Last month, the State Minister for Ethics and Integrity in the Office of President, Rose Lilly Akello, together with the interagency Anticorruption bodies, conducted an accountability baraza in Masaka, where they arrested a number of technical staff, including heads of departments, who are named in various corruption tendencies.
Adah Nkorenta Ojur, the Greater Masaka Site Manager of Child Restoration Outreach, a non-governmental organization focused on rehabilitating and resettling victims of abuse, expressed concern about the growing number of children roaming the streets of Masaka City instead of attending school.
Francis Kimuli, the Masaka District Council Speaker, announced the decision to surrender the headquarters after consultations with key stakeholders, including Local Government Minister Raphael Magyezi.
David Sigenda, the Division Education Officer, highlighted that the revenue shortfalls are severely impacting the quality of education and the living conditions of both teachers and students.
Florence Namayanja, the Masaka City Mayor is concerned by the apparent public suspicions and speculations about the ongoing project works, which casts it in bad light due to public misrepresentation of its details.
Bishop Jjumba who inspected Masaka City’s garbage dumping site in Bulando ward, expressed concern over the stench from rotting heaps of garbage and the non-decomposing materials that are scattered in the nearby plantations.
Doctor Abed Bwanika, the MP for Kimanya-Kabonera division also Committee Chairperson, says it has become a deliberate habit for the Mayor to dodge meetings, yet as the City Political Head, she is required to provide progress and inspection reports on the various projects under implementation in the area.
Led by Minister Hajat Minsa Kabanda, the ministry's delegation visited Masaka City Council on Monday to observe the implementation of projects under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Programme (USMID), focusing on markets, street lighting, urban roads, and drainage networks.
Stephen Ssemutono, a FUFA delegate representing Greater Masaka, echoes the frustration of the sports community over the project's delay, emphasizing the need for a modern sports arena to nurture local talent.
However, Abel Ssembajjwe, the Masaka City Assistant Engineer, explains that due to challenges in maintaining the lights due to high power bills, the City Council decided in 2019 to uninstall all the LED lights until a more sustainable solution was found.
Rogers Bulegeya, the Masaka City Male Youth representative seconded the motion, indicating that they have registered numerous public complaints about the conduct of officials of the buildings review committee, who are accused of corruption.
In September, a section of Masaka City Councillor embarked on the process to impeach Ssempijja, accusing him of tampering with official court records, highhandedness while executing his duties, misusing his authority to mistreat councilors, exerting undue dominance over them and neglecting his parental responsibility.
Florence Namayanja, the Masaka City Mayor, says that both the technical and political leadership have unanimously resolved to instruct all property owners to work out plans for improving the outlook of their buildings, beginning with the central business area.
The canceled land title is located on Elgin Road in Masaka Town; measuring measures 2.17 acres whose ownership has been under dispute between Masaka City Council and the family of late Francis Kakumba which also claims to have acquired the same land in 2011.
The petitioners who include Juliet Nakabuye Kakande, the Masaka City Woman MP, Nyendo-Mukungwe and Kimanya-Kabonera divisions Chairpersons, and other lower council leaders.
According to Michael Mulindwa Nakumusana, the Nyendo-Mukungwe Division Chairperson, the majority of property owners are not meeting their property tax obligations, which has contributed to a significant deficit in local revenue collections in the city.
The city council leadership had planned to relocate its offices to the current district headquarters at Kitabiro cell, Nyendo-Mukungwe division, in line with the guidance by the Attorney General instructing the leadership of mother districts whose headquarters had been swallowed in the boundaries of the newly created cities, to find alternative sites for their administrative offices.
According to Namayanja, the lights do not meet the quality specifications in the contract documents and therefore cannot produce the preferred light to serve the intended purpose. She says that compared to other existing solar-powered streetlights that were earlier installed in the city, the new ones produce very low light, yet they are expected to be brighter.
Rogers Buregyeya, the Chairperson of the Finance and Administration sectoral committee accuses the technical staff of deliberately frustrating the work of his committee by declining to attend any of its statutory meetings despite being served with formal invitations.
