By KT Reporter
A sharp disagreement has emerged between the Masaka City Resident Commissioner, Ahamada Washaki, and Nyendo-Mukungwe Division Chairperson Michael Mulindwa Nakumusana, over the choice of people who are supposed to witness the commissioning of government projects in the area.
The disagreement erupted on Thursday, during a ceremony to hand over various capital development projects undertaken in the different primary schools in the area.
The controversy arose after Washaki threatened to halt the commissioning of a five-stance hybrid latrine worth 32 million shillings at Kinyerere Church of Uganda Primary School in Butale ward, citing the absence of all the parents who have children in the school.
Washaki openly lashed out at the division political leaders and the technical staff for not mobilising all the parents and community leaders to witness the commissioning of the government projects.
According to Washaki, the absence of parents at the commissioning of public projects gives the opportunity to the opposition leaders in the area to claim credit for the developments delivered using public funds.
He argued that such meetings, if well attended by the parents and community leaders, allow him the opportunity to demystify all the misconceptions created by the opposition political leaders.
Washaki accordingly declined to commission a second hybrid pit latrine at St Henry Kiwala Primary School in Bulayi ward, in protest of the absence of the parents.
Although the Headteacher had invited the members of the School Management Committee to attend the project handover alongside the teachers and pupils, Washaki fumed at the event organisers and immediately left the venue in anger. However, his conduct irritated Michael Mulindwa Nakumusana, the Nyendo-Mukungwe Division Chairperson, who accused him of wanting to use public projects as a campaign platform for divisive politics.
He also accuses Washaki was using his office as a weapon for patronising the leadership in the area, something he says he cannot tolerate.
According to Nakumusana, the leadership found it worthy to invite the Schools Management Committees and the nearby parents to attend the handover as the immediate custodians of the projects, wondering why Washaki took offence at their collective decision.
Salome Nakawesi, one of the parents at St Henry Kiwala Primary School, argues that there was no way all parents could leave their homes and show up to receive a school toilet.
This is not the first time; Washaki is clashing with the leadership in Masaka, where he has served as the Resident City Commissioner for eight months.
Recently, he clashed with the local opposition politicians, including the City Mayor Florence Namayanja, for hanging their campaign posters on the poles of the solar-powered street lights installed in the area.
He indicated that opposition politicians do not have the right over the lights delivered as one of the mega achievements by President Yoweri Museveni’s government, which they regularly castigate.
Meanwhile, Namayanja and a section of city councillors are demanding the transfer of Washaki, accusing him of sabotaging their social activities under the guise of popularising the government and President Museveni.
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