city status. In the second cohort, Hoima and Mbale will be elevated in 2021, while Lira and Entebbe will be in the third lot of the elevation. Others are Nakasongola, Moroto, Masaka, Soroti, Kabale and Wakiso.

“Parliament is currently in the process of approving the Cabinet motion of alteration of boundaries and declaration of the 15 cities. Whereas we welcome the government’s proposal to transform Kabale Municipality to city status, we wish to point out that the process has been tainted with illegalities, undue process, sectarian, lack of public participation and political interests. It is, therefore, pertinent that Parliament looks into these underlying issues critically in order for the elevation of Kabale Municipality to city status without hindrances that may affect its future operations,” the petition further reads.

Never approved
In a separate interview, the Kabale District chairman, Mr Patrick Besigye Keihwa, on Monday admitted that his council has never approved a proposal to elevate Kabale Municipality to city.

“Now that the Cabinet approved the elevation of Kabale Municipality, other requirements and modalities shall locally be addressed,” Mr Besigye Keihwa said.

The Rubanda District chairman, Mr Kenneth Jogo Biryabarema, said his district council is not part of the game for the elevation of Kabale Municipality to a city status where several parishes from his district are to be annexed to the proposed city.

“We were not consulted at all. Therefore, we are not part of that game,” Mr Biryabarema said.

The State Minister for Planning, Mr David Bahati, who doubles as the NRM party chairman for the districts of Kabale, Rubanda and Rukiga said the petitioners are not informed because the proposal of elevating Kabale Municipality to city status is being properly handled.