At long last KCCA council have passed the Outdoor Adverting Ordinance amidst chaos and insult against the person of the speaker accusing her for taking photos and black mailing them for taking bribe in order to pass the Ordinance.
When the speaker opened the floor to councilors to start deliberating on the bill, councilor Farida Nakabugo representing Rubaga South at KCCA council started shouting and insulting the speaker accusing her of taking the photos of councilors while signing for their allowances in her office.
Nakabugo while shouting at the top of her voice insulted the speaker calling her by her name instead of the title as a sign of respect. She demanded the speaker to explain to her why she took her photos while sign for the allowances and putting on social media alleging that councilors had taken bribe to pass the Outdoor Adverting Ordinance.
She was also joined by councilors, Solome Sebina and Nusifa Nakato of Rubaga North and Kawenpe North respectively who were also shouting on the top of their voices as well as insulting the speaker. The speaker remained calm and quiet and the chaos lasted close to two hours.
The speaker later ordered councilor Nakabugo to move out of the chambers but she refused, later she was moved out by fellow NUP councilors and the situation normalized then meeting continued and councilors started again to deliberate about the issues on the order paper.
The Ordnance passed seeks to streamline the tax imposed on billboards that are placed in the city such that KCCA can enhance on the revenue collection and also maintain order and smartness.
Councilor Hakim Kizza who represents Lubya at KCCA said that it’s a pity for members to insult the fellow members and blackmailing yet they were elected to represent their voters and see that their areas receive the necessary service.
Kizza said that the Ordinance passed will help KCCA to avoid incidences like that happened were the Authority was committed to court for collecting illegal fees from owners of billboards and sign posts and court ordered KCCA TO refund the funds and pay damages worth Ushs 13 billion and up to date the refund has not been fully refunded.
The Deputy Director of KCCA Eng. David Luyimbazi denied collecting fees as alleged by councilors. He said that councilors should not dwell so much on things which drag back the development of the city and should concentrate on issues which concerns development.
“ The funds we get from the central government are still very minimal therefore we need to collect local revenue to enhance the finances but we couldn’t do it due to lack of the laws.’’ Eng. Luyimbazi.
He further said that the Ordinance had taken more than 2 years and this jeopardized affected KCCA in terms of revenue collections something that have affected service delivery to the people of Kampala city for instance construction and maintenance of road and drainage channels.
Meanwhile, the Speaker suspended councilors, Farida Nakabugo, Solome Sebina and Nusifa Nakato for 2 council and committee seating as well as asking them to tender in an apology to her.
By George Bukenya
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