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How the President’s man has grounded KCCA, city divisions
Kampala Resident City Commissioner Hussein Hood.
What you need to know:
Although there are town clerks in the five city divisions, they have been rendered redundant since there is no council to supervise them while resolutions passed by the council at City Hall cannot be enforced as the technical wing have stayed away on the orders of the Resident City Commissioner
On July 6, tempers flared among councillors in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour at City Hall as Kampala Resident City Commissioner (RCC) attempted to stop a scheduled council meeting.
Before RCC Hussein Hood’s arrival, police officers had dramatically taken charge of all strategic places at City Hall as they wielded guns and paced about.
The councillors had the previous evening learnt of the RCC’s plan and by the time he made his entry into the parlour, they were already emotionally charged, with some threatening to lynch him.
Asked by journalists why he wanted the scheduled council meeting stopped, Mr Hood said he was enforcing the presidential directive on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) on meetings to stop the spread of Covid-19.
He said he had asked KCCA Speaker Zahra Maala Luyirika not to hold in the chambers any council meeting of more than 20 councillors, but only allow others to follow the proceedings virtually to avoid congestion.
But the city councillors defied the RCC’s directive and reminded him that holding council meetings was legal and right.
The councillors had been called by Speaker Luyirika to discuss how to support city dwellers during the 42-day lockdown.
But the representatives from the technical wing, who were to attend the same council meeting, reportedly withdrew on the orders of Mr Hood to the chagrin of councillors.
Though councillors at City Hall defied the RCC and have since vowed to continue with their council meetings, mayors and councillors across the five city divisions have not been holding meetings since Mr Hood suspended the council meetings.
Kampala City’s five urban councils include Kampala Central, Rubaga, Makindye, Kawempe and Nakawa.
Each urban council has a team of councillors who are supervised by the division mayor while the technical staff are supervised by the town clerk, who doubles as the division accounting officer.
Until his appointment as RCC for Kampala, Mr Hood was the deputy RCC for Kawempe Division.
The youthful presidential representative in Kampala was cast in the limelight last year during presidential campaigns when he stopped former presidential aspirants Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine (NUP), and Patrick Oboi Amuriat (FDC) from campaigning in Kawempe Division.
Mr Hood has previously been accused of high-handedness and disregard of the opinions of elected leaders.
He cuts an image of a soft-spoken person but his orders betray a shrewd political cadre.
Section 71 of the KCCA Amendment Act, 2019, empowers the RCC to, among other functions, represent the President and government in KCCA and coordinate the administration of government services in the authority.
But the mayors say by suspending the council meetings, Mr Hood is out of order and is not mindful of the challenges facing city dwellers whose problems can only be addressed through legislative procedures.
The mayors have asked Mr Hood to go slow and not be ‘excited’ by power lest it turns out to be a poisoned chalice for him.
For now, the division councils are redundant and cannot do any work in the absence of a council.
Although there are town clerks in these division councils, there is no one to supervise them.
Mr Hood confirmed in an interview with this newspaper that he ordered the suspension of council meetings.
“If they [city leaders] are asking why they cannot be allowed to hold council meetings yet they can clearly see that we are grappling with a pandemic, then it seriously raises eyebrows. Mayors and Town Clerks are part of the core team of the divisions who can actually handle any emergencies which may arise during this pandemic. What is it that mayors and councillors can’t hold back until lockdown is lifted?” he asks.
Mr Hood says since the country is in a lockdown, it would be unfair to hold meetings that contravene the Health ministry’s SOPs.
The Kampala City Council KCCA council in session. PHOTO/ FILE
Oversight gap
But Kawempe Division mayor Emmanuel Sserunjogi disagrees. He says the RCC’s directive has paralysed activities of the urban councils and the elected leaders can no longer play their oversight roles.
He says Mr Hood’s directive is unconstitutional and was given in bad faith to frustrate them as elected leaders.
The division councils are mandated under Section 33(1) of the KCCA Amendment Act, 2019, to make byelaws for the urban council not inconsistent with the Constitution, or any law enacted by Parliament, or ordinance of the authority, and plan for the division.
“This is the time when we should legislate on how we can overcome the surging numbers of Covid-19 in the city and how to help our constituents. The RCC is just posturing to show his master that he’s working, yet he’s suffocating operations of division councils. But we have decided to defy him and proceed with our business,” Mr Sserunjogi says.
Although Mr Hood had proposed that council meetings can be held virtually, the mayors say the urban councils do not have equipment to facilitate the process.
To date, no equipment has been bought for use by councillors for the virtual meetings for the urban council leaders.
Nakawa mayor Paul Mugambe says the suspension of council meetings could as well cost the taxpayer since there is no supervision at the ongoing projects in the division due to the absence of the standing committees which are supposed to make inspections and make reports.
“We have decided to defy the RCC’s directive and continue with council meetings because urban councils can’t be kept redundant yet there is a lot that has to be done,” he says.
Whereas Mr Mugambe supports the proposal to have only few councillors attend council meetings while others loop in virtually, he says there is no similar arrangement for the technical team.
Last week, KCCA’s head of public and corporate affairs, Mr Daniel NuweAbiine, said the technical staff no longer attend council meetings at both City Hall and the division councils as ordered by the RCC. But he said the technical staff are ready for the virtual meeting.
Lukwago rallies mayors
Section 71(2a) states that the RCC may sensitise the city residents on government policies and programmes in liaison with the Lord Mayor, but Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago says Mr Hood has never liaised with him while making what he describes as ‘unlawful’ directives.
“I don’t know why the mayors have to beseech the RCC yet his directives are illegal. Urban council mayors have to be pro-active and that has always been my message to them.
If Parliament and Cabinet are holding meetings then what’s wrong with urban councils doing so? It’s important for them to have council meetings because they have to play an oversight role,” he says.
The Lord Mayor is the political head of the city authority and supervises operations of city urban councils.
Government recently distributed at least Sh54b Covid-19 relief cash among vulnerable members across the country but many needy persons in Kampala missed out.
Mr Lukwago says allowing town clerks to take up civic duty of identifying the vulnerable people was a huge mistake since they aren’t familiar with vulnerable the in the city communities.
With the ongoing Covid-19 testing and vaccination, Mr Lukwago says it is only elected leaders who can supervise this and when the urban councils are operational.
Way forward
Mr Hood advised the city mayors and councillors to lobby the Covid-19 taskforce to allow them resume operations.
The minister for Kampala, Ms Minsa Kabanda, couldn’t be reached for a comment. But the chairperson of the Presidential Affairs Committee in Parliament, which oversees activities of the city, Ms Jessica Ababiku (Adjumani Woman MP), says the mayors have a valid concern, but need to consult other stakeholders on a way forward.
“We need to put our heads together and this would also require the input of the minister for Local Government because district councils are not sitting too,” she said.
Profile
Mr Hood, who hails from Mbale District, previously served as Deputy RDC for Buikwe before being transferred to Kawempe Division in Kampala as Deputy RCC. He also formerly worked as head of Youth and Institutions at the NRM party secretariat. He also served at the NRM’s National Youth Council, besides working as programme manager at Tetea, Uganda. Mr Hood went to Lugazi Mixed Secondary School before joining Makerere University for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
