{UAH} Fantastic and Guardedly Illuminating - George Read Again!

I am still reading but find this fantastic and illuminating

Bwanika former Councillor Örebro Municipality

No, the Minister takes over the powers of the Lord Mayor.

Which provisions can you cite in the Act?

Please give me a copy now?

Not here now, you can see I am in a different environment. The president at first assigned Frank Tumwebaze to handle but he was out of the country. Jennifer Musisi was there and Kiwanuka Kiryowa. The President said the matters will be handled by Todwong who held a number of meetings with the councilors. In the cabinet board room, they had meetings and specifically zeroed on the amount. Two councilors from the NRM disagreed with the rest.

Aidah Nakuya representing the youth even voted against the motion. Another councilor; Mpindi Bumali too walked out, he represents people with disabilities. After the report was released, they had several meetings, including with division mayors who were trying to pump sense into the heads of these people. They advised that whatever they were trying to do was actually impeaching the council because they have not approved the deputy and after the decision was taken who would be calling the council meetings? How are you going to continue with business? The authority stands dissolved.

I don't know; that is what they say.

Of course legal gymnastics and manipulation of the law is the middle name of President Museveni. What transpired is that these people realised that the day they are not only impeaching Lord Mayor Lukwago but they are also sending themselves into retirement. They raised their stake to US$20,000. Subsequently after haggling they agreed to US$17,000. They were first paid US$10,000, accommodated at Hotel Africana where they spent a night and after that US$7,000 was got on that day of the impeachment.

Lukwago being a merited Lawyer, he knows exactly what to do about corruption. This a disturbing national issues. Did he report to the police and let everything start from there? This is bribery against the law, the leadership code, how did Irene Mulyagoja react to this? Lukwago will bring a mega case against these councilors – and will become a hero instantly.

Why didn't he act!!?

Even those that were close to me like the FDC councilor Lukwaya Henry I am told that he has bought a new vehicle. He has been badly off. Some of them I have been assisting financially, there is another one called Mujjuzi, MagretKiryowa. They are my close friends and have no problems with me but it is just money. There are some NRM councilors and you will ask Elijah Owobusingye, DaudiLwanga, the chairman NRM caucus these are all my friends.

These very councilors sat together in the month of September last year, in the council presided over by myself, and they moved a motion which was carried to impeach the ED on the same grounds abuse of office, incompetence and misconduct in a vote of 17 to 3. The others abstained and some were absent. I can give you a letter written by the ED to Frank Tumwebaze dated 2nd October last year. I told them we are stuck the ED had absconded from meetings, the people were raising issues of unsigned minutes and time and again I called for these minutes to be signed.

Interesting indeed- technical reports will be signed by respective directorate directors not the ED. Council minutes will be signed by Mayor as Chair of the Council and the secretary to the council not ED! Otherwise if the ED signs them then she herself has become the council.

The Executive Director of the City Council does not need to attend all or any meeting at all, unless she is defending policy matter that concerns her entire technical arm. Why yes because the City Council technical arm has directorates with directors who have to present reports on a monthly basis to Councillors for scrutiny and as such defend them before political parties.

This too raises the question did respective parties (opposing and ruling) receive any report for scrutiny or not? What are their respective political party response and position to these reports - is there any documentation for or against what the technical arm had done from respective political party select committee on those above mentioned matters or not?!!!

There was a clerk who was interdicted because he brought the minutes for signing. He was called Samuel Takan and then Jennifer installed Kamoga Lauben her stooge. This man would not bring the minutes to me. He would say that they are with the ED. We summoned the clerk and he refused to come to the meeting. The ED and all the directors refused to turn up and we adjourned and they again did the same. It is at this moment that the councilors were flabbergasted and moved the impeachment against the ED and the motion was carried.

Is it provided for in the law?

No. It was a motion to say that we are passing a vote of no confidence in her as council. We agreed to send her back to the appointing authority as she is appointed by the president.We wanted to tell the president that the person you brought to us is incompetent, has abused our office and all these offences leveled against me. The reasons were sabotaging meetings, insolence, pronouncing meetings illegal, refusing to bring minutes to be signed and impunity.

I said let me lead some councilors to petition parliament and that is when Jennifer was going to be brought down on all the above issues and also misappropriation of funds. What happened when the investigations were carried out by parliament?

I am surprised Mwenda you are not objective enough to raise these issues; that two members of parliament, the chairperson Florence Kintu and Raphael Magyezi forged a report of parliament and smuggled in a recommendation that the President should take over the office of the Lord Mayor and the management of Kampala when actually Parliament did not find anything wrong with the way I was conducting my duties.

Did parliament investigate?

I have a huge report by parliament, investigations were carried out and I was vindicated on all the issues.

Did they find the ED incompetent?Heavy deployment of police at the main entrance of KCCA offices during the  INDEPENDENT/JIMMY SIYA Mayors impeachment exercise on November 25.

They said that Shs58 billion Jenifer found on the frozen accounts of the defunct KCC cannot be explained and that has been the crux of the matter. The system we inherited from KCC was rotten. We worked together and I shudder when I hear particularly you Mwenda saying that I have taken a collision course. In the beginning that was not the case, the practice by KCC was to open several accounts in almost all the banks in Kampala and they could not be audited.

Alright then how come KCCA accounts can't audited now to find out where the 58 billion is?

When we entered office, we embarked on a discovery process and we discovered 152 bank accounts and in these we commissioned an audit to be carried out by KPMG because we requested the auditor general and he couldn't do it. I have a report where KPMG shows that there is Shs58 billion on those accounts. We wanted to know which area gets a particular amount and that was the point of departure with Jenifer.

This surprising and also illuminating – first there is a contradiction

1. We wanted to know which area gets a particular amount and that was the point of departure with Jennifer.
2. Mwenda: But you have the budget; doesn't she bring it to you for approval? Lukwago; During the budget Jennifer would be the best civil servant you could ever have.

Lukwago I do not understand this contradiction. In fact this is the norm in council meeting the ED will present the budget.

Further still, the political arm working with ED on financial matters outside the normal council meeting is totally abnormal. Then where are the checks and balances if the political arm will be ivolved in the technical matters?? This is a dangerous precedence.  

What was the directorate for finance doing to let the whole Lord Mayor do this sort of work? Moreover KCCA has an internal and external auditors – did they audit or not – and once again what are the respective party positions over this matter, the mentioned  Shs58 billion? Do respective party's have reports over this matters signed by respective committee chairperson and their secretaries?! – I find it ridiculous indeed.

When parliament set out to investigate this, she first claimed that she had returned it to the Consolidated Fund and we said no because we sat in a meeting and said that we ring fence the money because it was local revenue that could not go to the Consolidated Fund.

I raised this in the meeting and if you ask anybody who attended that meeting Jenifer fainted and I felt sympathetic because on one account in DFCU Kawempe she had withdrawn Shs500 million which is not normal.

Very Good! So this was not a council meeting! It is strange! And if not what was the respective party response and position over the matter or this was a closed meeting between the Lord Mayor and ED? Normally this would be a councillor meeting shooting questions to the director for finance and any misnomer would call for legal repercussion

Has the auditor general queried because he audits KCCA?

I got a very big report by the Auditor General which was not complete at the time or authenticated and signed by the Auditor General but a whistle blower brought this document and said that we have unearthed this massive fraud. Part of it was the Shs58 billion; the rest was about the incompetent staff withdrawing double salaries especially the many who came from URA. Jennifer was also getting extra time pay and this is where am being convicted of misconduct.

Right. What were the council made of at least two political parties' (the DP and FDC), resolution about the matter!? The Lord Mayor has the entire council. Let him let us know about when he called a KCCA council meeting with or without the KCCA technical arm to discuss this grave misnomer.  Fraud is a criminal offence

I took the document to parliament in a petition and we requested for an adhoc committee but the speaker in her wisdom said it can be handled by the Committee on Presidential Affairs but at that time there was Tinkasimire. So they said let it to go to Local Government headed by Kintu and deputised by Magyezi and all of them confirmed that the money has not been accounted for. We fear it could have been squandered and we need a forensic audit.

I find this statement guarded and confusing: We fear it could have been squandered and we need a forensic audit. Was the money stolen fraudulently or squandered?!

Even for the Shs6.5 billion of the Youth Fund they recommended the same. Then they smuggled in a recommendation that the President takes over Kampala because there is a total breakdown of the system. I brought a petition to streamline the management of the institution and this is what you people have always called bickering. My role is twofold; policy making and oversight.

Lord Mayor above you have been in budget preparation and then – now it is: My role is twofold; policy making and oversight.

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Bwanika Nakyesawa Luwero

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