Jesse Johnson James
Gulu district council on Tuesday afternoon voted for Awach Sub –County as the new Gulu District Headquarters.
Gulu was among seven municipalities declared cities in July thus necessitating the district to get new headquarters.
The Technical Committee tasked to assess the potential of Sub -Counties for the new district headquarters ranked Cwero trading center highest, followed by Paicho, Awach and Patiko Sub –counties respectively. The District Executive Committee approved the findings of the Technical Committee saying Cwero should be the new district headquarters.
Where the Gulu district headquarters should be located has been a source of heated public debate. It was not any different when the matter came up before the council; Denise Lakwonyero, the district councillor representing persons with disability moved a motion to vote for the new district headquarters.
He was seconded by Christopher Opiyo Ateke, the councillor representing Awach Sub-county who argued that voting should be by secret ballot. The Speaker John Okwanga agreed.
In the first round of voting, Cwero and Awach drew with six votes each, followed by Ajulu in Patiko Sub-county and Paicho sub-county with five and zero votes respectively. In the second voting, however, Awach emerged winner getting nine votes while Cwero came a close second with eight votes.
Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the Gulu district chairman hailed the councillors for their participation in the process and for exhibiting a high level of maturity during the debate.
Mapenduzi appealed to the councillors to take the council’s decision in good faith and urged all the stakeholders to work towards the development of the new district headquarters.
