THE CHALLENGE OF RUNNING KAMPALA

Capital cities the world over, are hostile territory for the ruling party.

Maybe its because the city voters are closest to the center of government, see it in all its glory and grime. A classic case of familiarity breeds contempt. It is safe to say that most times capital cities are the best served in terms of infrastructure and public services, so one would think the residents should be a bit more grateful for their higher standard of living. But no sir.

Again, a classic case of if you give them an inch, they will take a mile.

Kampala is no different.

"The last time the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) had its candidate ensconced in City Hall for almost 30 years. Christopher Iga who served until 1997 was the last NRM mayor of Kampala....

Resigned to this position, the government created the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), essentially beefing up the power of the town clerk under the old arrangement and effectively taking over management of the city.

Under the current arrangement, a convoluted system, the Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka reports to the Kampala Capital City & Metropolitan Affairs minister and not the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago. Lukwago, who heads the legislature of the city, which oversees KCCA’s affairs and passes budgets.

Immediately you can see the conflict. Lukwago is like a member of parliament, he can huff and puff but he has little say over the running of Kampala.

Interestingly Lukwago was a member of parliament when the law creating KCCA was debated and passed.

As a host of a talk show in our sister radio XFM – it was Vision Voice FM, I remember interviewing Lukwago after he had declared his intention to run for Mayor of Kampala. I asked him given the new arrangement what he was hoping to achieve in the hollowed-out position. He replied something to the effect that he will have the mandate of the people of Kampala and will be effectively in control of the city’s affairs regardless. Nothing has been further from the truth.

"One is tempted to see Lukwago’s latest outburst about overinflated roads and imaginary land purchases by KCCA in this light, an attempt to ensure KCCA pays attention to him Others suggest it is a way to divert attention from the leak that suggested he and General Salim Saleh have been working together....

Two weeks ago, Lukwago called a press conference to complain about the “overinflated” cost of a project to rehabilitate and construct roads in Kampala. Lukwago pointed out that at $288m (about a trillion shillings) for construction of 69km of road, meant a kilometer of road would come to about sh14b.

As it turned out the project’s conception begun in 2016 when Lukwago was in office and not Kisaka the current Executive Director. That the project has gone through various levels of vetting with the finance and works ministries, the KCCA council, the solicitor general and the funders, The Africa Development Bank (AfDB).

The full scope of the project, which actually will cover 100km of road and include widening and paving roads, the traffic junctions, covered drainage, construction of non-motorable roads and other amenities, which means the road project is not just about laying tarmac.

But Lukwago knew all this or he should have at least, if not because his council was involved in signing off on the project, but also because it has taken seven years before ground is broken.

So, what was his outburst about? Lukwago would want to position himself as the champion of good governance and his constituents are cheering him on, but on closer scrutiny this would be a hard story to sell.

It reminds me of former KCCA boss’ Jennifer Musisi challenges in trying to make Kampala work and her being second guessed by the politicians – Lukwago was the mayor then as well. The story too is the heckling from the city’s politicians eventually cost her, her position.

"It is clear that the way the management of the capital city is constructed with the political head a member of the opposition and the accounting officer appointed by the ruling government is fraught with problems. It does not augur well for the future development of Kampala, or does it?

It doesn’t have to be so. In theory both leaders whatever their shade of politics, sould work towards the betterment of Kampala. The reality though is that an opposition leader, who wakes up every morning to discredit the ruling government would struggle with his or her conscience to oversee the successful implementation of the government’s manifesto.