David Ddamulira lives in a small mud iron-roofed house in Bukerere, Gomba in Mukono district, where he farms vegetables. Will things change for the better for Ddamulira if the current Kampala Capital City Bill 2009 is enacted into law by Parliament? Yes, according to Local Government minister Adolf Mwesige. He says better roads, telecommunication lines, electricity, clean water, schools and health centres will be provided by central government, according to the plan. Ddamulira will easily transport his produce to city markets. But that is the rosy side. In reality, extending the boundaries of Kampala city will lead to negative and positive changes for locals and their local governments in affected areas of Wakiso and Mukono districts.
Mwesige says the expansion of Kampala city will benefit the ordinary people since the central government will be directly in charge of its administration and the city authority’s budget will increase.
“Ground rent will not be increased but a revised amount will be negotiated,†he says.
But the LCV vice chairperson of Wakiso district, Edward Tumusiime, says the takeover of parts of Wakiso will cut the district’s revenue collections, as will the creation of towns, which will act independently of the district local government in terms of revenue collection. “In terms of development it is good because it will expand market for the farmers in Wakiso due to improved road infrastructure that will come with it,†he says.
In 2007, the Cabinet drafted a master plan for the development of Kampala city where it was decided Kampala would have a Metropolitan Planning Authority to plan and oversee the execution of the development of the city replacing the Kampala City Council. This is what is now being highlighted in the Kampala Capital City Bill 2009. The new city structure provides for an executive director, a resident city commissioner and division heads, all appointed by the President. Once approved, the plan will automatically make the mayor’s position ceremonial. When asked whether it was not unconstitutional to disfranchise the people living in Kampala, Mwesige said there is nothing wrong with having a lord mayor since the directly elected ones have failed.
Some analysts have argued that to avoid the failures of the city council due to politicking, an independent technical staff should be in place to run the city better. Others argue that the new Bill, if passed into law, will end the opposition political parties’ control over the city with the stroke of a pen. Given that more and more people in the city are becoming discontent with leadership of Mayor Nasser Sebaggala, the NRM party might seize the opportunity to be seen as a better alternative to KCC.
The Bill expands the boundaries of Kampala to include Kira town council to the east of Wakiso, Entebbe municipality in Wakiso and parts of Lake Victoria. This means district boundaries and therefore boundaries of Buganda Kingdom will change.
Rubaga Division and Mengo Parish will form Mengo Municipality. This is viewed as a move to avoid confrontation with Mengo government, the seat of Buganda Kingdom home to the kingdom’s key cultural sites such as the Kasubi tombs and the Kabaka’s palace.Entebbe Municipality and Kiira Town Council would be lower urban councils under the Authority, and all city divisions would become urban councils.
The Bill provides for professional bodies, eight key ministries and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to be represented by councilors in the authority. The key ministries included are local government, works and transport, health, justice and constitutional affairs, education, lands, housing and urban and development and gender, labour and social development.Â
If the bill is passed by parliament KCC will be replaced by the Kampala Capital City Authority. The city authority will be manned by an executive director appointed by the president on advice of the public service commission.
“At the moment you have a redundancy in the council with an executive committee but there is garbage all over the city, dust hanging over the city, there are flies everywhere although there is an elected leadership,†says Mwesige, “the difference is we want to create a technical representation in the leadership of the council. We think with this group in place, the problems of garbage, floods, and diseases like cholera will be no more and the ordinary people will benefit because they are the ones who suffer brunt of these problems.â€
But Livingstone Zziwa, LCV Vice Chairperson Mukono district disagrees, “When we over-centralise administration the local people lose out the opportunity to participate in policy making and implementation and employment.
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