Kisaka's first 100 days at the helm of city hall

Nov 20, 2020

KCCA |

It is exactly 112 days since Dorothy Kisaka walked into City Hall as the executive director of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

Kisaka took oath on July 30, in a colourful ceremony presided over by the head of public service John Mitala.

"We will lead from the front and lead by example," Kisaka said in her inaugural address.

Kisaka was appointed by President Yoweri Museveni, together with her deputy, Eng David Luyimbazi and Grace Akullo, the director administration and human resource.

On August 3, Kisaka hit the ground running, despite limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, she has finalised and launched a five-year strategic plan, accomplished a staff verification exercise and launched the ‘Kampala Weyonje' campaign.

"This is our city; this is our home. Let us work hard to give it the character we desire. Together we can make it clean, together we can overcome the bad vices like illegal construction, littering, noise pollution," Kisaka said on Wednesday during a press conference about her 100 days in office.

The ambitious five-year strategic plan worth $1.9 trillion is expected to transform Kampala into a vibrant, attractive and sustainable city. It highlights four key pillars; citizen engagement, quality of life, city resilience and economic growth.

Kisaka also unveiled the elegant Impala monument, in her first 100 days. The Impala symbolises the origin of the name Kampala and the sculpture is located just next to KCCA premises.

Working in partnership with Uganda Wildlife Authority, Kisaka unveiled the Wildlife Street in October, which is on the Old Kira Road.

It has eleven gigantic and magnificent animal sculptures, including the elephant, giraffe, zebra and others all aimed at preserving and celebrating the history and heritage of Kampala.

During her first week in office, President Museveni launched the construction of Lubigi and Nakamiro channels to deal with heavy floods in Bwaise.

This is projected to be finalised in 12 months. The poor drainage system in downtown Kampala has been a source of constant irritation.

Kisaka says some of these are historical problems caused by construction on drainage channels.

"The indiscipline of technical people in issuing building permits indiscriminately has to stop," she says.

Under her watch, the Old Taxi Park, is to be delivered soon and shall be elevated to international standards.

She says with a new system that requires parking cards, coupons and clock-ins, it will also have delineated areas for taxis and pedestrian movement.

Weyonje campaign

Under this campaign, residents are encouraged to engage in a cleaning campaign every last Saturday of the month. The leaders in the five divisions are in a competition to see who has mobilised their teams best for this campaign. The next general cleaning day is November 28, 2020.

"Maintaining a clean city can't be left to individuals or to KCCA staff alone, everyone has to be involved," Kisaka says.

Many city dwellers were worried as to how she would manage to work with the political wing at KCCA. Kisaka chose to build bridges and work with the political side intentionally.

"We are bigger than the differences that divide us, we can resolve them," is Kisaka's mantra. She had to quickly negotiate the various power centres at city hall.

She intentionally interacts with the Lord Mayor's cabinet on a weekly basis. Her consultative meetings with the minister of Kampala are regular.  As a lawyer, and governance expert, Kisaka is no stranger to tension-filled situations, but she is a firm believer in talking through the differences.

Her 100-day plan dedicated hours to meeting key stakeholders in central government, business, faith leaders, politicians and many others.

Kisaka's philosophy is that citizen engagement is the bedrock for efficient systems.

"The city belongs to all of us and we can all contribute in running the city," Kisaka says.

The KCCA deputy Lord Mayor, Doreen Nyanjura, describes Kisaka's 100 days as a success and believes she is the right person for the job.

"She has worked beyond my expectations. She respects and listens to the political wing and has for now followed the KCCA Act to the letter," Nyanjura says.

She says Kisaka has enormous potential to perform her role and lead the transformation of the city.

"She is focused on her work, rather than media attention. I must say she is the right person for the job and we hope she continues working the way she is doing," Nyanjura says. Nyanjura explains that the political wing is supportive of her work for the good of Kampala.

Street vendors

The business group, headed by Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) team, are happy with Kisaka's approach but want her to sort out the issue of crowded streets.

KACITA chairperson Everest Kayondo says: "We will work with Kisaka, but let her make it clear that street vendors must get off the streets. We are glad the new ED is engaging us on a joint way forward.'"

Susan Mutoni, from Mutungo, a city suburb, says Kisaka needs to address the issue of security lights and few toilets in the city.

Presidential directives

Implementing the presidential directives regarding

Centenary Park was a litmus test for Kisaka. But she used her two-pronged approach, stick to the law and be humane with the people.

The market vendors are anxious to see how Kisaka handles the presidential directive on markets. But Kisaka says there is no need to panic because it will be fully implemented.

Kisaka has already written notification to the market leaders about the impending takeover. "The markets belong to ordinary vendors. They should be left to do business without high fees, as the President has guided. This will address the perennial problem of street vending," Kisaka says.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});