Parliament Opposes New Cities Approval

In a Tuesday parliamentary meeting chaired by Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanya, Minister for Local Government, Tom Butime tabled a motion seeking for the alteration of boundaries and the creation of new cities in the country.

“On the 20th of May 2019, the cabinet approved the phased operationalisation of fifteen cities. The cities take effect in July 2020,” said Tom Butime. The fifteen proposed cities are Arua, Gulu, Jinja, Mbarara, Fort portal, Mbale, Masaka, Hoima, Entebbe, Lira, Moroto, Nakasongola, Soroti, Kabale and Wakiso.

According to the Local Government ministry, the creation of new cities will bring services closer to the people and create employment. Butime said that urbanisation in Uganda is the engine that drives economic growth.

He added that the cities will increase urban infrastructure services, local revenue and employment opportunities saying that there is a lot of pressure on Kampala in terms of infrastructure and services.

However, legislators came out to oppose the quick process of approving the new cities arguing that some of the proposed cities do not meet the requirements. They said that this is likely to cause more constitutional challenges.

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