Pader, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Pader District Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Michael Wanje, has challenged a directive from the Minister of Justice on the gap of Kilama Fearless Wod-Acholi, the elected Urban Council III Chairperson of Pader City Council.
While the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Norbert Mao, no longer too lengthy previously affirmed Kilama’s comely to resume office and receive unpaid salary arrears, the CAO continues to bar him as he cites administrative concerns and has formally sought correct readability on Kilama’s space.
Kilama modified into convicted on March 2, 2023, by the Chief Justice of the Peace’s Court docket in Pader for incitement to violence, illegal assembly, and malicious property damage, receiving sentences of 300 and sixty five days, 6 months, and 3.5 months imprisonment, respectively. After absconding, he modified into arrested on January 16, 2025.
Pader City Council, following local govt procedures, appointed City Council Speaker Dickson Labongo as performing chairperson on March 7, 2024.
Wanje wrote to the Solicitor General attempting for steering on the ultimate space of Kilama to resume responsibility, noting the ongoing challenges in governance and confirming that Labongo continues to bear in mind the office as performing chairperson.
Kilama has up to now appealed the conviction, and on March 20, 2025, the High Court docket in Kitgum overturned the incitement to violence cost and sentence and upheld a 6-month sentence for illegal assembly. He modified into ordered to attend the final 89 days, pondering the time he served while on remand. Kilama’s correct team argues this judgment and the pending Court docket of Allure case mean he remains licensed to protect office.
In a March 6, 2023, letter, Kilama delegated his tasks to Finance Secretary Macklyn Adong ensuing from court docket commitments, thus demonstrating his endured engagement with council affairs. In spite of this, the CAO maintains that Kilama’s absence and correct factors elaborate barring him.
Mao no longer too lengthy previously, in some unspecified time in the future of the homecoming ceremony of Kilama attend from jail, publicly confused out that no regulation bars Kilama from preserving office, adding that his salary arrears would furthermore be paid in stout.
Kilama has up to now acknowledged that CAO has been misled, or he’s a gargantuan liar, as he said that he by no arrangement went into hiding as acknowledged, and there modified into no arrest warrant issued against him when he modified into violently arrested while attending to his allure at Kitgum High Court docket.
The solicitor peculiar is but to field a correct thought to the executive administrative officer, as Labongo continues preserving the office.
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