Kampala City Authority or Kampala Corruption Agents

Kampala City Authority or Kampala Corruption Agents.
Investigating the feasibility of taking over Kampala.

Tensions are high between Buganda government and the NRM Government over the proposed take-over of Kampala in what has been dubbed the clash of the moment between the two centers. For starters Kampala is a district of Buganda according to the 1995 constitution, while at the same time occupying the noble role of being the country’s capital city. The central government proposes to transform Kampala into a Metropolitan City extending its frontiers to as far as Zinga islands. The same will see the frontiers extend to include such areas as Entebbe, Kasanje, Kira and many parts of Wakiso district.
Kampala is the micro-cosm of the 600 year-old Buganda kingdom with a known royal lineage line of 36 kings. It follows from history that each ruler of Buganda erected a capital(Kibuga) developing from a palace which soon became enclosed within protective townships developed by the King’s chiefs thus what came to be known as Ekibuga(Capital City) from okubugiriza embuga ( luganda term for enclosing the palace). Despite that rich history, the new bill seeks not only to erase that invaluable historical development equaled only by developed European capitals in significance but also seeks to break the constitution of Uganda the supreme law of the land forcefully taking over people’s land in direct contravention of the constitution which states that all land belongs to the people. It is an open secret that much of Kampala land is Private Mailo land exclusively owned by private landlords. In 1900 the Buganda government leased Kampala to the imperial government for development of a capital city for 99, consequently the lease expired in 1999 but ever since then talks for the return of Buganda property including have always ended in deadlock. The plan to disintegrate the 600-year old Buganda kingdom I have argued in many works has taken the form of administrative obstacles, legal gymnastics and sheer use of force and in this new bill a legal trap has been set. It is simply an enjoiner with the regional tier bill, which now seems to be refined to a specific goal having realized that the desecration of Buganda cannot be implemented by an ambigious regional tier bill which was a cocktail of many contradictions. Having tested the anger of Baganda over the land bill 2007 and its many refined disguised forms, the architects of this historical mistake now seek to use partisan politics to takeover Kampala by claiming that with the opposition out of Kampala, the development of Kampala will be a pie-eating task.

What is Kampala’s problem?
President Museveni has always maintained that the problem of Kampala is its management which is also true but even Uganda’s obstacles to development stem from poor management. Uganda’s managers are even not ashamed of Uganda’s position on global corruption index rankings. They still claim to have the moral authority to fight corruption and mismanagement when their relatives have assumed positions of corruption czars. Bad governance and corruption are not restricted to Kampala but Uganda as a whole. If corruption and mismanagement of Kampala is blamed on the opposition, what role do NRM cadres at Division and Municipality play in checking these tendencies? Who is directly responsible for Kampala heartland in the central division? Hasn’t Nyakaana been implicated in toilet investment scandals? What about Kira’s Mamerito and land grabbing wrangles attributed to him? Should we regard these as saints? If Kampala City Council is the most corrupt institution to warrant a government takeover, then Ugandans have a right to remove the current government which holds the mantle for having the most corrupt ministers in the country’s history.


Another Mengo betrayal or Truth twisting.
Many members of the ruling party have (as if pre-coached) at bimeeza and other informal forums maintained that this is a pre-determined position a result of consultations between Mengo and the center. Even if Mengo went into talks with the center over the proposed takeover of Kampala how sure can we be that Mengo accepted such a nasty deal given the regime’s record of twisting the truth? Could Mulwannyamuli’s delegation during the 2005 talks have betrayed Buganda’s sacred interests based on the nyamantono principle? What will remain of the geographical composition of Buganda with over 50% of Wakiso ceded to Metropolitan Kampala? Logic suggests that with Kampala extended to areas of Wakiso, Mukono and other Districts of Buganda (see 1995 constitution), the reduction of Buganda’s surface size will be concluded. Thus the final dissolution of Buganda as a geographical entity will be implemented. The calculation has been simple; starting in the countryside, land has been forcefully or voluntarily (due to biting poverty) acquired by the holders of power evicting indigenous Baganda. Consequently Abasatuusi as Kabaka Mutebi fondly calls them (illegal immigrants) mainly from Uganda’s western cattle corridor have occupied land initially and legally belonging to the Baganda. One army general in Uganda owns over 30 square miles in Mubende, Kiboga and Nakasongola. There’s no expression of an imminent desecration of Buganda plan than this example. Jubilation of talking over Kampala can be heard from NRM circles but where would Kabuye, Mamerito, Kintu and other Baganda leaders go.
The bill is calculated to mix politics to win the support of the common people as their heritage is usurped.
Who is responsible for the chaos in Kampala?
While sense can be found in the argument that Kampala is way too disorganized, to attribute this disorganization to Kampala City Council is to accuse the wrong people.
A cursory look into the causes of disorganization in the city exposes the multi-faceted role played by the government acting as protectors of the common man at the same time tormentors of the same. Who owns the blame for the congestion of the city with the buses, who owns the buses? It has been argued that Market Vendors pose a serious challenge to the urban development of Kampala but there sustenance has been maintained by government through Veteran schemes. The city is held at ransom by armed people of various shades of uniforms claiming to be veterans as if the city is their main source of livelihoods. One cannot deduce whether Kampala is Luweero where Veterans scuffle for public land to erect markets. We all agree that UTODA is a contributing factor to the disorganization of the city but where do they derive all that power? Who owns the Kibooko squad? Where are Abel Rwendeire and Kisamba Mugerwa of the National Planning Authority in all this? Why should we forego institutions for the sake of political longevity?
Another Authority!!
I have developed a dislike for the word Authority not that am archaic but it’s gross misrepresentation in Uganda civil life has had me hate the word. Ever since the NRM started Authorities, the level of corruption has reached grand levels. From Revenue (URA), Planning (NPA) Electricity (UETA), Environmental Management (NEMA) to Roads (URA) and Forestry (NFA) the most lucid expressions of nepotism, ethnicism and corruption have been witnessed in Uganda in the last quarter of a century. A transparency international report for east Africa has included Uganda’s revenue authority as a leading corruption parastatal in the region. NEMA itself has been accused of selective justice, NPA itself seems to be a corruption planning authority.
Moses Kalanzi
Uganda Citizen.