Masindi District chairman faces impeachment over 'incompetence'

Pressure has mounted in Masindi after the district council on Thursday granted Mr Issa Belinda one of the councilors, permission to draft a motion to impeach district chairman Mr Cosmas Byaruhanga. 

Mr Belinda, who moved the motion in the council, alleges that the current district chairman is incompetent having caused financial loss of over Shs100 million by failing to monitor government projects.

To support his motion, Mr Belinda produced an audio clip where the embattled district chairman is purported to be threatening some councilors who would support the motion of his impeachment. He promised to table the evidence to support the motion in the next council sitting.

The district Speaker, Mr Moses Kirya, asked Mr Belinda to prepare the evidence and also notified the district chairman to prepare his defense in the next council.

During the sitting, Mr Denis Tumwine, the councilor for workers said Mr Byaruhanga had indeed been threatening some councilors that he would have them arrested in case they support motion of his impeachment.

 "Mr Speaker, threats by the district chairman are putting some councilors at risk, we are not sure whether we shall sleep in our houses," he said.

However, Mr Byaruhanga who was also present at the meeting denied the allegations, and promised to table his defense when the motion is brought to council.

In 2019, Mr Byaruhanga survived impeachment by the district council then as they accused him of crippling service delivery in the district.

Last month, the state minister for economic and monitoring Hon Peter Owanga unearthed some of the shoddy work where district lost about Shs 100 million in ghost boreholes.