2021 ELECTIONS: Ugandans across the country today (Wednesday Jan 20) head to the polls to elect city mayors in the 11 cities (Kampala inclusive) and district chairpersons.
According to Electoral Commission (EC) roadmap, today’s elections of District Local Government Councils shall include elections for District/City Chairpersons, Lord Mayor, Mayors, and Councillors at local government level.
The Kampala Capital City Authority is the governing body of the city that is mandated to administer the capital city on behalf of the central government and it is headed by the Lord Mayor, who works closely with the technical team headed by the Executive Director.
Section 4 of the Local Government Act (Cap 243), a city is an equivalent of a district.
Parliament on April 28 last year approved the creation of 15 new cities.
The cities include Masaka, Arua, Gulu, Jinja, Fort Portal and Mbarara. Others are Hoima, Mbale, Lira, Entebbe, Nakasongola, Moroto, Masaka, Soroti, Kabale and Wakiso. However,10 new cities are operational. They are Jinja, Arua, Gulu, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Mbale, Masaka, Hoima, Lira and Soroti.
In Kampala, the tighter contest is between NUP’s Nabilah Naggayi who is the incumbent Kampala District Woman MP, Musician Joseph Mayanja, aka Jose Chameleon, NRM’s Dan Kazibwe, aka Ragga Dee and FDC’s Erias Lukwago.
Under the Local Government Act, District chairpersons are among others, mandated to preside over meetings of the executive committees of the districts, monitor the general administration of the districts and implementation of council decisions.
By press time, voting had already kicked off in Kampala district and several parts of the country as our correspondents report.
We’ll keep you up-to-date with developments as they do come in.
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