Kampala’s city dwellers therefore have reason to celebrate as the Authority unveils eight modern toilets. These new facilities were constructed under the Kampala Water-Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project (KW-LVWATSAN), implemented by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC).

The project that was promised in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) 2021-2026 manifesto, is aimed at addressing the pressing need for better sanitation infrastructure. Funded by the government of Uganda with support from development partners KfW and the French Development Agency (AFD), the project aims to construct a total of 64 toilets targeting public school, markets and informal settlements across Kampala.

Dr. Eng. Silver Mugisha, the Managing Director of NWSC, officially handed over the toilets to Dorothy Kisaka, the Executive Director of KCCA, during an event held at Kiswa Primary School. In her remarks Kisaka expressed her gratitude for the completion of these crucial facilities. “The project answers a critical need in our markets, schools, and other public spaces for good sanitation and also answers our clarion call of a Smart city,” Kisaka stated.

These facilities are not only designed to improve sanitation but also to alleviate pressure on existing infrastructure and enhance overall hygiene standards. Dr. Eng. Mugisha, highlighted the significance of this initiative, emphasizing that it would provide safe water and sanitation and ensure improved sanitation services.

“This project underscores our commitment to ensuring access to quality sanitation services for all residents,” Mugisha remarked. One notable aspect of the project is the multi-story design of the toilets, which includes upper floors capable of accommodating businesses such as restaurants and cafeterias.

This innovative approach not only serves practical needs but also contributes to economic development within the city. Jan Alber, Director of KfW Office Kampala, praised the collaborative efforts between KCCA and NWSC, citing it as a key factor in the project’s success..

“This is outstanding work, and we look forward to seeing very supportive innovative structures,” Alber remarked. The sanitation facilities that have been handed over to KCCA include, Kasanga Primary School, Mbuya COU Primary School, St Paul Primary School, Police Children School, Mutundwe Primary School, Lubiri Primary School, Kiswa Market and Centenary Park.

Local area leaders including the Nakawa East Member of Parliament Hon Nsubuga Balimwezo and the Nakawa Division Mayor Paul Mugambe among others attended the event. The collaborative efforts between government entities, development partners, and local authorities demonstrate a unified commitment to enhancing sanitation and hygiene standards, ultimately benefiting the entire community.

Now this writer does not imply that all things in one’s life will have been merited. No, there are things such as gifts from loved ones, ejusdem generis, that we do not merit. Yet, an argument is still sustainable that gifts are a return on social investment. I need not explain further, lest I digress. However, there are spheres of life in which nothing which is not merited should ever be given.

One such sphere is government which is, at its core, a sphere of public service. Truly, if we were to dissect the core problem of the government’s short comings in service delivery, I dare say that we will find the primary culprits to be ineptitude and incompetence. These will often arise where the individuals to whom authority is given, have not merited it.

This phenomenon is best exemplified by the “rot in KCCA” (not my words). In a series of communications among the offices of, inter alia, the KCCA ED, the Minister for Kampala Capital City & Metropolitan Affairs, the Public Service Commission, and the Resident City Commission for Kampala, it was revealed that a great deal of mishandling of authority has occurred in KCCA. I need not get into the details of such abuses as these have been well elaborated by this very website.

Precisely, due to failures in certain departments within KCCA, mandates have remained unsatisfied in some areas and exceeded in others. Who has suffered for this? Look no further than the muntu wa wansi. People working in the markets have lost revenue due to power outages attributable to pending arrears. Also, water disconnections have occurred for similar reasons. Purely avoidable reasons if the people in ‘charge’ had been apt to administer their authority.

How does merit tie into all this? It has been alleged that the occupant of the top office at KCCA is a smidge underqualified for the job. Not only this, she is claimed to have a ‘psychological’ challenge (not in any sense a disease or condition) rooted in ego. Often, when one is underqualified and surrounded by people of better qualifications, the result is a contentious work environment.

Such a person will find other means of asserting his/her dominance; which in their mind will be an assertion of authority. Consequently, tensions become palpable followed by a rising of defensive walls culminating in a breakdown of communication. A brief perusal of the qualifications of the occupant of the top office at KCCA shall suffice to establish a premise for this article’s argument. I’ll spare you the details of the irrelevant primary and secondary levels results. She acquired a Pass Degree in Law from Makerere University in 1987 which was followed by a Diploma in Legal Practice from LDC.

One wonders what considerations are made for admission to this institute which ensures the quality of national legal practice. Anyways! Her Diploma was followed by two Masters Degrees to wit; a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership and Management from Uganda Christian University, and a Master of Arts in Leading Innovation and Change, awarded by York St John University, in the United Kingdom. As for her career prior to being appointed as KCCA ED, she had worked in several posts and positions which I must say are incredibly impressive. Understandably, one would look at that academic and career background and be awed by it.

Indeed, one would conclude that she is over-qualified for her task. Now, I’ll proceed to doubly and analogously illustrate why such a conclusion can be challenged. First, no man in his senses would let a lawyer operate on him; that is a task reserved for surgeons. Nor would I permit a surgeon to be my attorney in court and any man that would might need a visit to a different kind of doctor. Second, no reasonable man, after hearing that the surgeon assigned to him has lost all but one of his patients in the operating room, would refuse an option of having a more qualified surgeon operate on him.

If he did, there would be more than meets the eye in that choice; perhaps a prior personal connection between him and the less qualified surgeon. It is in this respect that this article argues that the occupant of the top office at KCCA is underqualified; there were better qualified individuals who, if merit had been the primary (as it should be) consideration, would have got the job instead of the person now in charge.

Consequently, due to that aforementioned psychological phenomenon which informed a rather offensive attitude towards her co-employees, many people working within KCCA felt slighted by the conduct of the ED. Now, if the root is bad, so the fruit will be. It is alleged that hiring in KCCA is so irregular; manifesting as unqualified hires. Little surprise then that the work of the Authority has become a mess.

There is reportedly a great deal of aggrieved employees whose half-hearted effort, a product of bad leadership, has resulted in a mess of KCCA activity within the city; some of which has been stated above. A revision of policy is necessary in government. Lest the country be handed to the dogs, unqualified hires must be done away with. This kind of hiring practice may be stomached in a private entity. However, where the people are concerned, it is important to hire on basis of merit. Let the best person get the job. Nor should you appoint a doctor to argue your case in court. Then again, who I’m I to speak; I’m only a twenty-something year old slighted by the ‘rotten’ fruits which our masters feed us.

The trendy mystery at the Authority, like most of you will read in our subsequent series on this mighty website, has no formation but just a whole big mess and a rotten executive of time where negligence of duties, abuse of office, nepotism, discriminatory selection of staff and irregular recruitment, and staff submission to the Public Service Commission (PSC) is, but dependent on a ‘who knows you’ or ‘Technical know who’ philosophy, something that spells doom for not only the Authority but the entire staff at KCCA and the City.

What is the point being made here? Is KCCA not walking and talking the role as envisioned and missioned by the brains that instituted the Authority as the legal entity, established by the Ugandan Parliament responsible for the operations of the capital city of Uganda! 12 years ago in 2011, the Authority was established replacing the Kampala City Council (KCC).

The entity was set out to be a vibrant, attractive and sustainable City, whose mission could be to deliver quality services to Kampalans with excellence, integrity, innovativeness, teamwork and client care as core values. So, what has gone wrong especially with the current Executive Director? Because it’s a serialized article, today we shall tackle the not being the ‘Integrity’ issue with respect paid by a whistleblower, Uncle unknown opining: “KCCA has no direction on recruitment.”

A letter which This website has, gripped in our palms, is referenced: WHISTLEBLOWING ON IRREGULAR RECRUITMENT AND STAFF SUBMISIONS TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISION BY KAMPALA CAPITAL CITY AURTHORITY (KCCA). It was written on 10^th February 2023, and whose receipt was acknowledged by Public Service Commission Secretary. It gives details with concern that there are irregularities in the process of hiring staff at KCCA.

That KCCA top executives have made it a point to hand pick and submit persons in positions at KCCA to the detriment of existing staff, the qualifying public, and denting the image of the PSC and the government of Uganda. It’s therefore possible that, elsewhere in the space, there’s an officer or more, serving in positions in the KCCA directorates where their appointment doesn’t go well as per the Public Service Commission procedure.

And as it is, the whistleblower that is very much concerned chooses to put to the same to the fore and, if the relevant authorities don’t act, the other way round is to have the matter in courts of law. “I now address the PSC well knowing it has the capacity to undertake the right actions in the recruitment of public servants or be sued where it acts otherwise.” Reads part of the letter.

In continuation, the whistleblower premises his/her opinion on the irregular, selective and highly questionable submissions of persons like, Birungi Stanislaus, the Manager Human Resource Operations, and, Tumuhimbise Hellen as manager Procurement and Disposal Unit (PDU). That the latter had applied for the role of head PDU and was not successful and that she had forged academic documents as was confirmed by Makerere University.

Other cases like Manager Land Management Unit in the ED’s office, Kasule Nathan (nephew to ED), Gabula Emmanuel, Manager Park User Fees and Collection, also Supervisor Project Coordination Department of Strategy and Business Development in the Revenue Directorate (is brother to ED), Karungi Adolf, Supervisor Projects among others, are cases of nepotism at the authority by the top directors.

So, the whistleblower letter, also copied to the Speaker of Parliament, Prime Minister, the IG, Minister Public Service, Lord Mayor Kampala, Minister Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, Speaker Kampala, ED Kampala, Chair PSC, Director State House Anti-Corruption Unit, ED Equal Opportunities Commission and Chairman General NOTU, gives details of abuse of office, irregular, selective and corrupt recruitment and submission of persons at KCCA as part of the rotten Authority dealings. To be continued…