July 9th, 2010: Kabale Municipal Council in partnership with Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development and other stakeholders in the Transforming Settlements of the Urban Poor Programme in Uganda program came together to kick start the Kabale Municipal Urban Development Forum.
This forum will bringing together all urban development stakeholders in the municipality to formulate solutions that will shape Kabale’s urban development agenda.
A part of the launch a meeting was convened to form an executive committee for the forum and define stakeholder roles and responsibilities. In attendance were representatives of the NGOs operating in Kabale, Kabale Slum Dwellers Federation, religious leaders, academics, CBOs, government officials, media, professionals, development partners, private sector and others.
The meeting was opened the mayor who welcomed the participants and later the Town Clerk gave an overview of Kabale Municipal Council. He stressed the importance of forums and how they will contribute to the development of the municipality. Members were encouraged to be positive about the initiative and make use of the forum to air out their challenges and propose solutions to the problems faced by urban dwellers in Kabale. Deputy commissioner: Mr. Kasimbazi, gave highlights on the charter and explained to the audience how the forums will operate. He also stressed that the forum is voluntary and provides a non-political avenue of discussing developmental issues. He cautioned members to resist politicizing the discussions.
The forum was officially launched by the Commissioner of Urban Development, Mr. Mabala Samuel, who represented the Ministry. He emphasized the role of Kabale people in the development of their town: “No one will come from outside and develop your town, you have stayed in this town longer than the leaders that you are looking up to to develop your town, you know its challenges and you have its solutions.”
