Rose Nasiyo, a resident of Kireka (D) Village, Kiganda Zone in Kira municipality working at a fish preserving mini-factory in Luzira, a Kampala suburb, on March 23, 2020 arrived for work, only to be told that she was among the over 100 employees who had been laid off following the nationwide lock down that had been announced by the president in the fight against the wide spread of COVID-19.
“I had Shs300,000 with me and yet my landlord was owing me rent for two months (February and January) so I had to pay her Shs200,000 and remained with the balance,” she said.
Since she wasn’t sure on when she would be recalled for work, Nasiyo says that she stocked some food stuffs, charcoal and sauce (silver fish). This left her almost bankrupt.
As the lockdown continued biting, Nasiyo started suffering economically, since couldn’t travel to her village given that traveling by public means had been banned.
“I couldn’t get help from home (Soroti) because they also depended on me so I started suffering,” Nasiyo adds.
As days went on, she ran out of food only to be rescued by her village Chairperson, a one Suleiman Kayira who organized a daily breakfast and some lunch for the less privileged in his area.
“I survived until I was recalled back in May and resumed work. But if it wasn’t the mercy of our village Chairman, I would have turned into a street beggar,” she said.
Nasiyo is among the over 50 residents in this area who benefited from Mr. Kayira’s three months program, of feeding the less privileged.
Moses Kisembo another resident will never forget the day Mr. Kayira came to his rescue.
“Though he supports National Resistance Movement (NRM), Mr. Kayira has been good to all of us regardless of the political affiliation one subscribes to,” Kisembo narrated.
At least over 95% of the population in this area benefited from the Posho (maize flour), beans and powdered milk that was distributed by the government in Kireka (D) village, according to residents who spoke to The District Focus Team.
“We ate that Posho (maize flour). It kept us going for almost two months,” a mother with a family of 11 people said.
The transformative roles played by Local Council (LCs) are enormous and do not only stop at carrying out administrative duties.
The District Focus spoke to a number of residents in different villages in the districts of Kampala and Wakiso, to ascertain how their village leaders are governing them as far as development is concerned. We also spoke to the Village Chairpersons as well, concerning the effectiveness of their village Courts, their Monitoring roles in Government projects among others.
Economic Empowerment
LC1s, according to our findings are playing a vital role as far as transforming their families in the 70,626 different villages across the country.
They have successfully done this through encouraging their subjects to enter into Savings and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs), groups and supported in farming, business through properly monitoring government projects.
Ruth Nakato, a beneficiary to Government funding, belonging to ‘Twezimbe’ SACCO, says she has been able to register profits from her business of selling bunches of Banana at Bweyogerere Food Market, especially during the COVID 19 Lockdown.
“Many people purchased bunches of banana from my stall, because majority of families were at home during the COVID-19 Lockdown. As a result, I am able to pay back to our SACCO on Weekly basis the funds I borrowed to do my business,” Nakato said.
Joyce a member of the Bakyala Kwagalana Saving Group in Thailand, in Kireka, says that the village saving group has transformed their lives.
Mr. Kayira, the village Chairman being an NRM die hard has helped him fetch more for his people from the government.
LCs have continued to support other government programs like; providing youth with financial empowerment through government Youth Livelihood Program, Supporting Health Programs for example the recently concluded campaigns for giving out mosquito nets by the Village Health Teams (VHT), Supporting the elderly to receive their Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) and other programs intended to promote economic development and sustainability among the people.
Abubakar Mirimu Kitezaara, the LC1 Kakajjo Zone Chairman in Bweyogerere Division in Kira Municipality, said in addition to mediating on land wrangles, he has also performed his mandatory duties of overseeing government projects like overseeing the proper issuance of Youth Livelihood Program funds and Women Savings and Credit Schemes (SACCOs) Funds from Government.
“We LC1s first inspect and assess the youth and Women Project before recommending the project owners as beneficiaries to the Government funds. In addition, I have to append my signature on documents presented by Government officials, to ascertain the receiving of money by the various youth projects or Women SACCOs Groups”, he said.
He said LC1 Office is mandated to follow up the usage of Youth Livelihood Fund beneficiaries.
“Though the salary provided to us is not enough, we always endeavor to support the government in whatever way we can,” Jemba said.
The of LC Courts
The area LC1 Chairperson through the Local Council Courts are solving petty offences committed at the village level. These include: debt disputes, domestic conflicts or land wrangles, rumor mongering, theft, reconciliation, compensation, restitution, community service, apology, among others.
Local councils Courts derive their judicial power from a number of statutes including the 1995 Constitution Article 126 (2) & 127 and the Local Councils Court Act, 2006 and Regulations, 2007 among others.
The 1995 Constitution provided for the creation of Local Councils courts (“LCC”) as part of the decentralization of power. LCCs are the lowest units with administrative, legislative, and judicial powers on behalf of central governments.
In 1988, the NRM changed the grass root adjudication by giving judicial powers over Civil Disputes to the Local Council chairpersons known as the Village Court/ State Tribunals.
LC Courts were later in 2006 established under the Executive Committees (Judicial Powers) Act and there are three levels of the Committee courts – “sub county” (level 3), “parish” (level 2) and “village” and appeals from the highest of the Committees, (Sub County executive) lie to the Chief Magistrate and, if the appeal involves a substantial question of law or appears to have caused a substantial Miscarriage of justice, to the High Court.
Village Courts are generally composed of five (05) members of their jurisdiction chosen by the respective executive council of that area apart from the village and parish Courts where all the members of the executive council of either the village or parish form the court. At least two of the members of each of these courts should be “Women.”
David Musoke, a resident of Kakajjo Zone in Bweyogerere Division, Like Nasiyo and others in Thailand-Kireka also praised area LC1 for their fair mediation when he had land wrangles with his neighbour over boundary markings.
‘If it were not for the LCs to bear witness to my plot of land boundaries, I would have been cheated of the land I bought from my neighbour, which was witnessed by LC1 Chairman while buying it by then’, he said.
After being proposed in the Constitution, the Local Council Courts were established under Act, 2006 established Local Council Courts Act 2006, for the administration of justice at the local level, to define the jurisdiction, powers and procedure of the established courts and to provide for other related matters.
“Most of the crimes are still reported to the police and then from the police back to the council which affects our duties. There are still some categories of crimes that are not reported to the village court. A few cases are directed to our courts especially the minor offences.
Moses Jjemba, the Chairperson of Juuko Zone in Kibuye (1) in Makindye West, decried the limited powers that is granted to their Courts, which has forced most people to rush to police even when their cases can be handled at a Village Level.
He said that in spite of judicial powers that is given to LC Courts to also deal with cases governed by customary law including property, interstate inheritance and marital disputes, most people have run to their superiors. For example, most land cases are mainly solved by the Buganda Land Board (BLB), since majority of the land owners owe it to the Buganda kingdom.
“Majority of land in the Central is owned by the Buganda Kingdom therefore many land cases are directed to the Mutongole who reports directly to the BLB Offices,” he said.
LC one Courts are also empowered to handle offences concerning Children. The Children’s Act gives the LCs the responsibility to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of children.
Section 6 of the Executive Committees (Judicial Powers) Act, Cap 8 states that a village executive committee (LC I) shall have criminal jurisdiction to try a child accused of any of the following some cases
“RCC has made our work nearly impossible due to his continued interference in many cases,” said Chairperson Juuko zone.
Low pay
LCs, who spoke to District Focus said that they survive on a few contributions received from resolving public issues.
“No money to buy Stationery and other requirements and that is why we continue operating miserably and many of our office premises in poor structures, he added.
They receive a monthly payment of Shs10000, which they say is not enough due to the work they do.
While meeting Hon. Beti Kamya, the former Minister for Kampala in July 2019, LC Chairpersons at Village and Parish Levels from within the five Divisions that make up Kampala district demanded the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to pay them Shs4mn per month because of work they perform.
Uganda currently has 70,626 Chairpersons in 70,626 villages found in 10,595 parishes in 2,184 sub-counties, 580 Town Councils, 20 City Divisions, and 89 Municipal Divisions in 31 Municipalities. 10 Cities and 135 Districts.
Government Position LC Ones
In an interview with the District Focus Publication recently, Mr. Ben Kumumanya, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Governments (MoLG) noted that the government was pleased with the unique work being executed by the LCs and working down the clock to make sure that their facilitation is increased.
“We are currently working on paper to make sure that we have an improved means as far as facilitation of the LC Chairpersons on LC one and LC two levels is concerned. So it is work in progress because these people are doing a lot and we want to facilitate them to make sure that they do even more and better,” he said.
