I was not only disturbed but could not believe that the lord mayor could go to the extent of saying he may resign simply because NRM is fighting him and doing things contrary to what is expected in e decentralized set up. If he ever resigned, that could be the end of his political career and a big disappointment to those who elected him. It is clear that one of Lukwago’s objectives is to see an orderly city. I highly believe that he had a hand in seeing to the stopping of the welfare fee that taxi operators were paying to UTODA. What is happening is that NRM is proving to him that they have the muscle, but NRM also values these voters, but it is correcting the messes that have accumulated over the 25 years when it left people do as they wish.
What my friend Lukwago ought to do is to sit with fellow the City Mayors and get to the drawing board to see how best these people can be relocated to other working environments. What Lukwago ought to know together with City Mayors is that to many serious investors, the mess in the city is one reason they could pull out their investments from Uganda. More often than not, it is very difficult to determine the exact time one is likely to move from one part of Kampala to another. Many of us who call to the city once in a while are grateful to modern technology that one can transact business even from home. So, Lukwago and company have to appreciate that things are being done fast as the NRM cleans the mess it has created over the years. The way to go is identify appropriate places where these people can be settled. What Lukwago equally has to know is that many of the people he is defending come many miles from Kampala and are not necessarily his or voters of the other Mayors. If one comes all the way from 2 or 3 miles out of the city centre surely, he or she can get where to work from near to where he resides. The Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) political leadership ought to know that the commercial cyclists are a big mess with in the city. It is long overdue to have these people out of the city centre; in fact, in the long run in Uganda, the commercial motor cyclists should be phased out as regards transporting human beings in most of the urban areas. If only one were to get statistics of households that have been negatively affected by commercial motorcyclists, every serious politician would simply see logic in eventually phasing them out. These motor cyclists register the biggest causalities admitted to Mulago Hospital, and more often than not there are at least two victims and for the disabled as well as the dead, the dependence rates keep increasing.
In Uganda it is high time whatever was done the wrong way is corrected. There is nothing that disturbs for example as people who decide to settle anywhere for business or other purposes as if land is free and that one has the right to use it as he feels like. Someone is in the road reserve and to get him out you have to deploy forces to do so. We must get our people appreciate that they ought to be responsible and reasonable people. Just when you move to Kajjansi trading Centre, you find that this place is long overdue for town council status, but it is shocking to learn that the delay which is more than 10 years since the 1st plans were done with the help of Makerere Physical Planning Department is greatly due to politicians who until to day are opposed to being part of the town council and it is not surprising that a matter which we thought had been put to rest was brought back to the drawing board by the politicians of Makindye Sabagabo who used Museveni’s desperate Presidential campaign to ask for a town board status; which has granted! This was at the time when the district had resolved to have Kajjansi Town stretching from Seguku to Namulanda.
To cut the long story short, my advice to the Lord mayor is simple; he is a youth who ate big an office that the NRM desperately wanted, he should look to strategies that people see make good sense in getting the city worth a capital, otherwise he seems to signal even to those in village that there is someone who is ready to fight for their rights if they migrated to the city. What the Lord mayor and other Mayors ought to understand is that those who benefit from the services of Kampala want a city through which they can make transactions and go back to other duties instead of killing a whole day simply because the city is full of those who see it as the easiest way to make some money.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
WOMAN, BODA BODA RIDER DROWN IN KAMPALA FLOODS
A scene where unidentified boda boda cyclist and Barclays Bank Katwe branch cashier, the late Brenda Omuntu drowned in an open channel September 14, 2011. PHOTO: STEPHEN WANDERA
By STEPHEN WANDERA
Posted Wednesday, September 14 2011 at 18:55
The Wednesday downpour that paralysed much of central business district of Kampala has claimed two lives, according to Deputy Police Spokesperson Vincent Ssekate.
A boda boda cyclist with his female passenger drowned in an open water channel as they tried to navigate their way on the flooded Entebbe road. The incident occurred near a boda boda stage popularly known as Kalitunsi near Clock Tower in Kampala.
The accident happened shortly before 2pm. The boda boda rider, whose body has been recovered, is yet to be positively identified. The female passenger has been identified as the late Brenda Omuntu, a Barclays Bank Katwe branch cashier. Mr Ssekate said the two were travelling on a boda boda when they failed to locate the road running into the over flowing channel.
Rescue teams were hampered from helping the victims earlier as the fast flowing water made it impossible to gain access to the drainage channel. Efforts are still on-going to retrieve the body of the female passenger.
KAMPALA LORD MAYOR THREATENS TO RESIGN
Thursday, 15th September, 2011
Lukwago is considering petitioning the constitutional court to seek clarification on his role as Lord Mayor
By Taddeo Bwambale and Brian Mayanja
THE Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago has threatened to resign his position, saying the Government has frustrated his efforts to streamline business in the city.
Speaking at the Special Council Meeting of the Authority yesterday, Lukwago said he was considering petitioning the constitutional court to seek clarification on his role as Lord Mayor, as provided for in the Kampala Capital City Authority Act, 2010.
“I am compelled to go to court to find out if I have no powers in the law. If court rules that I have no powers, I will pack and go home to the people who elected me,” he said.
Lukwago accused the government of deliberately refusing to recognise his powers in the management of the city. He cited a letter from the Resident City Commissioner, Alice Muwanguzi dated September 13, advising Council not to discuss the recent eviction of vendors from city streets without consulting the Kampala minister.
Last week, Lukwago and city councilors distanced themselves from the eviction exercise, saying they were neither involved nor informed about it. They asked the Kampala Executive Director to produce a written directive from the Kampala minister to the Authority, in accordance with public service standing regulations.
But Muwanguzi, in her letter to Lukwago, argued that the minister had general powers to give directives on policy and general development of the capital city, which the Authority must comply with.
“As the political head of the Authority, you are expected to guide the Authority to comply with the minister’s directive. Anything less than that is interpreted as defiance of Government by the Authority,” the letter partly reads.
Lukwago accused the minister in charge of Kampala, Kabakumba Masiko, for ignoring his numerous requests to meet political leaders in the Authority to resolve their grievances.
“The minister is here to serve everyone. Why should we turn into beggars? I am not going to kneel for anyone because we all have statutory obligations according to the law,” he said.
The councilors were divided on whether to stop debate on the matter. Some of them accused the central government of rendering them powerless while others proposed a meeting with the Kampala minister to resolve the matter.
“It appears that whatever we are doing here, we are just wasting time. Some of us came here to work but we seem to be heading for a crisis because they overlook our powers,” said Elijah Owobusingye, the councilor for Makindye East.
Lubaga Municipality Councilor, Godfrey Asiimwe proposed a meeting between the Kampala minister and political leaders to resolve the crisis.
The councilors gave one more week to the Executive Director to come up with a report on areas that can be temporarily gazetted for street vending in the city
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