Kampala should be run by the central govt

SIR— I would like to respond to Mayor Ssebaana Kizito’s proposal of turning Kampala City Council into a Metropolitan Authority for effective planning and development (The New Vision, November 26). I appreciate Ssebaana’s position when he fights with Kampala Central Division Local Government over who is in charge of bus and taxi parks and markets, and the ongoing wrangle between him and the central government for the control of the Constitutional Square. Yesterday it was taxi parks and markets, today it is the Constitutional Square and tomorrow it may be Kololo Airstrip where we received our instruments of Independence. Secondly, whenever Kampala citizens complain about pot-holed roads, lack of street lights and poor drainage systems among others, KCC authorities’ defence has always been the central government’s neglect of the national capital under the pretext of decentralisation. Since Uganda’s form of government is a decentralised unitary one where local government powers are not only statutory but also constitutional, Kampala should be specially turned into a “federal capital” under the central government’s direct control for effective planning and development. The President should appoint a cabinet minister in charge of the “federal capital” as is the case in Nigeria. Then the central government will be entirely responsible for planning and development of Kampala as a modern city. This will put to rest the endless wrangles. Ahmed Kateregga Nnambiriizi, Ssembabule