Jinja Local Governments Fight over Dime
Muhammad Kezaala
A rift has emerged between local councillors within Jinja municipality over the use of 25% village revenue and appalling levels of village sanitation.
Jinja Municipal Council leadership led by the Mayor, Mohammed Baswari Kezaala, has called for the tendering out of village works as a means to improve sanitation, a proposal opposed by village local council chairpersons.Under the Local Government Act, municipal councils are mandated to send 25% of the revenue collected to the villages to cater for sanitation and feeder roads.
But Kezaala says the money is misused, accusing the village local council chairpersons of corruption. This he says explains the appalling state of village grains and feeder roads.
He says that as Jinja awaits a city status, the tendering process should be extended to the village works, to allow proper accountability of 25% used for village cleaning.
But Deborah Kazoora, Chairman LC1 Lubas road village, says the village works tenders were once awarded but this created rifts between the village cleaners, residents and the village local council. She says hiring a village cleaning company will attract a fee, but the cleaning companies may fail to do their work like in 2000. While Julius Batambuze, LC1 chairperson Main Street West village, says village works system cannot work because the divisions are not accurate on calculating and remitting 25% to villages on time. Part of the money is meant to pay for village cleaning and sanitation.
Batambuze has received an average of 600,000 shillings in the last six months, money he says is not enough to cater for cleaning services, pay security personnel, pay for a village office and the village executive committee.But Bernard Mbayo, the municipal councilor for Jinja central east, says the village works tenders need to be given a chance if Jinja municipality is to become clean.
David Kyasanku, Jinja municipal town clerk advises that in order to achieve a city status, all local councils should work together, adding that village works system ought to be given a chance.
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Kazela is to blame for the corruption in the town, for example they are making locals pay to go to the source of the Nile and the place is still littered, we do not think that there is accountability for this money. We need new leadership, young, travelled and love there city.