KCCA councillors cars vandalised as they demand road infrastructure projects accountability
The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) council on Friday rejected a report presented by the deputy executive director Eng Ssali Luyimbazi in response to accountability concerns.
It was raised in the city executive committee report on road infrastructure projects in the city.
The council that constituted itself into a committee of the whole house to probe amongst others, the cost of construction of roads under the Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project (KIIDP) project at a Shs10 billion per km and the proposed road construction of 69.7Kms at Shs 15 billion per km under the Africa Development Bank (ADB) project, rejected the report on grounds that it offered no specific responses and explanations to the matters of concerns in the city executive report.
The Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago who attended the special council sitting condemned the brutality and inhuman treatment meted on councillors, adding that violence should not be used as response to demands for accountability.
Lukwago at the council hearing
He said that there is need to reflect on the dismal performance and improvement on infrastructure despite huge interventions, with projects like KIIDP having been formulated to resolve the city's flood challenge but very little progress has been made in that regard even as the project is coming to a close.
Councillors who increasingly got uncomfortable, with some getting visibly irritated by the evasive explanations of the deputy executive director resolved that he should be given time to come up with proper responses to the concerns.
The authority speaker Zahara Luyirika deferred debate on the report to Thursday, February 2, 2023 and urged councillors to remain firm in demanding for accountability despite attempts to intimidate them and also scrutinise every report that shall be presented before them.
As the councillors stepped out of council chambers, they found out that their car tyres had been damaged including that of the speaker.
Lukwago attributed this incident to some individuals who are uncomfortable with the matter of accountability currently being discussed by councillors, and have resorted to intimidation tactics. Police said it is investigating the matter.
The meeting was charged with many councillors dissatisfied with answers they received
The sitting of the authority council on Tuesday this week turned chaotic following forceful demand by councillors for the technical team to explain the high cost of road construction in the city.
This followed the presentation of a report on road infrastructure projects by the executive secretary of works Hakim Sawula to council which indicated the cost of constructing each km in the city to have been at Shs 10 billion on average.
The report indicated that there has been provision for compensation whereas most people have been persuaded to give their land freely to allow for construction of roads.
The revelations caused councillors to demand explanations from technical teams who were conspicuously absent from the council chambers.
The councillors resolved to walk and seek an explanation from the directors in their offices leading to a confrontation with the anti-riot police squads in the corridors of the authority offices leading to the arrest of some councillors who were later released.
