Parliament has passed the KCCA Amendment Bill which was first tabled in 2015, bringing an end to the protracted two year debate between lawmakers and the Executive.
The bill streamlines roles and responsibilities of different offices, a move which both the Government and opposition think will end the long-standing battles.
The bill also separates the council which will completely be for legislative purposes only, while the authority will remain a corporate body of technical staff and councillors.
The Bill entrusts powers of coordinating physical planning activities in the metropolitan areas in the office of the Ministry of Kampala.
The bill also streamlines roles and responsibilities of different offices, a move which both the Government and opposition think will end the long-standing battles.
The bill was supposed to be passed on Wednesday but Benny Namugwanya Bugembe, the state Minister for Kampala failed to agree with MPs on the creation of department in the Ministry to be in charge of physical planning in districts of metropolitan Kampala which encompasses Kampala, Mukono, Wakiso and Mpigi districts.
Several MPs within the named districts protested the move, saying they aren’t willing be work under the armpits of KCCA accusing the Authority of bullying other local governments with calls to have the physical planning placed under the Ministry of Land, a proposal Namugwanya protested.
However, yesterday, Namugwanya told Parliament that the Executive had since shifted its earlier position and they would now like the law to state that the ministry of Kampala in consultation with the ministry of lands and local government shall coordinate physical planning activities.
Among the proposals that raised a heated debate was Clause 3(2) of the Bill, which was passed by Parliament scrapping academic qualifications for those seeking to be councilors but retained Advanced Level qualifications for Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor.
The initial proposal that sought to rationalize provisions relating to the metropolitan physical planning Authority was deleted from the bill.
Others removed from the bill include proposals to have the Lord Mayor elected by the Council from among the councillors among others.
According to Namugwanya, in the current law the roles are not separated which has caused confusion.
Namugwanya says that they spent adequate time so that they don’t make laws for individuals but for the country. She says as Government they are happy with the passed proposal.
Betti Olive Kamya, the Kampala Minister says Lukwago retains the title of Political head, but Kampala still remains administered by the Central Government.
She says the major change in the law is the fact that the Lord Mayor will not preside over council meetings but the Speaker of the council.
Jesica Ababiku, Chairperson Presidential Affairs Committee while tabling the report informed Parliament that the committee that they had rejected the said proposal as well as suggestion to make the Minister of Kampala as political head instead of lord mayor, saying the position of political head is useless because it doesn’t come with functions.
Clause 6(a) of the Bill also created the position of speaker and deputy speaker Kampala Capital City Authority, a development that means that the Lord Mayor ceases to have powers to preside over KCCA Council sittings.
The bill now awaits to be assented to the President.
