Parliament halts debate on new cities

Parliament has deferred a debate on the motion for the alteration of boundaries and creation of 15 new cities  arguing that the stakeholders in some of the proposed cities were not consulted on the matter.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah said Parliament cannot take a decision on a matter where consultations have not been made and where controversies persist.

He said the respective ministers have up to Thursday to reconcile the warring parties in the proposed cities.

The minister for Local Government Tom Butime has tabled a motion seeking for the alteration of boundaries and the creation of 15 new cities in the country .

The 15 proposed new cities are: Arua, Gulu, Jinja, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Mbale, Masaka, Hoima, Entebbe, Lira, Moroto, Nakasongola, Soroti, Kabale and Wakiso.

The new cities that are to set begin operation on July 1 2020 are seven and they are: Arua, Gulu, Jinja, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Mbale and Masaka.

Only Hoima city will start operation on  to begin on July 1 2021.

Those in the 3rd phase of 2022 are: Entebbe and Lira and those that are set to begin in 2023 are Moroto, Lira, Nakasongola, Soroti and Wakiso.

Butime said the creation of the new cities will bring services closer to the people, create employment to the citizens in addition to increasing on the external funding to these areas.

But some legislators opposed the quick process of approving the new cities arguing that some of them do not meet the required standards.

To some legislators this is likely to cause more constitutional challenges especially on the issue of boundaries and political representation.

Butime said each of the 15 new cities will have two divisions, but the political representation will be determined by the Electoral Commission, since the ministry for Local Government has no constitutional mandate to determine the representation.