What awaits KCCA's new team?

Jun 17, 2020

Under Jennifer Musisi (2011- 2018) and Kitaka, KCCA made efforts to bring sanity, by streamlining the conduct of the authority, tarmacking roads and fighting corruption. However, experts argue that the new team must build on these achievements and also work on unresolved challenges, such urban poverty, garbage collection, regulation of vendors, poor drainage systems, tax collection expansion and also solve the housing crisis, especially in the slums.

 

By David Lumu

To many urban development experts and political commentators, the cancer that is eating away the City Hall is politics. Thanks to the unending wrangles between the political and technical wings, Captain Francis Babu, a former lawmaker for Kampala Central, argues that since its  inception in 2011, the new Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has largely remained a "divided house".

"The KCCA is a divided house. In spite of changing the leadership, the malaise remains. The legal framework leaves a lot to be desired. To make matters worse, the political leadership of KCCA is virtually non-existent. Basically, the whole model has to be overhauled and agree to a uniform legal framework," he said.

As the new substantive executive director nominee, Dorothy Kisaka, and her team, warm up for their assignments at City Hall, urban planning experts have said the plate is already full and work is cut out as they navigate the "complex" contours of Kampala, a city which they say urgently needs rescue from a litany of challenges.

Dorothy Kisaka, ED KCCA

President Yoweri Museveni nominated Kisaka as executive director, replacing Eng. Andrew Kitaka, who has held the position in acting capacity since December 20, 2018. Museveni nominated Dr Eng. David Luyimbazi Ssali, replacing Samuel Sserunkuuma; Dr Daniel Okello Ayen as director of public health and environment and Grace Akullo as director of human resource and administration.

In an interesting twist, KCCA Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago's deputy, Sarah Kanyike, was also nominated to head the directorate of gender.

POLITICAL QUESTION

Commenting about Kanyike's appointment, Lukwago over the weekend said he was devastated. He also issued an ultimatum for her to decline the appointment by Tuesday. "I had failed to sleep, but my wife insisted that I should sleep. I want to tell you it hurt me seeing my deputy enlisted as new director. I constantly checked social media, but all streams confirmed the news," he said, signalling the possible future political tag of war between his political wing and the technical wing that will be led by Kisaka.

Kanyike, 45, is a member of the Democratic Party (DP), representing Makindye East at KCCA. Salim Uhuru, the NRM chairperson for Kampala, said: "Kanyike's appointment shocked me. But that is politics. Kisaka is a senior cadre. She should do what she is supposed to do and avoid the style of Jennifer Musisi, who thought she was above everybody. To avoid wrangles, Kisaka needs to work with everybody and focus on her work in order to deliver services to the people." Given the fact that Kampala is a hotbed for politics, Uhuru said the jostle for supremacy will be evident at City Hall as we head for the 2021 general elections.

WORKLOAD CUT OUT

Kampala minister Betty Amongi said the new team is expected to help the Government to reorganise public transport, infrastructure and work on the city drainage systems, among others. Yet, according to experts, the workload for the new team is

The head of the department of architecture and physical planning at Makerere Dr Amin Tamale Kiggundu, said sorting out the grey areas under the KCCA law, improvement of revenue collections, reforming the public transport system, upgrading all city roads and fixing the infrastructure gaps and reigning in corruption at the City Hall, especially the powerful elite who collude with City Hall top echelons to cut deals, are some of the urgent issues that the new team must fix.

Navigating the delicate power centres, such as the C h u r c h , Mengo, the seat of Buganda Kingdom and the C e n t r a l Government, addressing the housing crisis, urban youth unemployment and delivering the nonmotorised transport are the other challenges that Kisaka's team will have to solve during their tenure at City Hall.

"A city is defi ned by the transportation system. So, transport is key and as city planners, we believe that transport creates and breaks cities. So, emphasis should largely be put on transport because other city functions, such as housing and industrial development, depend on transport," Kiggundu said. "Our city is in big trouble because of the current inefficient transportation system," he added.

Greater Kampala has about 10% of the country's population, estimated at 41 million people, hosts about 70% of the industrial activities and contributes over 40% to the national GDP. The appointment of the new KCCA team has come at a time when the city authority is finalising the launch of a multibillion 5-year plan funded by the African Development Bank (ADB), which is tailored towards upgrading roads, signalising road junctions,

upgrading traffi c lights and implementing the nonmotorised transport system. Work on non-motorised transport roads, especially pedestrian walkways, is underway, especially at Namirembe Road.

However, urban development experts say non-motorised transport should be spread across in all the divisions.

"They need to come up with a better design that can meet the demands of the pedestrians, cyclists and other lane provisions for non-motorised transport. This non-motorised transport system that KCCA is currently implementing within the city centre should also be taken to other divisions," Kiggundu said, adding that building wider roads should also be a priority, especially if the future is to be considered.

KCCA has about 2,000km of roads, and only 52% are paved. "To promote balanced development within the city, there is need for continued rehabilitation of the road infrastructure," he said, adding that upgrading these roads will help KCCA to disperse development to other divisions (Kawempe, Rubaga, Makindye and Nakawa) and decongest the central division.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT FUND

As part of the passenger transport reforms within the city, experts have called for Kisaka's team to introduce a public transport fund to enable the private sector match the high capacity transport needs of city dwellers.

Two weeks ago, government started registration of public transport vehicles, especially mini-buses, and also provided them with route charts.

However, Kiggundu argues that there is need for government to craft a fl exible approach towards this problem by enhancing public-private partnership and the establishment of a public transport development fund.

"This is a service that cannot be left to the private sector alone. Already going by what is happening, it is evident that the private sector has no capacity. We need to gradually move from low capacity to higher capacity," he said.

"For many years, KCCA has failed to formulate a funding model for public transport to meet the surging need. The sector is currently dominated by low capacity systems," he added. The demand for public transport is too high within the greater Kampala metropolitan area (Wakiso and Mukono), with an estimated travel capacity of two million people every day.

"You cannot rely on the low capacity public transport system to transport these two million people. This cannot be regarded as the future. We need to change and the new team must work day and night to solve this transport system mess," Kiggundu said.

At one time public transport was funded by Government, but the World Bank advised that it should be restructured and privatised. This gap opened doors for the private sector players, but experts argue that their low capacity, coupled with disorganisation, has instead sowed confusion and a rescue plan is urgently needed.

Under Jennifer Musisi (2011- 2018) and Kitaka, KCCA made efforts to bring sanity, by streamlining the conduct of the authority, tarmacking roads and fighting corruption. However, experts argue that the new team must build on these achievements and also work on unresolved challenges, such urban poverty, garbage collection, regulation of vendors, poor drainage systems, tax collection expansion and also solve the housing crisis, especially in the slums.

"Skilling the youth is still a big challenge, especially those who have not gone to school. The new KCCA team needs to set up a technical school in every division to train youth," Sharon Cheptang, a youth working at Nabukeera Arcade in Kampala, said.

 

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