Kampala was neglected
Sep 28, 2011
WE will neglect our cities at our own peril for in neglecting them we neglect the nationâ€- John F Kennedy said while addressing Congress on January 30, 1962.
By Joseph Kasibante
WE will neglect our cities at our own peril for in neglecting them we neglect the nationâ€- John F Kennedy said while addressing Congress on January 30, 1962.
Indeed all the successive Uganda Governments including NRM neglected Kampala City at our peril and of that of the future. Just think of time, money and technologies the taxpayers will pay to correct the carelessness of the poor managers?
Most of the electorates in Kampala City and the leaders they bring in are either ignorant about the City law, are new arrivals from rural areas or are self-centered. Such a society see the Government new endeavor of enforcing municipal laws as a philosophy of “crazy godsâ€.
Supporting Kampala’s status quo
Whoever supports Kampala status quo lacks an open mind for change.
If such a person is a leader, then he/she is hypocritical. While the electorates in New York, Philadelphia, London and other big cities ask what plan has a candidate got, to make their cities glitter in Kampala, they ask for who will let them do what they want.
Life in Kampala is a bore and a “half lifeâ€. Kampala has an outlook of a ramshackle city, for poor people only. It looks a city built on subways for pedestrians, petty business, motor cycles and bicycles with no room for vehicles. It gives no looks of solid wealth normally exuded by cities. The new buildings are more dangerous than the slums they replace as they crumble under construction. All the scenarios in Kampala City are a shame to the nation, the engineers, the leaders and their electorates.
Everywhere, cities have almost the same laws governing them. Primary city laws prohibit open street markets, garbage littering, illegal structures, noise pollution, illegal parking, idleness and disorderly, food and merchandise hawking, to mention a few.
Electorate should learn to give their votes to the candidate with leadership skills and practical programmes to fix such ills.
As more people crowd into Kampala City and its suburbs in a process known as urbanization, the Government is confronted with the choices of how to plan for them. Often, those choices are limited by the way Kampala City originated, taking in mind the poor land tenure left behind by the British.
Kampala city has grown significantly in population not in size. Twenty years ago, only about one person in 10 lived in Kampala City.
Today, the proportion of rural to urban migration because of poverty is alarming. If nothing is put in place by the Government to revamp agriculture, by 2025, nearly two-thirds of Uganda’s population will be living in urban areas under half life situation.
The governments are set amidst human being to manage and develop them. In effective management, the bigger the population the tighter should be the laws to cope up with population diversity. This is the opposite in Uganda.
Kampala for years has generated own kind of diversity. Special social, political and commercial interest groups have sprung up. It is the duty of the Government to plan for these desperate groups.
Therefore, all the positive efforts by the Government to restructure Kampala City including decongesting and expanding it should be free from partisan politics, unwarranted fears and selfish motives.
In order for the Government to overcome such challenges of rural urban exodus and other ills, it has three fundamental choices;
Elevate municipal towns to city status and support industrial investors with strict municipal ordinances abode.
Bring in low income housing investors.
land banks to help farmers get title deeds for the land they till to use them as collateral to raise credit.
President National Taxpayers Protection Organisation
WE will neglect our cities at our own peril for in neglecting them we neglect the nationâ€- John F Kennedy said while addressing Congress on January 30, 1962.
Indeed all the successive Uganda Governments including NRM neglected Kampala City at our peril and of that of the future. Just think of time, money and technologies the taxpayers will pay to correct the carelessness of the poor managers?
Most of the electorates in Kampala City and the leaders they bring in are either ignorant about the City law, are new arrivals from rural areas or are self-centered. Such a society see the Government new endeavor of enforcing municipal laws as a philosophy of “crazy godsâ€.
Supporting Kampala’s status quo
Whoever supports Kampala status quo lacks an open mind for change.
If such a person is a leader, then he/she is hypocritical. While the electorates in New York, Philadelphia, London and other big cities ask what plan has a candidate got, to make their cities glitter in Kampala, they ask for who will let them do what they want.
Life in Kampala is a bore and a “half lifeâ€. Kampala has an outlook of a ramshackle city, for poor people only. It looks a city built on subways for pedestrians, petty business, motor cycles and bicycles with no room for vehicles. It gives no looks of solid wealth normally exuded by cities. The new buildings are more dangerous than the slums they replace as they crumble under construction. All the scenarios in Kampala City are a shame to the nation, the engineers, the leaders and their electorates.
Everywhere, cities have almost the same laws governing them. Primary city laws prohibit open street markets, garbage littering, illegal structures, noise pollution, illegal parking, idleness and disorderly, food and merchandise hawking, to mention a few.
Electorate should learn to give their votes to the candidate with leadership skills and practical programmes to fix such ills.
As more people crowd into Kampala City and its suburbs in a process known as urbanization, the Government is confronted with the choices of how to plan for them. Often, those choices are limited by the way Kampala City originated, taking in mind the poor land tenure left behind by the British.
Kampala city has grown significantly in population not in size. Twenty years ago, only about one person in 10 lived in Kampala City.
Today, the proportion of rural to urban migration because of poverty is alarming. If nothing is put in place by the Government to revamp agriculture, by 2025, nearly two-thirds of Uganda’s population will be living in urban areas under half life situation.
The governments are set amidst human being to manage and develop them. In effective management, the bigger the population the tighter should be the laws to cope up with population diversity. This is the opposite in Uganda.
Kampala for years has generated own kind of diversity. Special social, political and commercial interest groups have sprung up. It is the duty of the Government to plan for these desperate groups.
Therefore, all the positive efforts by the Government to restructure Kampala City including decongesting and expanding it should be free from partisan politics, unwarranted fears and selfish motives.
In order for the Government to overcome such challenges of rural urban exodus and other ills, it has three fundamental choices;
President National Taxpayers Protection Organisation