Africa-Press – Uganda. Mbarara District local government officials have asked the Ministry of Finance to allocate Shs7b to facilitate the relocation of the district headquarters in Kamukuzi to Bwizibwera before the end of the financial year.
Speaking during a meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Public Service and Local Government in Mbarara on Wednesday, the district chairperson, Mr Didas Tabaaro, said the relocation plan has been delayed due to lack of funds.
“I have already written to the Ministry of Finance requesting for about Shs7 billion to construct the new district administration headquarters in Bwizibwera. However, they have taken long to respond,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Ramadhan Ggoobi, on the matter were futile as he did not answer our repeated calls by press time.
Mr Tabaaro said they are hopeful that with the intervention of Parliament, the process would speed up so that the district can resolve the issue of ownership of property with the city leadership.
“Even if we relocate from Kamukuzi, it doesn’t mean that the district will have lost the powers over the ownership of that property. We are to relocate our offices. It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance to facilitate any local government when it’s changing location,” he said.
He added: “But for assets that are owned by the district, nobody owns them. Whoever tries that, we shall go to court. If they need space, they should inquire from the district who is the landlord. This place is not owned by any ministry but by the district.”
Mr Tabaaro said if the Mbarara City authorities want to take over ownership of the property at Kamukuzi,
they have to seek a resolution from the district council.
“They need to do the same. We have never got any communication regarding property sharing with the city but they want to grab it,” he said.
The city Town Clerk, Mr Assy Abirebe, said the city is facing a huge problem of lack of space for staff which has forced many of them to share offices, which is affecting service delivery.
“Actually for us as the city, we thought we were going to come and take over these facilities at Kamukuzi but it was not possible. There were conflicts but the Minister for Local Government intervened and advised us to be patient because the district cannot just go when they do not have where to sit,” he said.
Hoima East MP Patrick Mwesigwa Isingoma, who chaired the meeting, said they aimed to resolve the disagreements between Mbarara District and Mbarara City over ownership of property and advocate for funds to shift the district headquarters to the new location in Bwizibwera.
“As you know this issue has been pending for the last three years since the cities were created and the efforts to help the district shift have not been done but as the committee, we are engaging the concerned ministries to ensure the process is done before this financial year ends,” he said.
Kiruhura Woman MP Jovanice Rwenduru, a member of the committee, asked the city authorities to be patient with the district leadership until they get money for relocation and then they can start discussing issues of property ownership.
“We still have a conflict here and we are to put it down in our report but I am asking the city officials to give time to the district because the government is trying to get money. To solve some issues you cannot start dissing the district like that, the guidelines are there you must handle these things together without conflicting,” she said.
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