The path ahead for Kampala lord mayor appears silky-smooth. Almost three and half months after Jennifer Musisi, the assertive former KCCA executive director, walked out of City Hall on December 15, her nemesis City Lord Mayor ERIAS LUKWAGO says he has “some” new, larger breathing space.
In a three-hour interview with Yudaya Nangonzi, the lord mayor talked about his increased volume of work, growing influence and his cordial relationship with both the technical and political wings at City Hall among, other things.
Your office is too busy, lately…
Of course… but I hope I will be quoted properly. There’s some relative space though not much. We are gravitating towards institutional building compared to the previous times of the former executive director, Jennifer Musisi, who was hell-bent on building a personal empire.
She was obsessed with showcasing herself, personalizing everything and frustrating authority meetings. What I have done within just two months is beyond my expectation; it’s just too much but I am not complaining because this is what I have always craved.
I came here to work, not to put on garbs and preside over ceremonies only. This has always been my fight. I am in my prime age of hardworking and the law is very clear that I should be in charge of the development agenda of KCCA.
What has changed in the months since Musisi’s resignation?
Despite the fact that we are operating under an oppressive regime, at least there is some improvement internally in the functioning of KCCA organs. To begin with, Musisi had disabled authority meetings, which are a nerve centre for policy formulation and everything.
Once such meetings are disabled, everything is paralysed. We had an individual who did not believe in institutional building; a showoff, hyped so much by the press. By the way, there’s quite a lot that we would do to make things move but you would attribute every little thing to one person as if she was the Alpha and Omega.
KCCA has got a staff force of more than 1,036 councillors here. At divisional level, there are five mayors with an average of 45 councillors which makes about 260 political leaders in Kampala.
But, I was always surprised to see that these people were being treated as if they don’t matter in the institution. Now, I am glad that the narrative and perception of the media has changed. It looks like it was a project to dwarf some people and hype one person as if she was superhuman.
You are more visible in KCCA projects. Does this mean a better working environment now?
Slowly, like I said, we are crawling towards institutional building and getting back to the normal processes of the institution. Internally, the meetings are sitting and this is the most important thing. We are doing our work and religiously following the calendar for these meetings without interruptions.
We have a technical team led by the acting executive director who respects, submits reports and observes the decorum of the authority. Despite some challenges, they [technical people] participate in meetings and make contributions and we hold them accountable because that’s our mandate.
The biggest challenge we had was for the former executive director to disable systems. We must build a strong, vibrant and robust institution of KCCA that will deliver quality services. I am glad we are making headway – today, KCCA is not an institution of Lukwago or Andrew Kitaka, but an output of so many players.
It’s good that the current leadership has accepted that the head of KCCA is the lord mayor unlike Musisi who failed to concede to that. I even took her to court, which many people didn’t appreciate, but what took me to the polls?
Why did parliament make a law which made it very clear in Section 11 that the head of the institution is the lord mayor? If we believe in the rule of law and systems, there’s no way you can make an accounting officer to be the head, make her own policies and doesn’t account to anyone. This was totally unacceptable.
This implies you are at par with the acting executive director, Eng. Andrew Kitaka...
I don’t want to dwell much on that. Let us not reduce the authority to just the two of us because the technical team is also very big with various positions. So, it takes more than just two individuals to build an institution.
I want to run away from that perception of zeroing the issues of KCCA to the working relationship between the executive director and lord mayor. So, you may be working closely with the ED but what happens if other directors, councilors, mayors and others, are not happy with what you are doing? Just know I’m not quarreling with any councilor; they don’t boycott authority meetings and I have a cordial relationship with the five mayors and MPs of Kampala.
So, all is well at KCCA…
No! Don’t say there is nothing [wrong] because we still have a long way to go. The minister for Kampala, Beti Kamya, is still bent on pushing for the amendment of the law [KCCA Amendment Bill 2015] to precisely take away what I am doing right now.
She is pushing it vigorously. In the amendment, she wants to be the political head of Kampala and authority meetings would be rendered redundant if policies are made by the central government.
There’s an ongoing battle over this matter and I don’t want you to paint a rosy picture that all is well. If you have a minister who has got a sinister motive, what do you expect? We’re preparing for another battle.
Mr Museveni has put it clearly that as long as you don’t subscribe to NRM, you will not be given room to deliver. So, Madam Beti Kamya is on a mission to dance to those tunes and re-echo the message of her superior. I wouldn’t want to engage in endless battles but if you find a situation where you can’t extricate yourself, you fight up to the last atom of your strength.
Take us through some of the projects you have focused on in the past months.
It’s quite a lot. We have come up with a number of ordinances such as the administration and management of markets to address the leadership crisis and sewerage and fecal sludge management for sanitation in Kampala. National Water and Sewerage Corporation ought to have installed the sewer lines across Kampala but only six per cent of residents are connected to the national sewer line.
So, majority of Kampalans rely on onsite sanitation facilities that lack standards required of pit latrines and septic tanks emptied regularly. For cesspool emptiers, we have 106 private operators but they were not regulated.
We want to bring them under our control so that we manage not only the depositing of fecal sludge but also transportation of the same to treatment centres. We are also going to pass a bill about green infrastructure in Kampala in line with the climate change action plan. In this, we are also installing air monitoring equipment because we have been relying on data from the American embassy and Makerere University.
This ordinance will also compel people to plant specific trees on private land before their plans are approved because we are doing badly on trees in Kampala. The latest ordinance that we are working on is regulating street vending. This is something I would be proud of once approved because vending needs regulation, and not harsh measures like massive evictions.
Doesn’t this take you back to previous skirmishes with the technical team on maintaining vendors on streets?
No… street vending is a worldwide phenomenon. The reason you see the crisis in Kampala is because street vending is not regulated. If you have tried evictions and failed, you need to think twice. With licensing, it doesn’t mean everybody who comes on the street will get a license to ply their trade anywhere.
In modern cities worldwide, they gazette streets and limit numbers of vendors to guarantee order. You cannot just phase out all vendors on the streets; authorize those you want and deny licenses to those who don’t meet your standards. Right now, we have directed the physical planning department to liaise with the directorates for gender and legal to identify areas for certain trades and the required kiosks.
At least a policy has been made and in two weeks, I will call an authority meeting and we adopt it. We’ve also tabled a bill for boda bodas and CCTV cameras for commercial buildings, among others. In terms of other infrastructural transformations, we are finalizing the Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project (KIIDP) II expiring this December. We have sat with the World Bank and we are preparing KIIDP III, which will start next year.
What plan do you have for your enforcement officers who brutally arrest vendors?
You mean their role is just to deal with street vendors? Actually, that is a misconception we want to do away with. It’s absurd that their orientation was poor since they have a narrow perspective.
They think they are supposed to run after vendors. Our enforcement team shouldn’t only focus on vendors but enforce all KCCA ordinances. For instance, we have neighborhood planning and they have to crack down on people with illegal constructions.
It is very unfortunate that the officers have descended on the most vulnerable and it is a very lucrative business for them. Many of them extort money from vendors and have set up markets on the streets. Recently, nine officers were interdicted and should be prosecuted. Gradually, I know we shall push them into line.
Early this year, you called for an audit in the recruitment of all KCCA employees. How far have you gone?
The KCCA Public Accounts Committee indeed came up with a report and we gave it to the Audit Committee, which is supposed to come up with a report in the next authority meeting.
For instance, there are staff that were employed on four months’ contracts but are still working. So, we are waiting for recommendations from the audit committee chaired by Honorable Kennedy Okello.
The committee is supposed to interface with the executive director and director, human resource, to explain themselves on those audit queries. As an individual, I cannot pronounce myself on that audit until all those avenues have been exhausted.
These reports are handled on a quarterly basis and we are still within the required time. My work is to hold accounting officers accountable and I will do so. For the period Jennifer stayed here, I played that role to my satisfaction and it’s a huge achievement but you media people didn’t see these things.
Are you saying the media is against you?
I have my misgivings in the way you [media] played in the hands of the former ED. You created a demi-god of sorts; somebody beyond reproach. Today, there seems to be some change in the media.
I must commend Mr Kitaka that he is not the type who wants to steal the show. I have seen in him the attribute of a leader who believes in shared division. In this regard, I have given credit where it is due but it does not stop me from scrutinizing him because it’s my work.
To minister Beti Kamya, her biggest problem is the desire to please the appointing authority. She has gone ahead to give directives as if we are on the receiving end of decrees. Personally, I adopted a defiant approach towards her decrees because they are in bad taste and not good for the institution. Madam Kamya, please keep within your lane. You will not patronize the person of Lukwago because I came here on the mandate of the people.
The 2021 mayoral race is on… Kawempe North MP Latif Ssebaggala has expressed interest, among others.
No comment! Whether I am standing or not, that is immaterial now. Will you force me do make a comment? My central focus now is to deliver on the mandate entrusted to me.
Secondly, I want to fight the maneuvers of Mr Museveni and his proxies like Kamya who want to usurp my powers using the amendment because the bill is before parliament. How sure are you that once that bill is passed, there will even be elections in Kampala?
Remember, you are dealing with a person like Museveni who has a problem of mood swings. Today, he may say let people of Kampala have the right to vote and tomorrow, he may wake up on the wrong side of the bed and directs parliament to do away with adult suffrage so that the lord mayor is chosen from among councillors.
Why would I be focusing on 2021 when I have immediate challenges before me? I think it would be self-defeating on my part. You have a hurdle to jump today then you look at two years to come! Are you really a sensible person? I don’t want to clog my mind with anything concerning 2021.
Your message to government…
It should abandon all the machinations of belittling the powers of elected leadership in Kampala and abandon the KCCA Amendment Bill 2015 which seeks to take away the powers of the lord mayor. Secondly, government should inject adequate resources in all KCCA projects.
nangonzi@observer.ug