Cabinet has suspended Kampala Capital City Authority's (KCCA) Covid-19 resurgence plan over limited funding.
The revelation was made yesterday by the executive secretary in charge of Finance, Mr John Mary Ssebuwufu, during a council meeting at City Hall.
"We were informed that though the documents had been actually sent to Cabinet, it was resolved that the plan be suspended until Cabinet's position on what amount of money allocated to KCCA is received," Mr Ssebuwufu said.
He noted the suspension was a big blow to their operations as an authority during this critical time of a pandemic.
The city's Covid-19 resurgence plan involves pillars including, among others, coordination and leadership, management of Covid-19 cases, water, sanitation, support to vulnerable communities, and continuity of essential health services.
Apparently, KCCA is grappling with budget deficits and has no money to respond to emergency cases during this pandemic.
The councillor representing Kasubi parish, Mr Jeremiah Mwanje Kaaya, said the absence of a Covid-19 plan for Kampala puts residents at a great risk since the city ranks high in the number of pandemic infections.
"Government should not politicise this issue because our people are getting infected yet there is no emergency plan by the city authority to salvage the situation. The worst thing is that they did not even involve city leaders in the identification of vulnerable people and this makes the situation dire," he said.
Hopeful
But KCCA's head of public and corporate affairs Daniel Nuwabiine said the issue would be resolved.
"The plan has only been put on halt but not rejected due to budget constraints but our technical team is following up the matter and we hope to get feedback soon," he said.
Earlier on, Kampala Resident City Commissioner (RCC) Hood Hussein threatened to suspend the council meeting on grounds that councillors were many hence could trigger the spread of Covid-19.
However, the speaker insisted that council must go on since she had notified all the relevant authorities at City Hall.
Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago said whereas Mr Hussein had proposed virtual meetings for councillors during this pandemic, KCCA has not yet procured equipment like laptops to facilitate the said virtual meetings.
"Whereas I agree that councillors are many to congregate in the chambers, I think the RCC is out of order because this is the right time councillors are supposed to be legislating for their constituents," Mr Lukwago said.
He added: "If the equipment is procured then meetings can be held virtually but as far as I know, there's no equipment yet."
Source: The Monitor