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The Future Pattern of Local Government in the Kingdom of Buganda, 1963 |
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Submission MINISTRY
OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT, 31ST MAY, 1963. THE
FUTURE PATTERN
OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT IN THE
KINGDOM OF
BUGANDA. OWEKITIIBWA
THE MINISTER
OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT, Sir, We have the honour to submit the report of the committee appointed by His Highness the Kabaka's Government in June 1962, to investigate the implementation of Article 16 (1) of the Buganda Agreement, 1961. Having completed our investigation and having deliberated upon the problems with which our terms of reference faced us, we now submit our report. WE HAVE THE
HONOUR TO
BE, C. M.
S. MUKASA
Chairman The following also took part in the deliberation of the Committee at various times:- Mr.
G. W.
Wright Member I wish to acknowledge their contribution of this report, and also the assistance of Mr. P. N. Lane, Assistant Secretary (Urban) in the Ministry of Local Government. I also wish to record my appreciation as Chairman of the cooperation of the Central Government and Kampala City Council, in permitting their Officers to serve on this Committee. C.
M. S. MUKASA, 1. Section 16 (1) of the Buganda Agreement 1961 says that:- "(i) A Buganda law
will be enacted as soon as practicable to
establish a Council in each area of local government within the
authority of the Kabaka's Government, and to provide for the powers,
duties and responsibilities of those Councils. This undertaking of the Uganda Government was honoured in the Uganda (Independence) Order in Council 1962, of which the 25th Section reads as follows:- "Until the Legislature of the Kingdom of Buganda makes provision for establishing local government councils in the Kingdom, towns in the Kingdom (other than Kampala and any town to which section 126 of the Constitution of Uganda applies) shall be subject to the Urban Authorities Ordinance 1958: Provided that where provision is made in that Ordinance for any power to be exercised or any duty to be performed by a Minister of the Government of Uganda, that power or duty shall, after the commencement of this Order, be exercised or performed by the Minister of the Kabaka's Government responsible for local government." The Joint Implementation Committee of the above mentioned Agreement recommended "………………………….. His Highness the Kabaka's Government should set up committee to investigate the implementation of Article 16 (1) of the Buganda Agreement, 1961." 2. Our Committee was accordingly set up in June 1962 by His Highness the Kabaka's Government with approval of the Kabaka's, and consisted of: Messrs. C. M. S. Mukasa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, H. H. Kabaka’s Government, Chairman. A. C. Stuart, Judicial Advisor, Buganda. 3. We found it necessary to submit an interim report foreshadowing the probable pattern which would be followed in the final report. This interim report was adopted by the council of Ministers on the 29th November, 1962. The full report is now submitted. In presenting this report we have confined ourselves to the broad outlines of a new policy for local government in Buganda. The implications of this policy have been and are being worked out in draft legislation some of which is ready for presentation to the Lukiiko. Since the adoption or rejection of this report by the Government or the Lukiiko could have no legal effect without the enactment of the necessary legislation, it has seemed to us right not to forestall debate on this legislation by foreshadowing its detailed provisions in this report. It is recommended that:- 4. The Kingdom of Buganda should be divided up into a number of local authority areas, based generally (see paragraphs 7 and 12 below) on present Ssaza and town boundaries. These authorities will be responsible to the Ministry of Local Government but independent of each other, except where arrangements are made for joint committees or joint administrations of services (see paragraph 17 below). The local Authority in each area will [be] vested in Urban or County Councils with a predominantly elected membership, chosen by secret ballot by the electorate of the area concerned. For purposes of local government no distinction will eventually be made between the Urban and County Councils as to their status and functions; but in the interim period which it is recommended should be not less than three and not more than ten years, the urban areas will continue to be administered under a separate Buganda law based on the Urban Authorities Ordinance 1958. 5. Within each rural County Council a smaller representative unit based on Miruka divisions will be established to carry out services of a purely local or voluntary character and to serve as a link between the local population and the County Councils. The present Gombolola Councils will be abolished. 6. Trading Centers within the area of each County Council will generally be administered as part of that area. No distinction will be drawn between the Trading Centers and the surrounding areas except that the special arising from a concentration of population will be dealt with by a Trading Center Authority set up under legislation which has already been prepared. It is envisaged that the Trading Center Authority will eventually be a sub-committee of the County Council, but that for the time being the members of the authority will be the Chairman and Chief Officers of the County Council, with powers to co-opt representatives of local interests. PART II:
REORGANISATION OF BOUNDARIES. A. Urban. 7. The distribution and delimitation of towns is inherited from the Protectorate Government, whose reasons for gazetting them were more usually administrative than economic. As a matter of policy in the future, creation of towns should be on economic grounds only, as the Government cannot afford to support unprofitable units. 8. Development and concentration of population around Kampala has already resulted in the setting up of Mengo Municipality. To the north of Kampala, Kawempe minor town forms too small a unit for independent existence unless the Kabaka's Government is prepared to subsidize it indefinitely. It is recommended that it should be incorporated in Mengo at the first opportunity. 9. Arrangements have already been put in hand for the creation of Nakawa Town Council to the east of Kampala, comprising Port Bell, Mbuya, Nakawa and Kyambogo. 10. It is proposed that urban councils should be created or retained in Masaka and in the following minor towns throughout Buganda:- Mityana, Kawolo, Kalisizo, Bombo, Mukono, Buikwe, Wobulenzi, Kayunga, Nagalama, Kyotera. These towns will be under the same urban law as the larger Municipal areas, but will have a slightly different status and fewer functions to perform. Mpigi, Buwama and Lwambu will be down-graded to trading center status. The criterion adopted here is whether the area concerned shows potentialities for growth, is stagnant, or is declining. 11. Entebbe, Njeru and Mubende, which are at present administered by the Central Government, will eventually revert to Buganda's control as urban councils. B. Rural Areas (a) Amasaza (Counties). 12. Existing Ssaza units are the obvious basis for the new county councils. Not only do they already have a working organisation and system of local government councils, works finance etc, but they [are] also historically the focus of traditional loyalties of the nation. Nevertheless there are difficulties arising both from the great differences in size and population between the largest and the smallest Ssazas, and also from boundary anomalies where small areas could be more easily administered by another Ssaza. It is proposed to tackle the first problem by the system of joint committees described below (paragraph 15) by which two or more of the small Ssazas could join together to administer jointly some or all of the duties entrusted to them. The second problem, together with questions relating to Gombolola and Muluka boundaries, and the boundaries of urban areas, requires detailed study, and it is proposed to set up a boundary commission with powers to recommend minor changes to the Minister of Local Government. As in most developed countries it is proposed that this should be a permanent body with powers to keep boundary questions under constant review, to keep pace with the shifting patterns of population in the country. Such minor changes would be approved by the Kabaka on the advise of the Minister. At a later stage the commission might consider the desirability of Amalgamating or splitting up entire Ssaza units, but such changes which would have a far reaching effect on the whole structure of Buganda, would not be made without the approval of the Lukiiko. (b) Amagombolola: 13. Gombolola and Miruka divisions will be retained for administrative purposes and as a basis for the Miruka councils. Boundaries will be subject to review by the permanent boundary commission (paragraph 12 above). PART III: COUNTY AND MIRUKA (PARISH) COUNCILS. A. Constitution. 14. County Council will consist of not more than 50 members, of whom not less than 3/5th will be directly elected. Each county will be divided into electoral wards on a Muluka basis. In the large Ssazas such as Buddu this will mean that two or more Miruka will be joined together for electoral purposes. All decisions of the council will be taken by simple majority. The above recommendations will be incorporated in draft legislation in the course of preparation. 15. The larger County Councils will operate, as is normal in local government, through a series of committees, responsible to the main Council. Initially these committees would be the Finance Committee, Staff Committee, Works Committees, Trading Center Committee, Public Health and Rural Improvement Committee, plus an Education Committee for those councils with educational responsibilities. The constitution of such committees, the proportion of members who must be elected members of the Council, the procedure for cooption of outside members etc, will be laid down by the Minister, taking into account the circumstances of each individual county. 16. No Muluka will elect more than one member to its county council, so that the smaller Ssazas the size of the Council will be considerably below the maximum. The Buganda electoral boundary commission will divide the county into wards for local government purposes so that as far as possible the number of voters in each ward shall be equal. Subject to the restriction that their number must not exceed 2/5ths of the membership, the Ssaza Chief, Deputy Ssaza Chief and Gombolola Chiefs will be ex-official members of the council. Elections to councils will be held at intervals of not less than three, or more than five years. All persons who on the date of the council elections for the area concerned are registered on the national register of electors will be entitled to vote. The Minister will be empowered to provide by order for the appointment or election of a chairman. In the early stages it is envisaged that the Ssaza Chief will be appointed. 17. The smaller and less population Ssazas (e.g. Kooki, Kabula, Mawogola, Gomba, Busujju and the two island Ssazas of Buvuma and Ssese) present different problems. Here we recommended that inter-council committees should be set up to run certain services. These may take the form either of:- (a) A joint committee of
two small councils with equal responsibilities, 18. There are two possible forms which Miruka councils could take. Either they could be without formal elections, in which case the meetings would be open to any inhabitant of the Muluka who cared to attend, (this is largely the system which exists at present), or they could be directly elected on the same basis as the county councils. We favour the latter alternative, partly because it will not be difficult to arrange Muluka direct elections at the same time as elections to County Councils, and partly became a small council of elected representatives is more likely to be able to plan for the future of the Muluka than is an ad hoc gathering. The draft legislation now being prepared envisages Muluka Councils with one directly elected representative from each village. B. Powers and Functions. 19. In view of the County Councils present lack of finances, staff and experience it is proposed that initially only a few basic services and powers should be mandatory, leaving the balances subject to the Minister's prior consent. The majority of mandatory functions will be those imposed by other legislation, e.g. liquor licensing. In addition it is envisaged that Councils should also act for some services as the local Agents of the Buganda Government, once their organisation is strong enough for them to do so. It is likely that from the start Councils will collect Graduated taxes. A list of functions is given at appendix B. 20. The Miruka councils will be empowered to make resolutions concerning matters of local interest to the area. Such resolutions will not have the force of law, but will be mainly to direct the voluntary efforts of the people in the Muluka, or to direct the attention of the County Council to some local request or complaint. It is proposed that County Councils should make a small annual provision for the purchase of stores and equipment such as tools and culvert pipes, which would be available to help Miruka Councils with approved local schemes. 20. As stated above (paragraph 4) Urban Councils will initially remain under a separate Buganda law based on the Urban Authorities Ordinance. It is intended that eventually this distinction will not disappear and that all areas of the country should be on the same footing vis-à-vis the Central Government of Buganda. It will not however be possible to achieve this aim for some time to come. The main problem in providing legislation for the towns in Buganda is the very different stages of development which they have reached. It is most difficult to provide a satisfactory law which will cover the needs both of Mengo Municipality and of Kayunga and Kalisizo. However the Urban Authorities Ordinance 1958, which leaves wide discretion in the hands of the Minister to grant or withhold powers and duties according to the size and capabilities of the town councils concerned, is sufficiently flexible to meet Buganda's needs for some time to come. We recommended that a Luganda adaptation of this law, which has already been prepared, should be adopted. 21. We wish to make one point clear at the outset. People living in the area of a local Council must expect to pay for its organisation and for the services which it provides. The will necessitate a system of local taxation for raising local revenue. For some years past it has been widely accepted that local authorities should be mainly financed by grants from the regional or Kingdom Government and that these in turn should be largely dependant on grants from the Central Government. This concept is fundamentally unsound, and most of the Kabaka's Government's financial difficulties arise from this fact that people are not prepared to pay for what they ask. From the start it must be realised that each council is a business concern, having the legal obligation to support itself financially and to make sufficient profit to pay for expansion and improvement. The only answer is local taxation by the County Council of people living within its area. If this is not thought of as acceptable then the whole idea of local authorities can be scrapped before further time and money is spent thereon. 23. The recurrent finances of Councils will be raised from a combination of local revenues and Kabaka's Government grants for specific services. Capital finance will be found from reserves, from grants, or from loans by, or underwritten by, the Kabaka's Government. 24. Revenue raised locally will comprise:- (a) Local rates and cesses. Of these, rates will be by far the most important single source of revenue. The question of selecting a satisfactory system of rural rating is a complicated one, and is still under study. In the interim period it is proposed that the revenue from the Buganda land tax should accrue to the councils. An Urban Rates law has already been submitted to the Lukiiko. 25. The Councils' recurrent revenues will be supplemented by annual grants from the Buganda Government. It is proposed that these should be fixed for the triennium and should be paid quarterly in advance. The grants themselves will be of two kinds:- (i) Administration Grant calculated on the total salaries of all staff
filling approved posts. So as to avoid difficulties encountered in the
operation of a similar Central Government grant, a list of approved
posts for each Council will be needed. The purpose of such a grant
policy is to ensure firstly that all Councils can afford to employ
sufficient staff of the requisite caliber, and secondly to maintain
Government's control. 26. It is proposed that general financial control of the Councils by the Kabaka's Government should be retained by an adaptation of the relevant portions of the Urban Authorities Ordinance and the Local Administrations Ordinance 1962. This is in hand. 27. The present financial regulations of the Kabaka's Government based as they are on the outdated Native Authority Treasury system, are fundamentally inadequate for the proposed financially independent councils. The Central Governments "Financial Instructions for District Administration 1961", suitably amended, provide a sounder basis, and it is proposed that they should be adopted. 28. It is obvious that the
proposed Urban and County Councils will not function efficiently and
economically without staff of a high calibre having the necessary
training and experience. Until such staffs are available it would be
useless and even dangerous to devolve wide powers onto the new councils.
It is proposed that an urgent program of training the middle and upper
grades of available staff should be undertaken. The Ministry of Local
Government intends to hold three to six mouths courses for staff,
particularly cashiers; and other training courses available both in
Uganda and abroad are being investigated as a matter of urgency. It is
recognized that existing Gombolola and Ssaza staff will not in all cases
be suitable even after training for transfer to the new councils. It is
proposed in conjunction with the Buganda Public Service Commission to
survey the available manpower resources and to consider possible new
appointments and redundancies in the light of the probable requirements
of Councils. 29. Subject to the directions of the Minister it will be the responsibility if both Urban and County Councils to recruit their own staff. In the early stages of the scheme however this statement will be subject to the following qualifications:- (i) The Executive Officers
or Town Clerks of all Councils will be appointed by the Minister, or
subject to approval by him. In the County Councils the chiefs must
continue for some time to come to act as the chief executive officers of
the councils, as well as agents [of] the Buganda Government in respect
of their law and order duties (see paragraph 35 below). In some towns it
is possible that the executive officer may be separate appointment not
held by the chief of any particular area, but it is proposed that such
posts should initially be filled either by seconded chiefs or by
officers of the Ministry of Local Government. 30. Councils will be required by the Minister to set up "Administration and staff" committees (paragraph 15 above). These committees will be responsible for the recruitment and discipline of subordinate and clerical staff subject to paragraph 29 above and to staff regulations to be drawn up by the Ministry of Local Government. 31. It is proposed that the Minister should not delegate responsibility for any of the permissive services to any Council unless he is satisfied that it has employed sufficient officers of the necessary calibre. Should such officers cease to be employed, delegations already made should be revoked. 32. It is proposed that existing Division Administrative Officers should be appointed Local Government Inspectors. As such they will exercise tutelage powers over the Councils and will act as the channel of communication between the Councils (including the officers of the council) and the Minister of Local Government. They will be entitled to attend and address all meetings of councils and to inspect all books and accounts (such accounts will however also be subject to audit the under the Financial Instructions Para 27 above). In addition the Division Administration Officer will normally be the chairman of the Urban Councils, until such a time as an independent chairman is elected or nominated. 33. A new post of Chief Inspector (Finance) possibly combined with the post of Accountant to the Ministry of Local Government, will be required. Under him, but directly responsible to the Divisional Administration Officers in their day to day work, it is proposed to appoint four local Government Inspectors (Finance), one for each Division, charged with the particular duty of checking that revenue collected by the Councils on behalf of Government is properly dealt with. Such officers would also have powers of inspection of Local Government accounts but would no longer be required to authorise payment of Local Government vouchers, since this would become the responsibility of the Council's Treasure. The present post of Financial Assistant would be abolished and the holders of the post would be absorbed either into the Inspectorate or into the Council Treasuries. 34. Other Ministries and Departments with responsibilities delegated to the Councils, or for whom the Councils are acting as agents will maintain their own inspectorate system within the limits of their subject. PART
VIII: THE CAPITAL ROLE OF CHIEFS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 35. Hitherto chiefs have
been primarily the local agents of Buganda Government vested with
responsibility for law and order but having a subordinate duty for
carrying on local government. During the first years of the new Councils
it will be vital to retain such officers' experience and prestige to
ensure acceptance of and confidence in the new local authorities. The
result will be a clear-cut duality of function:- (i) as representatives of
the Buganda Government, responsible to the Katikkiro for law and order;
and, Although the new Councils will steadily take over from chiefs their functions in respect of local government, while increasing Police coverage will assume ever greater responsibility for law and security, we recommend that the Government's policy should be to retain chiefs for the foreseeable future, to maintain government authority, to provide links with the people, and initially to control and later to assist the workings of Local Councils. 36. In their capacity as officers, chiefs' function in broad outline will be:- (i) Ssaza Chief. Senior executive officer of the Country (rural) Council
comparable to the Prefect in the French system of Local Government. (a) liaison between the
public and the Government particulaty as a channel for complaints. For the foreseeable future the Miruka Chiefs will remain servants of the Buganda Government. 1. List of Urban Councils. Mengo
Town Council Not
yet transferred to the Buganda Government. Entebbe
Town Council 2. List of County Councils. East Mengo …Kyaggwe
Bugerere Bulemezi Bululi 3. List of
"Joint" Councils (for purposes of running common
services). Gomba
and Mawokota 4. Island Counties. Buvuma
… … Would appoint Kyaggwe County Council to be its agent and run
certain services as would be agreed. A. Powers and Functions of Councils Mandatory. (i)
Powers necessary to do and carry out all duties imposed upon Councils in
the Law that creates them, or in any other
law. B. Powers and Functions - Permissive. (i)
maintenance and control of pounds, and animal clinics; C. Powers and functions AGENCY (to the extent that such responsibilities are delegated to Councils as local agents of Government by the Ministry or Department concerned). (i)
Collection of Buganda Government taxes. [1] Francis M. Deng, the UN Secretary-General's Representative for Internally Displaced Persons, quoted in Sam G. Amoo, Senior Advisor, Emergency Response Division, UNDP, "The Challenges of Ethnicity and Conflicts in Africa: The Need For A New Paradigm", New York, January 1997.[http://www.undp.org/erd/archives/cnflict.htm]. |
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