By Benjamin Jumbe
Members of the civil society have joined the list of stakeholders that have expressed reservations about the KCCA Amendment Bill.
This comes days after the bill seeking to have the Lord Mayor elected by councilors was tabled before parliament by the state minister for Kampala Benny Namugwanya amid growing controversy.
Speaking to KFM, the Coordinator of the Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda Cryspy Kaheru says it is not democratically justifiable to take away the civic mandate of the people of Kampala to directly elect their mayor.
He argues that the councilors are elected, and therefore only retain delegated authority which is too limited for them to choose the mayor to run a city.
However, minister Namugwanya has previously assured city dwellers that they will retain their right to vote for the lord mayor.
Namugwanya explains that the amendments are only intended to have government take charge of the city through the minister as provided for in article 5 of the constitution.
If passed in its current form, the bill will make the lord mayor’s role that of receiving dignitaries and promoting tourism.
