Buyanja and Kebisoni TCs voted massively for Dr. Kizza Besigye
There is no doubt that Kebisoni and Buyanja Town Councils in Rukungiri District were created as the 2016 political terrain took shape, unfortunately denied victory to the ruling National Resistance Movement preferring to shower FDC’s Dr. Kizza Besigye with votes unlike in the 2011 presidential elections, Museveni beat Besigye in his own home district of Rukungiri gave Museveni more votes (60 per cent) against Besigye’s 40 per cent.
The Local Government Act provides for a population of 2500 for a new Town Council to be created, among other considerations.
Many would agree the Town Councils in question were curved out because of political and ideological not technical intentions. However it is evident there is a crisis in the management of such sub counties.
The local leaders say the geographical alteration of the two areas has resulted into dwindled finances and a smaller local revenue collection base which can hardly be used in running of these entities.
Kebisoni and Buyanja Town Councils and sub counties became operational with effect from July 1st 2016, but their management remains on paper as the human resource can hardly implement any activity due to lack of funds.
Charles Kahanyi, Kebisoni sub county LC3 chairman, says as a new Town Council they have no political representation and still depend on the sub county manpower whose resources are seriously being draining.
“I am the chairman of both the sub county and town council, and there are only two councillors there,” he said adding; “We don’t constitute a quorum to form a council, so we are constrained because we have a mandate to serve the sub county and not town council.”
He says is hardly enough money to run a sub county and as a result the staff, apart from waiting for their salaries they spend the whole day yawning, because there is hardly no money to take them to the field to supervise and monitor the implementation of government programs.
Charles Karikatyo, an elder in Kebisoni says they are worried about how the boundaries of the Town council which was meant to bring services to the people were made. He said that Kakinga parish where he belongs was left out of the Town Council boundaries , therefore he will need to move from his Rwankoma village through the Town Council to Mbabanga about 15 kms away to seek services yet the town council is only 5 kms away from his home.
“This is unfair for people of Kakinga who have been isolated and left out, and if it is the issue of taking services closer to people then the boundary should be revised and Kakinga parish be accommodated in the town council,’ he argues.
It is important to note that on a journey to Rukungiri, there are daunting sign posts reading “Kebisoni Town Council welcomes you” and “Buyanja Town Council welcomes you” respectively but finding their value chain of service delivery is hardly known close to four months after they became operational.
In Kebisoni for instance the Town Council was created from the former Town Board whose geographical area covered one parish, despite the demand from local leaders to include two other parishes.
The new town council has virtually taken over the sub county infrastructure that include all buildings at the old site of the Kebisoni sub county, and they are demanding that the sub county reallocates to Mabanga parish a distance of about 10 kilometres.
Kesbisoni Sub county according to report released by the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Rukungiri, Milton Katto is expected to survive on a total revenue budget of Shs 2.7 million during the 2016/2017 compared to Shs 48 million it used before the sub county was created.
This is hardly enough money to run a sub county and as a result the staff, apart from waiting for their salaries they spend the whole day yawning, because there is hardly no money to take them to the field to supervise and monitor the implementation of government programs.
Some residents have vowed to petition Parliament to direct the district to revise the boundaries so that the vision of taking services to the local people is realized.
Political analysts have however said that the creation of the two town councils as different entities was misconceived and may not positively impact on the development of the area, and instead they should have combined the two like Ishaka – Bushenyi Town Council now Municipality was created.
They also fault the planners of leaving out emerging urban centres of Rwabiganguro and Itano which needs proper planning under the guidance of the Town Council.
TheUgandan inquired from Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Johnson Walira, he revealed that the task of financing the new Town Councils directly falls under Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. We could not readily get a comment from MoFA.
Story by Patson Barire | Rukungiri
