By Stephen Kalema
The Civil Division of the High Court has set November 20 as the date on which the hearing of the case in which Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago accuses KCCA of failing to pay his arrears will commence.
Last year in March, Lukwago filed a case against Kampala Capital City Authority, Attorney General and Kampala minister for failing to pay 30 months (December 2013 to May 2016) arrears. He said the amount had accumulated to Shs563million after emoluments and salary arrears following his impeachment by KCCA councilors in 2013
Today, both parties met for a pre-trial conferencing session before coming up with a number of matters that the court needs to address during the hearing of the matter.
“Each one of you will be given not more than 20 minutes to argue their case. I hereby adjourn the matter to November 20, 2018 at 10 am,” Justice Andrew Bashaija said.
Lukwago’s lawyers Chrysostom Katumba, Nathan Mpenga as well as KCCA lawyers and the Attorney General led by Johnson Natuhwera and Brian Mwanja agreed that the court should determine whether KCCA’s continued refusal to pay Lukwago’s accumulated salary and emoluments is lawful or not.
The parties also agreed that court should decide fate of damages to be paid to any of the parties after determination of the matter by the High Court.
In his application,Lukwago asked court for a declaration that the conduct of the four respondents in continuing to freeze his salary and emoluments without any lawful justification is improper in law and is beyond their powers.
Lukwago was elected Kampala Lord Mayor in March 2011. However in November 2013, he was impeached, following a trial by a tribunal chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire that faulted him of abuse of office, incompetence, and mismanagement. Lukwago however called it his impeachment ‘political wars that were engineered by President.
However, on the same day Lukwago was impeached, Justice Lydia Mugambe had declared the process and its outcome null and void but the orders were ignored by the council chaired by then Kampala Minister Frank Tumwebaze.
