To all my dear friends who requested for details of the complaint I have forwarded to the Speaker of Parliament in regard to the machinations in the on-going KCCA probe my gut feeling initially was that may be it would not be proper to publish it here verbatim. But considering the gravity of the matters raised, which are of great public concern, I found it inevitable to do so. Am sure after reading through you will agree with me if I said; Rest in Peace, Rule of Law in Uganda. REF: LM/KCCA/23/09/13 Date: 23rd Sept 2013 The Right Hon. Speaker Parliament of the Republic of Uganda P.O. Box 7178 Kampala – Uganda. Dear Hon. Speaker, RE: PARLIAMENTARY PROBE ON KCCA MATTERS Reference is made to my earlier communication to your office Ref. No. LM/KCCA/027/013 dated 27th May 2013. (See Copy enclosed herein). As it appears on record, during the month of December 2012, my office together with some Authority Councilors and Mayors of Division Urban Councils presented a petition to parliament beseeching the August house to probe the mismanagement of KCCA by the Executive Director and matters in connection therewith to wit, misinterpretation of the KCCA Act, sabotage of Authority Meetings, want of Audit and Accountability systems etc. The petition was accordingly committed to the sessional committee on public service and local governments for further investigations. On the 13th day of December 2012, the then committee Chairperson, Hon. Florence Kintu wrote to my office and that of the Executive Director requesting for stay of implementation of all matters of policy that had not been sanctioned by the Authority including the rebranding or change of the KCCA Logo. Henceforth, the Committee commenced its investigations by conducting public hearings, internal meetings and field visits or fact finding missions. In the course of the presentation of what was described as the committee Report by the then Chairperson in the month of May 2013, stunning revelations emerged to the effect that the purported Report, which inter-alia carried a recommendation that the President takes over the administration of Kampala for a period of Six Months, was never authored or even adopted by the Committee. In the wisdom of the entire August House it was considered imprudent to proceed with the debate on the said “Report” but instead a resolution was unanimously made to establish a select committee to handle the aforesaid controversial matters. Ironically, it was around the same time that some Authority Councilors decided to sign a petition seeking for my removal from the office of the Lord Mayor. Notwithstanding the advice of the Attorney General to the effect that the said petition was untenable in law, the Minister for KCCA, Hon. Frank Tumwebaze went ahead to establish a tribunal whose membership he unveiled at a press briefing at the media centre on the 5th day of June 2013. On the 6th day of June 2013, the leader of opposition wrote a letter to your office vide Ref. LOP/SPK/13 protesting the said move by the Minister on grounds that it would amount to abuse of the due process of the law for parallel investigations to be conducted over the same matters. (See copy of the letter enclosed herein). The foregoing protest notwithstanding the tribunal investigations commenced whereupon I was constrained to seek for legal redress in courts of Law Vide Misc. Cause No.281 of 2013. Amongst the grounds cited in the said cause was that KCCA, as it stands today, cannot legally handle the impeachment process against the Lord Mayor for it is not fully constituted without the election of four councilors representing professional bodies in accordance with S.6 and 82 of the KCCA Act. This prompted the Minister for KCCA to frantically table in Parliament a Statutory Instrument Vide the Kampala Capital City (Election of Representatives of Professional Bodies) Regulations of 2012 which had been shelved for a long time. A number of MPs raised preliminary objections to the laying of the said instrument whereupon the Deputy Speaker who presided over the said sitting ruled that the same be committed to the legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to scrutinize the same, consider the objections and report back to the House. On the 12th day of July 2013, the trial judge, Hon. Justice V.T. Zehurikize delivered his ruling in the said cause wherein he inter-alia ordered that; “I must emphasize that if at the conclusion of its investigations the Tribunal finds that there is a prima-facie case for the removal of the Lord Mayor, the Authority cannot proceed to pass a resolution for his removal unless it is fully constituted as provided for under section 6 of the Act”. Initially, the Minister for Kampala told the press that they were going to appeal against the said order but subsequently abandoned the idea and opted for the fast tracking of the elections of the said Councilors. On the 15th day of July 2013, the Executive Director KCCA, Madam JenifferSemakulaMusisi wrote to the Electoral Commission directing that the said elections should be conducted expeditiously and in any case not later than 1st August 2013. (See Copy enclose herein). On the 17th day of July 2013, the Shadow Attorney General, and Shadow Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs wrote to the Electoral Commission and the Professional Bodies challenging the constitutionality of the said directive and drew their attention to the fact that the statutory instrument was still being scrutinized by Parliament. (See copies of the two letters enclosed herein). The Electoral Commission conducted a meeting with the leadership of the Professional bodies and came up with the finding that the whole process was riddled with legal challenges ranging from the Constitutionality of the said instrument to display of Voters’ Register, nomination processes e.t.c. On the 22nd day of July 2013, the electoral commission issued a communication indicating that they had written to the Clerk to Parliament to establish the status of the said Regulations before they could take any further step. (See copy of the communication enclosed herein). On the 26th day of July 2013, the Uganda Law Society also wrote to the Electoral Commission indicating that they would not be in position to participate in the said election unless and until the legal issues are ironed out. (see copy of the letter enclosed herein). In a dramatic turn of events, the issues of the propriety of the said instrument re-surfaced on the floor of Parliament and the Deputy Speaker ruled that it was irregular for the Statutory Instrument to be committed to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee. On the 29th day of July 2013, your office issued a communication setting-up the select Committee to probe into the matters pertaining to the mismanagement of KCCA and the said committee, whose terms of reference were laid out in another communication dated 7th August 2013, was given 21 days within which to produce its Report. (See copies of the two letters enclosed herein). Meanwhile, the Tribunal also proceeded with its investigations and is yet to come-up with the Report. As we were waiting for the two Reports, the whole process seems to have taken a new twist with the intervention of the President. Last Saturday, the 21st of September 2013 some Councilors together with the Executive Director and their Lead Lawyer, KiwanukaKiryowa had a closed door meeting with the President at State House to finalize the process of my removal from Office. According to some impeccable sources that attended the said meeting, they discussed the nitty-gritty of all the legal and political intricacies involved in the entire process. The President informed the meeting that he was scheduled to travel to New York and he would accordingly assign the matter to one of his Ministers. The name of Hon. Adolf Mwesigye and that of Hon. Frank Tumwebaze were mentioned but the Executive Director objected to the former on grounds that he is “inaccessible” and the latter was reported out of the country. They eventually zeroed in on Hon. Todwong Richard who was tasked to do the following; 1. Coordinate the Councilors and handle all the “logistical” matters required. 2. Explore the possibility of delaying the presentation and consideration of the Report of the select committee of Parliament on KCCA Matters to avoid an absurdity of having two reports on the same matter. 3. Liaise with the tribunal members at Serena Hotel, Kigo (former Ranch on the Lake). 4. In liaison with their lawyers, explore the practicability of circumventing or defying the court order issued by Justice Zehurikize which they considered as a stumbling block in their way considering the fact that it is now almost impossible to conduct elections of Councilors representing Professional bodies before convening an Authority Meeting to impeach me. This would involve manipulation of a particular clause in the KCCA Act which the Judge had clearly interpreted and stated that issues of quorum and calculation of number as well as absence or non-attendance of some members can only be considered after the authority has been fully constituted through an electoral process. And as a follow up, Hon. Todwong has called a meeting today at 2:00pm in the Cabinet Library. It is a paradox that these egregious machinations, which touch on the core foundation of the rule of law and constitutionalism in this country, are being perpetrated by the very people who accuse me of abuse of office moreover under the aegis of the fountain of honour (President). The purpose of this communication, therefore is to bring this vital information to the attention of parliament with a humble request that our petition which has been pending for the last 10 months be disposed of one way or the other for the good of not only the parties concerned by the entire institution of KCCA and the Nation at large. By copy of this letter the principal Judge is also hereby requested to take necessary measures to guard the sanctity of the said court order in the best interest of Justice and Constitutional governance in this country. FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY LukwagoErias LORD MAYOR Copy to: The Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker Leader of Government Business Leader of Opposition Principal Judge Attorney General Shadow Attorney General Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister for KCCA Shadow Minister for Local Government & KCCA Chairperson, Parliamentary Select Committee on KCCA Matters. All MPs for Kampala Chairperson Electoral Commission Members of the Tribunal Mayors, Division Urban Councils Executive Director – KCCA Leaders of Professional Bodies Authority Councilors
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 15:33:15 +0000
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