Government to blame for conflict between the Lord Mayor and the Executive Director. The law is bad and should be amended.
Politicians have something to show by the time they leave office. For Ian Kyeyune the executive house is good reason why still wants to remain chairperson of a district
What we are seeing in Kampala as conflict between the Executive Director and Lord Mayor is all blamed on the NRM. We have seen the RDC's conflict with Chairman LC5 and indeed there are many more conflicting positions. The roles of the Lord mayor should be clear. He and the counselors are in touch with the people so he is the political head at that level. The Executive Director should implement what the politicians want for the people and see it done professionally. It is absurd to see these conflicts continue.
William Kituuka
Power struggles in KCCA
By John Semakula
THE power struggle between the Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago and executive director Jennifer Semakula Musisi is getting deeper.
Lukwago says the power struggle between him and Semakula started as soon as he was sworn in and he would no longer keep quiet about it. “I had decided to ignore them, thinking that they would end soon, but they are not, and I have decided to break the silence,” he said.
The Lord Mayor says he will fight relentlessly to exercise his full authority, accusing the executive director of usurping his political powers.
Musisi, on the other hand, says she has not usurped Lukwago’s powers and will continue to do her work diligently. She argues that all her work has been given to her by the Kampala Capital City Act, 2010.
Lukwago insists that as the Lord Mayor, he has political authority over Musisi and that must be reflected in their operations.
“KCCA is governed politically and is headed by the Lord Mayor, not the executive director. But the executive director has overstepped her mandate and played my roles, which is wrong. I cannot sign KCCA’s books of accounts because it’s not my role,” Lukwago said.
But Musisi says her line of responsibilities is different from that of the Lord Mayor and she has a mandate to do her work, independent of him.
The disagreement started to peak on July 4 when Musisi blocked Lukwago from meeting Uganda Tax Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) officials in a bid to probe their operations. Lukwago wanted to scrutinise UTODA’s audited books of accounts, memorandum and articles of association, return files and the structure of taxi fares.
But in a letter dated July 4, Musisi told Lukwago that there was no need for the meeting to take place because the KCCA had not yet pronounced itself on the issue.
The law and its implementation is part of the problem. Section 3 of the Act says Kampala will be administered by the central government. Section 5 says the Kampala Capital City Authority will administer the city on behalf of the central government. Section 6 says the authority shall consist of the Lord Mayor, deputy Lord Mayor and councilors. This particular section is silent about the executive director. On the basis of this, Lukwago argues that if the Authority is in charge of the city, and Musisi is not part of the Authority, then she cannot be above the Lord Mayor.
In response, Musisi said she is a legal advisor to the authority and that to remain independent, she needed not to be part of the authority.
Section 11 says the Lord Mayor will be the political head of the city. Section 17 says the executive director will be the chief executive of the Authority and will be appointed by the President of Uganda. Whereas the Act defines the roles of the Lord Mayor and executive director in details, it does not directly mention the power relations between the two. This leaves room for varied interpretations.
Muhammad Nsereko, the MP for Kampala Central, believes the only way such a power struggle would end is by letting the politicians take over full control over the technical persons.
But Rubanda County MP Henry Banyenzaki argues that the two leaders should concentrate on delivering services rather than who is bigger than the other. “Why is Lukwago fighting for powers? If the two work in harmony, they will deliver and both get the credit at the end of the day,” says Banyenzaki.
Banyenzaki also appeals to the political team at KCCA to give the Act a chance to since it has just been operationalized. He adds that when the president appoints a minister in charge of Kampala, many of the issues regarding administrative authority in the city will be resolved. Section 11, sub-section 2 of the Act says the Lord Mayor will be answerable to the Authority and the Minister.
“The President is soon appointing a minister in charge of Kampala who will help to iron out the differences and soon they will be history,” says Banyenzaki
Lukwago, Musisi Clash Over City Transport Deal
Yasiin Mugerwa and Robert Mwanje
6 July 2011
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Kampala — A row has erupted between Kampala Capital City Authority chief executive Jennifer Ssemakula Musisi and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago over a multi-billion transport deal in the City. The fresh fight has raised fears of a possible leadership standoff at City Hall as the two principals stumble upon the challenges of a vastly changed administrative structure in the capital.
Ms Musisi yesterday wrote to Mr Lukwago cancelling his meeting with Utoda officials and stopped him from demanding contractual documents from the taxi operators. "In light of your position that M/s Utoda Ltd has no running contract with KCCA, the agenda for the meeting is not clear. It's crucial to have a common position on the relationship between M/s Utoda Ltd and KCCA before meetings are held with them," Ms Musisi's letter read in part.
Addressing reporters at Parliament yesterday, Mr Lukwago said he had requested Utoda officials to submit the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Company returns and audited accounts for further scrutiny. But in her letter, Ms Musisi said: "These are documents relating to the award of a contract which are best handled by the Contracts Committee and therefore management of KCCA."
However, Mr Lukwago who petitioned the Leader of Opposition Nandala Mafabi and the Shadow Cabinet yesterday reportedly asked Parliament to amend the KCCA Act to give him and other division mayors more powers to deal with service delivery bottlenecks in the city.
Unclear agenda?
At a news conference, Mr Lukwago rejected claims that the agenda of his meeting with Utoda was not clear. He said as Lord Mayor, it's his responsibility to initiate policies that would help improve service delivery in the City. He said his meeting with Utoda, sought, among others, to hear from them on how to improve service delivery. "I have tried to handle these matters amicably but it seems the situation is getting out of control. They have stopped me from meeting stakeholders yet as Lord Mayor I don't have executive/cabinet ministers to handle these matters. I am doing everything alone. Other divisional mayors are powerless yet they were elected by the people. This is not right and that's why I have requested Parliament to salvage the situation before it's too late."
The mayor accused Utoda of failing to manage the industry, highlighting the two city taxi parks which are in sorry state. But Utoda chairman Musa Katongole has since said they are not in charge of the parks.
Yesterday, Utoda shunned Lukwago's meeting saying it had no good motives for their survival.
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Lukwago said Utoda collects about Shs4 billion per month and remits only Shs290 million which was recently increased to Shs392 million to KCCA.
"Utoda takes away billions of shillings when we don't have money to collect garbage in the city, fix potholes and streamline the transport sector," he said. He added: "I don't know why some people don't want me to ask for information about Utoda. They have issued a list of buildings to demolish without my knowledge. There are other buildings in the road reserve like Centenary Park and Imperial Royale Hotel but they are missing on the list."
The new structure, which is contained in the Kampala Capital City Act, 2010, reduced the mayor to a largely ceremonial political head of the capital and transfers the pragmatic stewardship of Kampala to the hands of a an executive director who is appointed by the President.
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