Patrick Mutabwire, the permanent secretary ministry of local government has rushed to Masaka municipality to investigate the bad relationship between the Mayor and town clerk which has stalled service delivery to residents. Trouble between Johnson Baryantuma, Masaka town clerk and the Mayor Godfrey Kayemba started late last year, when the town clerk blocked the accounts of the municipality and divisions.
Since then, both officials have been trading counter accusations of sabotage against each other. The situation worsened when Baryantuma refused to release money for the road maintenance works in the municipality after it was approved by council. As a result, Kayemba accused him of embezzling shillings 1 billion that was released by ministry of works for road maintenance in the first quarter of this financial year.
Baryantuma has until now failed to explain why he blocked the release of the funds drawing protests from residents and area councilors. As a result, police has deployed around his office to offer him security and prevent any attack on him. On Wednesday, Patrick Mutabwire, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Local Government rushed to Masaka to investigate the row between the two officials.
Mutabwire says the Ministry is concerned about the lack of consultation between Mayor and Town Clerk which is affecting service delivery. The PS who led a team of four people says that they want to meet both officials and councilors to inquire what is causing the problem. He explains that his ministry decided to intervene because the bickering amongst the officials that also existed in the previous council affects service delivery.
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Mutabwire also says the Local Government Ministry has deployed 100 trainers across the country to sensitize chief administrative officers, town clerks and district councilors about the local government act. He says that most of the local government officials are ignorant about their roles leading to bickering in councils. He claims that USAID has donated to US $ 1.7million to facilitate the training over a period over six months.
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Both Johnson Baryantuma and Kayemba have not yet commented on the intervention by the local government ministry.
