Councilor, Kira Speaker Clash Over Sitting

There was drama during the Kira municipal council meeting on Thursday when the Bweyogerere Division LC 3 Councilor, Andrew Eyelu clashed with the Speaker, Frank Ssemukuye for convening a meeting in disregard of a ban by the president on public gathering over corona virus.

Trouble started when the speaker asked one of the councilors to propose a motion for the adopting of the order paper. However, instead of a proposing for the adoption of the order paper, Eyelu instead moved a motion proposing the postponement of the council meeting, saying it was illegally convened.

He pointed out that the speaker had violated the presidential directive banning all public gatherings as part of the preventive measures against Corona Virus, which spreads through contact with droplets of an infected person.

Eyelu also raised concern about the venue of the meeting, which was held in a closed conference hall and the sitting arrangement. Councilors sat close to each other in violation of the guidelines issued by the Health Ministry that recommended at least a distance of 3 meters.

However, before completing his submission, the Speaker, Frank Ssemukuye ordered the councilor to resume his seat. “We are not here to waste time; we have obligations to fulfill as leaders. We are aware of the president’s directive but our budget must be laid. We have a deadline to meet,” the speaker ruled before Eyelu matched out of the meeting.

To Eyelu, the budget wasn’t a matter of life and death. He appealed to the speaker to call off the meeting or change the venue to a well-aerated place and appropriate sitting arrangement. However, the speaker couldn’t have any of this as she insisted that the meeting could last for only an hour.

The exchange between the speaker and Eyelu drew murmurs from other councilors. Minutes after Eyelu walked out of the council meeting, the Speaker ordered the clerk to council not to pay him his allowances unless he writes a formal apology for causing commotion in the house.

Addressing the council meeting, the Kira Municipal Mayor, Julius Mutebi noted that they were very much aware of the concerns of the ‘honorable councilor’ but said they had an obligation to pass the budget.

Council proceeded and passed the 2020/20121 financial year budget estimates worth Shilling 27.6 billion majorly focusing on infrastructure development. On Wednesday evening, President, Yoweri Museveni announced a ban on all political and cultural activities as a means to curb the spread of the Coronavirus that has so far claimed over 8000 people and affected over 200,000 people around the world.