CONFUSION IN KCC KILLING DELIVERY OF SERVICES

Jan 28, 2009

OPINION<br><br>What is going on in Kampala? Almost all top leaders in the city are engaged in a war of words that is creating confusion.<br>

OPINION

By Joshua Kato

What is going on in Kampala? Almost all top leaders in the city are engaged in a war of words that is creating confusion.

Reports from numerous commissions of inquiry have portrayed the city negatively. The reports point at loss of finances amounting to over sh40b in the last few years and revenue collections of less than 40%.

Kampala City Council, (KCC) is trying to give away Nakivubo Blue Primary School to taxi drivers, but there is opposition from within the council. While one section at City Hall is in favour of giving away Bat Valley Primary School to ‘investors’ another opposes the move. The mayor, Nasser Ntege Ssebaggala, argues that there is no way a historical school can go to investors.

A section of KCC, led by Ssebaggala, wants to renew the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) tender, while another group is against it. Before he was elected mayor, Ssebagala had vowed to clamp down on UTODA. His zeal has since evaporated and he is now one of their apologists.

When the President directed that Kisekka market be given to the traders to develop it, one section of KCC seemed to support the move. The problem was that they seemed to have different groups of traders in mind.

These differences among the leaders are trickling down to the smallest of projects, including collecting fees from public toilets and garbage collection.

It is no surprise that both these enterprises are the subject of confusion. Nobody knows where the millions collected as toilet fees daily are banked.

KCC claims that no specific company has a tender to collect garbage. However, not so long ago, workers of two companies fought each other over the right to collect a heap of garbage near Avemar Shopping Mall.

Garbage issues are made worse by the fact that KCC cannot maintain their garbage trucks. Trucks donated to the council during the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting are not working; the tyres and lights were sold.

The city is as dark as a tomb. KCC blames the situation on UMEME yet one of the main reasons is that street lights are stolen. Towards the end of last year, some ‘thieves’ were arrested selling city street lights in Kisenyi and they turned out to be KCC workers!

Is it not confusion when the town clerk issues a ‘warning’ to property owners whose buildings were constructed without parking space? Was it not KCC that allowed them to construct those buildings? Why should KCC, after years of watching, now issue ‘threats’ to close down the buildings?

Meanwhile, MPs and city leaders are at each other’s throats. Central Division MP Erias Lukwago considers Ssebagala a kayungirizi (property broker), bent on serving his own interests. Ssebaggala, on the other hand, refers to Lukwago as Dikuula (a comedian). Moses Kalungi, the Makindye Division boss referred to City Hall as ‘a hole of thieves’.

Unless the confusion in Kampala stops, service delivery will continue deteriorating. Potholes and garbage heaps will soon become part of the landscape while ghost companies and projects will continue being the order of the day.

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