KCCA technical wing to be taken to court by the Political wing for failing to implement the policies passed by KCCA Council
KAMPALA - The Deputy Speaker KCCA Rt. Hon. Nasur Masaba has threatened to take the Kampala Capital City Authority technocrats led by the Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka to court for frustrating attempts by the KCCA Council led by Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago for failing to implement the laws that have so far been passed in the past two years.
“Seeing the fruits of what we have been trying to impose, various decisions have been made in council although they have been given a deaf ear. The ED seats here, and when told to do this, she opts to listen to the minister of Kampala but the Act says the Council is the governing body, and we have reached a point where we shall just have to take you to court because of the failure to implement council decisions which are lawful,” Masaba warned.
“The ED wakes up and calls boda bodas to give them guidelines. Who are you? Not even the Ministry of Works can do that without the consent of the Local Government where they work from,” he added.
Moving forward this year, Masaba said they will continue making decisions as Council but if the KCCA ED and Ministers of Kampala keep rendering them redundant or if they keep frustrating the KCCA political wing by running around in circles, we are going to take you to court.
“At least we know we have done our part as leaders. Otherwise you will make the people of Kampala think we are doing nothing and at the end of the day they are the ones doing all the nonsense,” he added.
“As council we have always fought to do our mandate by making the policies and the laws which will help a lot, there are a lot of challenges in the market and those are the ordinances we have to make. Even the Attorney General (AG) frustrates us. We know that the more we do not make ordinances, the AG benefits from that and it is the reason as to why he deliberately frustrates what we pass,” according to Masaba.
Meanwhile, Nassur Masaba says the year 2023 has started in full gear seeing State minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, Mr Kabuye Kyofatogabye having a verbal exchange with kampla lord mayor, Erias Lukwago and calls upon them to have mutual respect for each other.
“I might not say the exact substance around that issue which involves Gen. Salim Saleh but my focus is on issues that involve Kampala and how it will be affected with what is going on. The Hon. Minister should be a little more considerate. He is acting young according to his position and his mandate. You cannot be a minister and you start directing, going head on with the political leader of the city where you also work,” Masaba noted.
According to Masaba, the challenge seen is that there is a lot of power struggle. “Nevertheless, what issues are you bickering about? We have a lot of issues that are affecting Kampala but you attacking with political affiliations instead of fighting and bickering about who should be cleaning Kampala. It would make much more sense. However, the only challenge I see is that there is a lot of power struggle which I cannot deny,” he revealed.
There is a lot of power centers. The KCCA Act gives giving mandate to so and so, even the minister has that confidence because the act gives him that power but at the end of the day it frustrates others ability to work as Kampala. It has been a major challenge because the act says the minister can give general directives on the operations of the capital city.
“I told the Lord Mayor, it is very deadly, it is a graveyard. One person can sit in his bedroom and decide what Kampala should be meaning the council is totally redundant. However, I cannot speak to Minister Kyofatogabye but Lukwago being the Lord Mayor, I encourage him to stay strong and if there is anything we can do in the interest for the people of Kampala, that is what he should focus on other than these bickering that is going on,” Masaba advised.
It should be noted that Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago wants the government to repeal the Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA Act and enact another law that governs all cities in the Country. He made the call while giving his state of the Kampala City Affairs address at City hall as provided for under section 11 of the KCCA Act 2020 as amended.
Lukwago said that KCCA is faced with a governance challenge caused by the disorganization of its management and partly because of the inadequacy of the current law. He says, for instance, although sections 6 and 50 of the KCCA Act vests the powers of levying and collecting tax in the City Council, there is ongoing activity to collect fees on behalf of KCCA without any supportive law.
