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.
