Local leaders protest over dormant administrative units
HOIMA – More than 68 leaders from the newly created administrative units in Hoima district have expressed dismay over government’s failure to code their sub-counties and town councils.
The administrative units were created in 2019 and up to date, they are still not operational and they do not have sub-county chiefs and even bank accounts.
They include; Kiganja, Kapaapi, Kisukuma, Bombo, Kabaale, Buraru, Kijongo and Bulindi town council among others.
In protest, the leaders that included the LCIIs and Councilors stormed the office of the LCV Chairman protesting the continued idleness of their administrative units which has rendered them irrelevant.
Led by Godfrey Mwesigwa Musonga, the LC III Chairperson, Kiganja sub-county, the leaders handed over a petition to the Chief Administrative Officer, Hoima Richard Mugolo demanding an explanation as to why the government is delaying to code these lower local government units.
In their petition, they explained that since 2018, the government has been promising to code the administration units in vain.
They noted that people voted for them expecting them to offer better services but since they took oath in May this year, they have never held any council sitting nor had offices.
They said that the local governments are mandated to supervise the implementation of policies and decisions making through councils but currently this mandate is compromised.
He wondered why the government created administrative units before getting prepared for its operations. Musonga further noted that all the revenue collections are made by their mother sub-counties which do not remit any coin to these administrative units.
These sub-counties and town councils were supposed to get COVID-19 funds worth Shs30 million; unfortunately, they were left out and all the money was given to the mother administrative units.
The local leaders in their petition argued that their areas are missing on several government projects such as Operation Wealth Creation because they are not always considered during the planning process.
“We are losing a lot of revenue to our mother administrative units because we have no accounts, so we are asking the CAO to allow us to open accounts and start collecting revenue from our areas and carryout our operations, if not government should come out and close all these administrative units instead of continuing to hoodwink us,” said Mwesigwa Musonga.
Hassan Kugonza, the LC III Chairperson, Kabaale sub-county which is hosting Hoima International Airport that is under construction says, the mother sub-counties do not mind about their operations and there is a lot of imbalance in resource allocation.
He demanded that the government expedites the process of coding these administrative units to ensure that the local people get adequate services.
Kugonza also noted that they wasted a lot of resources as they campaigned to get voted as sub-county and town council chairpersons and councillors. Unfortunately, they have not received any allowance since they do not conduct council meetings.
“We are not happy with the way the government is treating us, we cannot even offer services to people who voted for us. They think we are incompetent so we need this matter to get addressed as soon as possible and if they gave us empty administrative units, we should be told instead of wasting our time,” he said.
Moses Kajura, a Councillor for Persons with Disabilities said, they are tired of waiting and demand that the government comes out and make pronouncements over this matter. He noted that they have failed to serve their people because they have no offices to advocate for the issues affecting the electorates.
When contacted for a comment, Hoima district Chief Administrative Officer, Richard Mugolo said, the Ministry of Local Government and Finance are aware of their concerns adding that their issues are being handled.
https://thecooperator.news/gulu-main-market-closed-as-vendors-protest-high-rental-fee/
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