Jinja City Council Speaker Bernard Mbayo has come hard on councillors who do not attend meetings but receive payment. According to Mbayo, some councillors are signing attendance books and receiving sitting allowances without attending the sessions.

To combat this issue, Mbayo declared that he would be the last person to sign the attendance book after council sessions, so that no one is able to sign in after the meeting has closed. This step is intended to discourage absent councillors from being compensated.

The decision was made during a council meeting on March 1, 2025, when the councillors voted to pass rates and charges for the 2025/2026 financial year. The meeting started an hour behind schedule since there was insufficient quorum, and the absenteeism issue was raised once again.

Mbayo maintained that councillors should be serious about their jobs and attend meetings to receive their sitting allowances. He instructed the accounting officer and the clerk to only remit attending councillors.

Besides, Mbayo added that he would cross out any empty spaces in the attendance book to prevent late signing. Councillor Agnes Kadama inquired about what becomes of councillors who apologize for missing meetings, but Mbayo clarified that apologies do not qualify one for payment for missing meetings.

In other business, the council voted to ban leasing out the City Hall and Mayor's Garden for public occasions due to security concerns. The city clerk told the council that the public had become a safety concern and the health department had lost computers to thieves.