Nyakaana posing as mayor â€" Sebaggala
Jun 26, 2007
The rift between the mayor of Kampala and the chairman of the Central Division came to the forefront yesterday during a hearing of the commission of inquiry into mismanagement of the Kampala City Council (KCC).<br>Nasser Sebaggala accused Godfrey Nyakaana of posing as the mayor of Kampala whenever
By Josephine Maseruka
The rift between the mayor of Kampala and the chairman of the Central Division came to the forefront yesterday during a hearing of the commission of inquiry into mismanagement of the Kampala City Council (KCC).
Nasser Sebaggala accused Godfrey Nyakaana of posing as the mayor of Kampala whenever he travels abroad.
He also blamed Nyakaana for not remitting taxes and for awarding illegal contracts in the central division.
Appearing before the probe team, headed by Irene Ovonji Odida, Sebaggala claimed Nyakaana had illegally terminated the contract of Equator Touring Services to manage the Nakivubo park yard that instead deployed his kanyamas (bouncers) after beating up the KCC enforcement officers.
“There is a real power struggle between Nyakaana and the district headquarters,†Sebaggala said. “What irks me most is that he keeps embarrassing me.
Whenever I travel to the United Kingdom, I am asked who the rightful mayor is, I or Nyakaana.†His continued impersonation, he added, was dangerous because it had led to confusion.
The mayor stressed that KCC had never received any revenue since July 2006 from the eight public toilets, a public pay phones and the food vendors in the central division although Nyakaana’s kanyama were collecting dues.
He reckoned that for the toilets alone, this amounted to sh150m of funds not remitted.
Sebaggala also implicated Nyakaana in the illegal printing of trading licenses, which he claimed had caused KCC to lose additional revenue.
“Some traders are given demand notes and pay while others get photocopies of recycled trading licences which were illegally printed by Nyakaana.â€
He said the town clerk had written to the central division to explain where the revenue collected went but he never received a response.
On several occasions he had tried to raise the issue with Nyakaana, Sebaggala further claimed, but the latter reportedly replied that, as the central division chairman, he did not have to account to the district headquarters.
Sebaggala appeared before the four-member commission in his capacity as the Finance Secretary of KCC.
He is to appear again next week as the mayor of Kampala.
The rift between the mayor of Kampala and the chairman of the Central Division came to the forefront yesterday during a hearing of the commission of inquiry into mismanagement of the Kampala City Council (KCC).
Nasser Sebaggala accused Godfrey Nyakaana of posing as the mayor of Kampala whenever he travels abroad.
He also blamed Nyakaana for not remitting taxes and for awarding illegal contracts in the central division.
Appearing before the probe team, headed by Irene Ovonji Odida, Sebaggala claimed Nyakaana had illegally terminated the contract of Equator Touring Services to manage the Nakivubo park yard that instead deployed his kanyamas (bouncers) after beating up the KCC enforcement officers.
“There is a real power struggle between Nyakaana and the district headquarters,†Sebaggala said. “What irks me most is that he keeps embarrassing me.
Whenever I travel to the United Kingdom, I am asked who the rightful mayor is, I or Nyakaana.†His continued impersonation, he added, was dangerous because it had led to confusion.
The mayor stressed that KCC had never received any revenue since July 2006 from the eight public toilets, a public pay phones and the food vendors in the central division although Nyakaana’s kanyama were collecting dues.
He reckoned that for the toilets alone, this amounted to sh150m of funds not remitted.
Sebaggala also implicated Nyakaana in the illegal printing of trading licenses, which he claimed had caused KCC to lose additional revenue.
“Some traders are given demand notes and pay while others get photocopies of recycled trading licences which were illegally printed by Nyakaana.â€
He said the town clerk had written to the central division to explain where the revenue collected went but he never received a response.
On several occasions he had tried to raise the issue with Nyakaana, Sebaggala further claimed, but the latter reportedly replied that, as the central division chairman, he did not have to account to the district headquarters.
Sebaggala appeared before the four-member commission in his capacity as the Finance Secretary of KCC.
He is to appear again next week as the mayor of Kampala.