[UAH] M7 IS READY TO PULL LUKWAGO DOWN UNLESS HE AGREES TO WORK WITH NRM

Why Lord Mayor Lukwago became opposition leader of his administration

Ms Musisi and Mr Lukwago during a recent function in Kampala. 

In Summary

Clash. Mr Erias Lukwago's tenure thus far has been overshadowed by fights with KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Musisi on almost everything

Two years after Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago took over at City Hall having won a commanding 64 per cent in an explosive election with President Museveni on the opposing side, he just doesn't seem to get a grip on the city.

On the one hand, ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs want the President to take over the management of Kampala. Inside the Lord Mayor's court, more than half of the Kampala Capital City Authority councillors have petitioned the relevant minister to have Mr Lukwago removed from office.

Although Mr Lukwago was not expected to take charge in the fashion of his predecessors having come into office after the position had been downgraded, he cannot run away from defining the role of the Lord Mayor. Such is the responsibility which comes with being the first office bearer.

Lukwago's frustrations
But Mr Lukwago's tenure thus far has been overshadowed by fights with the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director, Ms Jennifer Musisi on almost everything, with the two principals at KCCA agreeing on virtually nothing.When Mr Lukwago has attempted to call Authority meetings, Ms Musisi has ruled them illegal. In some of the other meetings, councillors have walked out on the instigation of Ms Musisi, according to Mr Lukwago. When, in turn, Ms Musisi has wanted Mr Lukwago to call meetings, the Lord Mayor has dragged his feet. The latest example was when the High Court declared the Shs120,000 monthly charge on commuter taxis illegal, requiring the approval of the Authority's council, and Ms Musisi wanted Mr Lukwago to quickly call a meeting to fix the problem. Mr Lukwago seemed uninterested.

In short, the NRM establishment at City Hall has largely ignored Mr Lukwago, only turning to him in the few incidences like the one cited above when his services were required. Mr Lukwago "definitely had to react," according to Makerere University law don, Prof Jean John Barya, and he reacted by "becoming the opposition leader of his own government".

Indeed Mr Lukwago has opposed most of the things Ms Musisi has done, from the eviction of street vendors to the construction of markets. When KCCA organised a carnival to mark 50 years of independence last year, the Lord Mayor boycotted it. Mr Lukwago now speaks with overflowing frustration, a far cry from the man who spoke so triumphantly on the day he won the mayoral election.

"I have not beaten only (Peter) Sematimba," Mr Lukwago said at Lugogo Indoor Stadium in reference to his ruling NRM party challenger, "I have won against President Museveni and the entire state machinery." He won a repeat election, the first one having been called off after rigging incidents in favour of the NRM candidate had been discovered. But it was clear from the outset that he would face a stiff challenge. The majority of the councillors he was supposed to work with were NRM. Also to contend with was an imposing ED in Ms Musisi, a Minister for Kampala and a Resident City Commissioner, among several other officials, all appointed by the President.

Planning to fail
One of Mr Lukwago's complaints is that the KCCA Act has been "implemented selectively", with actions which could enable him to work being ignored. Take the efforts to develop a physical plan for Kampala. The Minister for Kampala is required to appoint five people to join the Lord Mayor and constitute a Metropolitan Physical Planning Authority. This Authority, among other things, is supposed to put in place an institutional planning framework to guide planning in the city.

Kampala has not had a plan since the old one expired in 2004 and Mr Lukwago puts part of the blame on the Minister for Kampala who has not constituted a Metropolitan Physical Planning Authority. When Mr Muruli Mukasa was in charge of Kampala, he nominated the five people required by law, with former Wakiso District chairman, Mr Ian Kyeyune, as chairman. But Mr Muruli left the ministry before confirming the appointments and his successor, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, has not picked up the matter since he took office over six months ago.

KCCA has a blueprint of a plan produced with support from the World Bank, but it cannot be adopted without a city planning authority in place. Mr Lukwago says much of the work Ms Musisi's team is doing is haphazard and cannot help transform Kampala into a modern city. He refers to Usafi Market, for example, which is being built near Owino Market, as "a kiosk in the middle of the city."

The blue print has some proposals for physical planning in Kampala. For example, it suggests that all settlement by private individuals on top of hills in the city should be banned and the hills be reserved for such things as recreation facilities and sightseeing. Another proposal is to develop Kampala as a "beach city", taking advantage of Lake Victoria.

Another organ that the Minister for Kampala has not allowed to work is the Public Accounts Committee. Mr Lukwago appointed five members, led by former MP and Finance Shadow Minister, Mr Oduman Okello, to comprise the committee. The council approved the appointments as per the law, but the minister has withheld his approval until now, meaning that the committee cannot get to work.

Mr Lukwago argues that since a big portion of his job involves oversight, it is complicated by the lack of such a central oversight committee which would scrutinise KCCA's accounts and write reports on which he would base his oversight. Moreover, Mr Lukwago says, performance reports at KCCA are difficult to come by.

Kampala District Land Board is now dysfunctional, making it almost impossible to carry out transactions on the land over which it had control and Mr Lukwago queries the legality of the contracts committee. He says Ms Musisi "handpicked" people with whom she sits and they award contracts. Against this background, Mr Lukwago has come up with a pile of allegations of abuse of funds at the authority. But, unfortunately, the virtual absence of checks at KCCA makes it difficult to verify the authenticity of Mr Lukwago's allegations.

In the line of fire
Mr Lukwago has also alleged, on a number of occasions, that some of the councillors have been "given financial inducements" by Ms Musisi to undermine him. This now forms one of the grounds of a petition 18 councillors signed and handed over to Mr Tumwebaze, minister for Kampala, to remove Mr Lukwago from office.

The councillors also allege that, among other things, Mr Lukwago has used abusive language against them, has failed the Authority's efforts to collect revenue and has failed to convene ordinary KCCA meetings. Mr Bruhane Byaruhanga, councillor for Kyambogo University, is hopeful that the drive to remove Mr Lukwago from office will succeed. He says the Minister for Kampala has since forwarded the petition to the Attorney General for a no-objection before the Minister for Kampala appoints a tribunal of three judges to listen to the petition.

If the tribunal finds the issues raised in petition substantive, then the KCCA council will have to vote on whether to remove the Lord Mayor from office. For the vote to succeed, it requires two-thirds of the councillors – 20 out of the 30 councillors – to vote in favour of the censure.

Lukwago's war on another front

As Mr Lukwago prepares to battle the censure motion, he has a simultaneous war to fight in Parliament. It all started with Mr Lukwago himself appealing to Parliament to investigate what he said were abuses by Ms Musisi last December.

When the matter was referred to a committee for consideration before the whole House would discuss it, the hair-raising recommendation – the one calling for the President to take over the management of Kampala – was born. Ms Florence Kintu, the chairperson of the parliamentary Committee on Social Services and Public Accounts and Mr Raphael Magyezi, her deputy, have been accused of forging the report, with a committee member, Ms Betty Nambooze, insisting that the committee never adopted such recommendations.

In any case, Prof Barya says, "it is difficult to see what a takeover of Kampala by the President would mean in practice." Prof Barya says the President, through the appointments he has made in Kampala, is already in charge.

Observers reckon that Mr Lukwago will likely fight off these challenges and keep his job. But that doesn't seem to be the hardest part. The big question is whether he can experience a turn-around in his fortunes, project himself as a different Lord Mayor. This doesn't seem likely.

The developments in Parliament may mean that Mr Lukwago will in future be reluctant to appeal to the institution for help in resolving matters at KCCA. On the other hand, the move by councillors to censure him, even if he survives it, may mean that their relations will never be mended.

In the meantime, Mr Lukwago's attempts at cultivating a favourable public image will continue to be dwarfed by a formidable public relations juggernaut under Ms Musisi. For this financial year, for instance, Ms Musisi has Shs1b to spend on public relations.

On the other hand, Mr Lukwago was accorded Shs30m which he could donate under the banner of corporate social responsibility. Before he had even donated Shs5m, the vote was frozen. It all goes back to the voters, in the final analysis. If Mr Lukwago is removed from office, his opponents will likely face off with him again in six months time. If, on the other hand, Mr Lukwago stays on to finish his term, the voters will pass their verdict in 2016.

Mr Lukwago had two options, according to Prof. Barya. He could choose to cooperate with the NRM establishment, like Hajj Nasser Ssebaggala, his predecessor, did. This is akin to what Mr Tumwebaze proposed when he took over as Minister of Kampala. He called on Mr Lukwago to attend an informal meeting with the technical officers "to iron out their differences". Mr Lukwago did not warm up to the idea.

The other alternative Mr Lukwago had, Prof Barya says, was to take an uncompromising stance against the ruling establishment. This is in tandem with his campaign platform, which he built along the fight against "NRM's corruption". This is the path he has taken to date and time will tell whether it will yield political dividend. The only thing that is certain is that Kampala City, even after changing from Kampala City Council to KCCA in the name of improving service delivery, is still in a search for a winning formula.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

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Rehema
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