Parliament has approved the Local Governments Amendment Bill, 2019, which requires mayors of Cities, Municipalities, Divisions, and Town Council chairpersons to have an advanced level certificate of Education -s.6 or its equivalent.
This comes after the Kasilo County MP, Elijah Okupa proposed to impose the minimum education requirements on the mayors, division and Town Council LC 3 chairpersons.
He argued that Uganda Local Government Association (ULGA) has in the past advocated for the introduction of educational requirements on local government leaders to streamline their operations.
However, parliament wants the same education requirements imposed on mayors of cities, municipalities, Divisions and LC 3 chairpersons.
A section of the legislators said the requirement of a senior six certificate from Sub-county chairpersons that is equivalent to that of MPs is a bit high.
The MPs sub-counties across the country currently lack a single secondary school, which makes it unfair to require the chairperson to have an A level certificate.
Meanwhile Uganda Local Government’s Association has applauded parliament for responding to their call to introduce minimum education requirements for Mayors, Division and Town Council LC 3 Chairpersons.
Joseph Lomonyang, the President -ULGA, says the association has welcomed the proposal because for a long they have urged Parliament to set minimum academic qualifications for chairpersons of Sub counties, Municipal councils, City divisions, and Town Councils.
In the past, only LC V chairpersons were required to have a minimum education qualification of Advanced level or its equivalent.
The Local Governments Act will be sent for presidential approval before it comes into law.
