A bill intended to determine salaries and allowances of the speakers and deputy speakers of the Council of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and division urban councils has been tabled.
The Minister for Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs, Hon. Minsa Kabanda, on Wednesday, 04 May 2022, tabled the KCCA (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for its first reading and was subsequently referred to the Committee on Presidential Affairs for scrutiny.
The Bill seeks to empower the minister responsible for the Capital City, in consultation with the minister responsible for finance and the minister responsible for the public service, to determine the remuneration payable to the KCCA speaker, deputy speaker and urban council political leaders.
In 2019, Parliament amended the KCCA (Amendment) Act, 2015 which led to the establishment of the positions of speaker and deputy speaker at City Hall and division urban councils.
However, the amendment did not provide a framework on how the political leaders’ emoluments would be determined. This has left the affected political leaders with no salaries since taking over offices.
“Since the office bearers of the newly established offices have been occupying the offices, there is need to provide for retro-active application of the Bill. This will ensure that all those persons who have occupied the newly created offices since the coming into force of Act I of 2020 are remunerated,” reads part of the Bill.
The Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa directed the Committee on Presidential Affairs to expedite the Bill and have it tabled for second reading within one week.
“This is a three clause bill and when you read the Certificate of Financial Implication, the money for the KCCA speakers and their deputies is already provided for [in the KCCA budget for FY 2021/2022. I therefore, want the committee to process it within one week and bring a report so that we can pass it before passing the Budget,” Tayebwa said.