Opposition Democratic Party’s Fred Kasirye, the Kassanda LC 5 chairperson has been accused of sacking one of the district executive committee members over their ties with the ruling NRM party.
In a February 14, 2023 letter, Kasirye wrote to the Kassanda Chief Administrative Officer informing him of the decision to revoke the appointment of Drake Ssembuusi as a committee member.
“The district chairperson is mandated under section 18(1) and (3) of the Local Governments Act to appoint the vice chairpersons and secretaries from among the members of the council. In accordance with the above provisions of the law, I have in the interest of improving service delivery found in prudent to revoke the appointment of Drake Ssembuusi as a member of the district executive committee,” Kasirye said.
Ssembuusi is a councilor in the district council on the ruling NRM party card.
However, commenting about his sacking, Ssembuusi said the move stemmed from his ties with the ruling party that he says made the district chairman envy him.
He explained that the last stroke was the liberation day celebrations in the district where the district chairperson forcefully attended despite having never been invited by the organisers.
“Whereas I was the master of ceremony during the function, the LC5 chairman accused me of refusing him to attend the function and that I refused to accord him opportunity to speak at the function which is not true. I don’t have time to fight him as he alleges,”Ssembuusi said.
“This entire circus of sacking me is because of being an NRM member and refusing to serve his personal interests.”
He explained that in the past two years, his relationship with his boss has been strained, stemming from his NRM ties.
“The chairman always said that I was fighting him. He also wanted me to serve him personally and not the people who elected us to power which I could not do. He always accused me of not being loyal to him and serving interests of my party. I don’t regret doing the right thing to support my party to which I was voted to power.”
However, the Kassanda LC5 chairperson, Fred Kasirye Zimula dismissed the claims as untrue, insisting that Ssembuusi was replaced in accordance to the provisions of the law.
“The Local Government Act gives me powers and it is what I exercised in order to improve service delivery. I dropped him as a secretary to ensure better service delivery and there was nothing personal in this decision,”Kasirye said.
He equated his decision to the appointment of new cabinet members by President Museveni to improve service delivery.