All is not well at City Hall, the seat of the Kampala Capital City Authority. Since the new body KCCA took over from Kampala City Council, many people have been expecting developments that will make Kampala a better city. Whether these developments are taking place or not is currently being overshadowed by the power struggles between the Executive Director of KCCA, Jennifer Musisi Ssemakula and the Lord Mayor of KCCA, Erias Lukwago.

Following the passing of the Kampala Capital City Authority Act 2010 by the 8th Parliament, there have been concerns on how the two powerful offices of the Lord Mayor and City Executive Director will work side by side. And it has not taken long before this conflict has manifested itself in the day-to-day running of the city.

The KCCA law was pushed by President Yoweri Museveni for the central government to take over the management of Kampala City which like other districts was being run like a local government unit (city council) headed by the Mayor. The government was concerned that the elected Kampala district council and Mayor was unable to properly manage the city, citing too much garbage, potholes, overflowing road and sewage channels, and market conflicts among other issues. The KCC leadership at the time was weary of the NRM government move, with many saying the government wanted to find another way to take over Kampala city after failing in elections where opposition candidates had been winning the Mayoral seat in the past three previous elections, as well as most Councilor positions in Kampala.

Although the original government proposal was to have an all powerful Executive Director appointed by the President presiding over administration of Kampala, with Mayor (Lord Mayor) elected among Kampala City as a ceremonial leader and chair of council meetings, the government gave in to pressure and allowed for the continued election of the Lord Mayor who is mentioned in the KCCA Act as the head of KCCA. Yet the law also says the Executive Director appointed by the President will be the Chief Executive Officer of KCCA and overall administrator and manager of all KCCA affairs. The Executive Director reports to the central government through the Minister for Kampala Affairs, and not the KCCA Council.

President Museveni duly appointed the Executive Director in mid April 2011 and Jennifer Musisi soon begun her duties. The Lord Mayor was also elected with opposition candidate Erias Lukwago the former MP for Kampala central achieving a comfortable victory in the March 2011 elections. But no sooner had the two officers taken office than misunderstandings over the running and management of KCCA issues started.

The fact that Musisi and Lukwago are strong headed individuals has not helped matters either as no room for compromise has been evident among the two KCCA top dogs. Musisi who came into her current job from the Uganda Revenue Authority where she was a Commissioner has a strong history of strict administration and unwavering authority. Lukwago is also a well known staunch advocate not only in the court rooms but in demanding for good public management of public issues, and he had hoped by becoming Mayor, he would not just demand but be in charge of directing the public management of Kampala City.

Lukwago, who insists that he is the head of KCCA first disagreed with Musisi over the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association contract, which he insisted had expired, while Musisi insisted UTODA had a contract with KCCA to continue collecting taxi transport revenues on behalf of KCCA. It was such an unfortunate scene to see the two officials clash publicly in a KCCA council meeting with Lukwago the Chair insisting he is not aware of any running contract with UTODA, while Musisi in the same meeting insisted that as the overall manager of KCCA, she is aware the UTODA contract was renewed and is valid. Lukwago asked Musisi to produce the new contract (which should have been offered by the council), but Musisi did not deliver it. Lukwago went ahead and asked drivers not to pay UTODA charges (he claimed they don’t remit the money), which partly resulted in the drivers’ strike that paralyzed transport in the city.

When the dust over UTODA was about to settle, the two leaders again conflicted on the issue of evicting vendors from Kampala streets. Musisi ordered the eviction of all street vendors, giving them a two week ultimatum to find alternative places to sell their goods. Traders owning shops in Kampala had been complaining about the vendors that they say sell same or similar items on streets, yet they do not pay taxes and licenses like the shops. Lukwago insisted the vendors should not be evicted before an alternative place is found for them. Musisi said her team had identified empty stalls in 86 different Kampala markets and vendors were free to go and occupy any of the stalls in markets. Lukwago urged the vendors not to leave but Musisi backed by police managed to prevail and the vendors were all evicted.

It soon came to the issue of the KCCA budget which Musisi together with the Minister in charge of Kampala, Kabakumba Masiko presented before Parliament. Lukwago says he was never consulted on the budget making and the priority areas, yet as elected Mayor, he has a manifesto which he must fulfill. To make matters worse, Lukwago says he learnt from the media that the Executive Director Musisi had proposed new salary structures for herself, the Lord Mayor and other senior staff of KCCA without consulting him. Musisi proposed that she should be paid 43.7 million shillings per month, Lukwago 33 million shillings with the 10 KCCA Directors taking more than 20 million shillings each. Lukwago who says he gets 13 million shillings as salary and facilitation for his duties complained that the move by Musisi was meant to demonized Lukwago as greedy for a big salary, yet he was not getting it or proposing it.

“In any case, why should the Executive Director who is like a Permanent Secretary earn more than me the head of KCCA? There is a deliberate attempt to marginalize me when I was elected by the people. They want to make me fail to deliver on the manifesto,” Lukwago says.

Lukwago also disagreed with Musisi over the awarding of a contract to city tycoon Hassan Basajabalaba to manage the City Abattoir on Port Bell Road which was under the management of the traders in the Abattoir. He has also been complaining about the awarding of several other contracts, and what he calls the failure of Musisi to investigate some shoddy procurement. He has been demanding Musisi to produce a report concerning the fraudulent sale of KCCA’s dispensary at plot 71 Nkrumah Road.

Then in a dramatic twist of events, Lukwago on Friday September 23rd filed a petition in the High Court asking for the interpretation of the KCCA Act as regards the powers of the Lord Mayor and Executive Director. “There is a deliberate attempt to present me, the elected Mayor, as a ceremonial head, which is not true according to the KCCA Act. The Lord Mayor has executive powers, but these powers have all been taken by the Executive Director,” Lukwago complains. Lukwago says Musisi has made it extremely difficult for him to execute his duties as Lord Mayor as well as developing strategies and programmes for the city.

He said the situation has got out of hand and only court can help resolve the power struggle between the Mayor and Executive Director to ensure the work of KCCA is not derailed. Lukwago said if the Court rules that the Lord Mayor has no executive powers and must submit to every decision of the Executive Director, he will resign the mayor position. “It will mean I hove no job here as mayor because I cannot deliver on the promises I made to people who elected me,” Lukwago said. He said Musisi is running everything at KCCA and has usurped the powers of the Lord Mayor and the Council.

But Musisi said she has not usurped anyone’s powers and is running the city according to the KCCA Act 2010. She says as Executive Director, she has powers to do whatever she has done, the reason all legal bodies like police have been backing her actions to ensure the city is a better place. Musisi says unlike Lykwago she is not a politician and implements what she has to do according to the law. She says the Lord Mayor should have read the law more deeply and understand it before contesting if he wanted to have executive powers, which she says are invested in the Executive Director and Minister of Kampala Affairs.

It might as well be true that Former Mayor Nassar Ntege Sebaggala was right and is having his day against his nemesis Lukwago. Sebaggala warned Lukwago that though he (Lukwago) won the position of Lord Mayor, he was going for “bwooya byanswa” (an empty position). “The real Mayor position ended with Sebaggala. Lukwago should read the new Act. He is just going to be a chairman of council which doesn’t implement anything in the city,” Sebaggala said earlier this year. Lukwago however disputes this position saying it is being wrongly propagated to hoodwink the public that the Lord Mayor has no powers in Kampala. He accuses Kabakumba of failing to meet political leaders of KCCA to help resolve the impasse with the Executive Director.

Kampala Central MP, Mohamed Nsereko says he is concerned about what he terms as Musisi’s disregard of elected leaders in Kampala. “The Executive Director needs to work in consultation with the elected leaders in Kampala, including the Mayor. They are the representatives of the people,” Nsereko says.

The Chairperson of the parliamentary Committee on Presidential Affairs and Statutory Bodies, Barnabas Tinkasimire says the conflicts between the Executive Director and Lord Mayor resulted from the hurried passing of the KCCA Act as the 8th parliament was winding up its business and MPs preparing for elections. Tinkasimiire’s Committee has summoned and met both Lukwago and Musisi but failed to resolve their power conflicts because the law is not conclusive on who is the boss of the other. Musisi according to the law should report to the Minister for Kampala and the President, while Lukwago is considered overall head of KCCA and thus reporting to the electorate.

“We might need to amend the law to ensure we properly provide for the coexistence of the Lord Mayor and the Executive Director with well defined duties and responsibilities and remove all incidences of overlapping powers between the two offices,” Tinkasimiire says.

The coordinator of intelligence services, Gen. David Tinyefuza today morning (Wednesday) vacated the house belonging to the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), ending a row over its occupation.

The house located on Plot 2, Mabua Road in Kololo, an upscale Kampala suburb, served as a national intelligence coordinator centre headed by Gen.Tinyefuza.

By 9:00am, all the property in the posh house had been removed. The last items which included chairs, tables and other household items were ferried on two small pick-ups at 8:30am.

Speaking shortly after handing over the house to KCCA, security minister, Muruli Mukasa lauded the Authority for allowing the army to use the house.

He appealed to KCCA to maintain a cordial relationship with the army, saying both were serving the good of the country.

The keys of the house have been given to the Deputy Director of physical planning Goerge Agaba by the security minister Mukasa Muluuli.

The hand over marks the end of a standoff between KCCA and General Tinyefuza, who had earlier threatened to arrest any one who attempted to evict him.

The recovery of the house is part of a campaign by KCCA to recover its properties, which were illegally sold off or given away by the previous leadership.

Agaba says there are more KCCA properties that are still in the wrong hands, which the authority is vowing to pursue.

Gen. Tinyefuza was not at the scene but the house was empty and clean.

The dire economic times in Uganda have once again brought up the issue of whether Uganda’s government institutions are functioning the way they should be. As different groups of people rise up to express their concerns and discomfort, there is an increasing trend of every group only settling after meeting the President. It is like no other government office or official in Uganda can ever do anything trustable other than the big man himself.

The opposition has for long been criticizing the NRM government, led by President Yoweri Museveni, of failing to foster the growth of government institutions. But what has not been clear until recently is how bad the situation is when an every issue seems only solvable by the President.

When a group of traders under their umbrella group Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) recently went on strike over the decreasing value of the Uganda shilling over the dollar, URA charging taxes in dollars and high license fees, their strike was only stopped after they met and “got assurance from President Museveni that their issues would be handled”.

The Minister of Trade and Industry Amelia Kyambadde had held two meetings with the traders but they refused to halt on their demands until “they meet the President”.

Minister Kyambadde had made many promises including suspending trading license fees (which she later retracted) and the Bank of Uganda intervening in the forex market to save the Uganda shilling as well a possible talk to URA over requiring taxes on imported goods in US dollars. The traders only calmed down and called off the strike after meeting president Museveni immediately after his return from a four day state visit in South Africa.

Just a few days later, a group of taxi drivers in Kampala unhappy about the way the Uganda Taxi Drivers and Operators Association was conducting city transport declared a sit down strike. The country was shocked when the chairman of the group- Drivers and Conductors association (DACCA) Mustafa Mayambala said the President had called him and promised to meet the drivers to look into their concerns.

The same drivers group had attended a joint meeting between them and UTODA concerned by the Vice President Edward Kiwanukan Ssekandi. The complaining traders refused to call off the strike despite an order by Ssekandi for UTODA to halt collection of some fees (which even UTODA did not honour). The drivers resumed work the next day only after meeting the President at Statehouse Entebbe in which he assured them that their concerns will be handled.

Not long after this incident, teachers under their Uganda National Teachers Union went on strike asking for 100% salaries increase from the current average of 200,000 shillings that a teacher in primary schools earn. The teachers have long demanded a pay rise saying the money they are paid is too little to even look after one person. The situation was exacerbated by the rising price of essential goods and services both for schools and in their personal homes.

Despite several meeting with MPs, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance officials, the teachers continued with their strike until the President, who had earlier said their demands cannot be met, agreed to meet them. Museveni met the teachers’ leaders at State House and set up an inter-ministerial committee to look into their demands and meet them within a month.

These are just some of the recent incidents which depict the worrying situation where government offices and officials up to the Vice President are treated with contempt or side stepped by those with any demand until they meet with the President and his view or directive on the matter.

There have been long held concerns over the President and Statehouse directing activities in many government offices, included purchases of key equipment, solving land conflicts, employment of key staff as well as allocation of scarce resources.

There are concerns that such a situation has reduced public confidence in government institutions solving people’s day to day problems and meeting the service delivery needs of the public.

But how did this come about, and what are the implications of such an attitude towards government institutions and the general governance of Uganda?

Wafula Ogutu, the Spokesperson of the leading opposition political party Forum for Democratic Change says Museveni’s leadership has from the beginning concentrated on promoting him as a person and neglected building public institutions that should adequately handle routine government business.

“That is exactly what Museveni wants. To be the alpha and omega of everything in Uganda. Every government activity rotates around him. He has managed to make Ugandans to believe that it is only him that matters and is the solution to every problem,” he said in an interview.

It is not only the opposition leaders that are concerned. One of the NRM leaders recently criticized Museveni for over concentration of powers in the Presidency, leaving his ministers and other government officials with almost no power to handle issues concerning the nation.

The youth national coordinator of NRM, Sewava Serubiri termed the trend as ‘Musevenism’. He says that the act by the president to meet every group of people who have grievances with the way the government is handling issues undermines powers of ministers and other government officials.

“All these groups are playing with the president. But it could also be because he is a more accessible leader. It is hard for the local masses to access ministers than the President because of the long process in seeking an appointment with the ministers,” Serubiri says.

Prof. Aaron Mukwaya, a political science lecturer at Makerere University says while in being easily accessible the President manages to respond to people’s needs and demands, this should be done in a way that does not compromise state institutions and undermine public offices.

“If the President is being consulted as the highest authority on any matter, that is ok. But if he has to respond to everything that comes up, what will other public officials running government institutions do? The government structure and hierarchy needs to be respected. We also need to know whether the President is acting alone or with the responsible public officials on a given matter in arriving at a decision,” Prof. Mukwaya says.

Some people are also concerned that public officials manning government institutions might fear to do their work because the president might have his own take at things should anyone complain. Not so long ago, it was reported that Bank of Uganda Governor Prof. Emanuel Tumusiime Mutebile had expressed concern at the way the government was spending when the President ordered for the purchase of two fighter jets at 1.7 trillion shillings from the government treasury, which money was not budgeted for.

Mutebile later came out to say he did not question the President’s decision or directive, and has since said little at the current economic crisis where inflation is at 18%, the Uganda shilling is strongly weakened against major foreign currencies, and prices of essential commodities like food, sugar, soap and fuel are rising by the day beyond the affordability of most Ugandans.

Museveni has always insisted there is no problem in Uganda, attributing the price fluctuations to imported inflation, over dependence on imports and drought. A cabinet meeting has been called on Thursday August 5th to discuss the dire economic situation but it is not clear whether any minister or government technocrat will push views centrally to what the President thinks.

While the principle of collective responsibility binds all ministers and government officials to follow the government’s official line, and no one can practically expect a minister of subordinate to contradict their boss, more Ugandans are getting concerned that little will be done on any issue (however small) until the President or State House is involved.

The Ugandan community gathered in Baltimore to celebrate the marriage of Dubar Kamara and Apolo Ndyabahika today.

Ndyabahika’s family hails from Kabale in Uganda, and Kamara is from both Kabale and Mufore in Sierra Leone. The ceremony incorporated both cultures. A cultural group also performed Kiganda dance.

Winnie Byanyima and Dr. Kizza Besigye came as honorable dignitaries to the event.

Kamara was the first in her village to graduate from college. She went to John Hopkins University. Ndyabahika studied at Messiah College.

The couple plans to settle in the Washington metropolitan area.