The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The ruling party, NRM, has only three directly elected councilors to the authority. The rest are from the opposition. Even if the remaining eight representing the professional bodies, youth and disabled are to come from the ruling party, the opposition already has more than 20 representatives of the total 34 councilors.
With this statistic, Lukwago is hopeful that he will serve. He already has a ‘what to do’ list which he has categorized into a “six point programme”. It is anchored on restructuring the rule of law and reconstituting the governance of Kampala, equitable development, social justice, accountability, land and heritage.
“I want a system that resonates with the will of the people not this master- slave relationship”, he told The Independent in an interview. According to him, there’s currently no functional policy making system at KCCA and policies are just imposed on the people by the authority.
Lukwago says he is determined to ensure that there’s value for money. This means the KCCA Council, under him, has to sit and deliberate on policies right from the authority to the five divisions in Kampala. This time he says, KCCA needs to come up with clear deliverables. He says this is necessary because each year, the KCCA budget is increased but the increased resources have not been reflected in increased services.
He told The Independent: “There’s no way the city can develop into a modern metropolis when there are no simple things like a well defined structural plan. A gazetted plan that can be used by the authorities to approve the kind of structures acceptable in a particular part of the city”.
Despite the bravado, however, Lukwago’s role stops at offering policy leadership. Even in the kind of relationships between a Lord Mayor and ED of KCCA, the implementation of KCCA activities is done by the technical team headed by the KCCA ED. In this case, the Executive Director Jennifer Musisi, has shown that she is only answerable to Lukwago’s main adversary, President Yoweri Museveni.
The KCCA Act which provides for the appointment of the Executive Director does not define who between the Executive Director and the Lord Mayor holds more authority. The Lord Mayor appears designed to head the political wing of KCCA and the ED the technical wing. When the two bicker, the Authority suffers. The Authority, for example, has had to run for more than two years without a lord mayor.
Is anything likely to change?
Listening to the people
Despite that, even before the election, all signs showed that Lukwago was not welcome back to the Authority as Lord Mayor. During his campaigns, President Yoweri Museveni took off time to rap Lukwago and warn city residents against voting for him. He accused Lukwago of causing confusion at KCCA which Musisi cleaned up. Minister Tumwebaze attempted to block Lukwago.
On November 08, 2015, three days after Lukwago picked nomination papers for the Lord Mayor position, Minister Tumwebaze rushed to table before a hastily recalled parliament the Kampala Capital City (Amendment) Bill, 2015. It was intended to block Lukwago from contesting and, a day after, the Electoral Commission announced cancelation of the nomination exercise for the Lord Mayor candidates and the deputy.
The Bill proposed that the Minister for Kampala becomes the political head, instead of the Lord Mayor. It also proposed that the Lord Mayor should be appointed from among the city councilors.
But the timing was wrong as it fell when the city was buzzing with preparations for the visit of the head of the global Catholic Church, Pope Francis on November 27, 2015. Museveni reportedly opposed Tumwebaze’s plan as it could have led to riots in the city during the Holy Father’s visit. On November 17, the bill was withdrawn and Lukwago was nominated the next day.
Following Lukwago’s win, all attention is on how KCCA, Musisi, and Tumwebaze will react to him. There were no congratulatory messages. And unlike the first time when Musisi spruced up the Lord Mayor’s parlor for the swearing in ceremony and asked Lukwago to pick new furnishing and a car of his choice, there has this time been no mention of cake and champagne. Attempt by The Independent to speak to ED Musisi about her plans for Lukwago were rebuffed. But Tumwebaze told The Independent that for them to work together, “Lukwago needs to first tame his ego and focus on serving the people and not mere cheap politicking”.
“Whatever we do as government and what we shall be doing even in the new term in Kampala will always be guided by the law. We shall continue to serve the people of Kampala with or without Lukwago’s efforts.
“If he comes now ready to serve people, we shall work with him, just the same way NRM works with other rational opposition leaders”.
Lukwago has told The Independent that he is determined not to be the one to blame if President Museveni blocks him or refuses to release funds to opposition led institutions and constituencies.
“Elsewhere, governments work with the opposition to develop their countries. I don’t have to first become an NRM for me to work because I will be serving the people not the party,” he said.
The possibility of more of the bickering of the past persisting is real.
Top city lawyer Nicholas Opiyo told The Independent that the government needs to see that the resounding election of opposition members to city hall was a reflection of the desire of the people of Kampala for their elected leaders not to be sidelined as happened in the past.
He said the technical leadership of Musisi needs to accept to submit themselves to the authority of the people of Kampala through their elected leaders like Lukwago.
“Any leader who is sensible will listen to the voice of the people they lead,” he said.
