A Kampala Capital City Authority director has written to President Museveni informing him that he doesn’t wish to have his contract renewed after it expires on October 2.
Mike Okua, the director of legal affairs, will follow Dr Judith Tukahirwa, who resigned as deputy executive director last year, and Jennifer Kaggwa, the former director of human resource who quit KCCA in 2015.
Now, KCCA is regarded as one of the best-paying government agencies, and the individuals mentioned joined as presidential appointees with most certainly attractive perks.
It’s, therefore, most curious that they should want out only a few years on the job. We can’t guess what led to Okua’s decision but when looked at together with that of Dr Tukahirwa and Kaggwa, it raises eyebrows.
In her resignation letter, the former deputy executive director slammed political interference. She wrote: “Political expediency from certain quarters has taken over strategic planning and this has been fomented by persons within the security circles. It’s disconcerting for any KCCA administrator to deal with decisions made on the premise of rumours and conjecture. This has been exacerbated by the failure of certain government agencies to assist KCCA fulfil its potential on account of the ‘politics of the day’.”
Musisi herself told parliament recently that had she known the kind of pressure that her job entailed, she would not have taken it. This week offered Kampalans a taste of what makes KCCA jobs so difficult, perhaps making resignations inevitable.
For many years, the leadership has failed to evict a private company that obtained a lease on public land (Centenary park), but violated the terms of the lease, and is refusing to leave.
The proprietors of the company have used their political connections that go as high as President Museveni, complete with Special Forces Command (SFC) protection, to frustrate and hold government agencies such as KCCA, UNRA and National Water and Sewerage Corporation to ransom.
There is little doubt that under the current KCCA leadership, Kampala has been recovering slowly but steadily. The city is cleaner, lighting is getting better and roads are being fixed, among other changes.
Unfortunately, this recovery will not be sustained if politicians continue to make the work of the KCCA technocrats hell on earth.