Kamya, Musisi row at KCCA escalates
- Written by BAKER BATTE LULE
The war between the minister of Kampala, Beti Kamya and KCCA executive director, Jennifer Ssemakula Musisi has escalated after the former accused the latter of being a populist and poor manager.
Speaking on CBS FM morning talk show, parliament yaffe, which is moderated by Meddie Nsereko, Kamya said Musisi has lost direction.
“Musisi has become a populist; you discuss something and then she rushes to leak it to the media. We meet every Monday; us the two ministers, the undersecretary, Musisi and her team. There is always an opportunity for her to ask anything she wants but when you bypass those channels and instead run to do your work from the media, then you’ve become a politician,” Kamya said.
“That populism can’t take us anywhere; I don’t fight petty wars but what I don’t want is populism,” she added.
On reports that 58 KCCA workers have been sacked ever since Musisi’s term was renewed less than a month ago, Kamya said, it can’t be that all of them are incompetent.
“Whenever there is a high staff turnover in an organization, just know there is a problem with management. The main role of a manager is to create a conducive/favourable working environment for your workers. That’s when you can get the best out of them,” Kamya said.
SOURCE OF FEUD
The feud between the two has roots in the 2015 KCCA (Amendment) Bill that was recently tabled before parliament by Kampala junior minister Benny Namugwanya Bugembe.
On top of clipping the powers and influence of the mayor, and the executive director, the bill also reasserts the minister as the most dominant person in the city.
According to the object of the bill, the amendments are intended to streamline and strengthen the governance of the capital city in accordance with Article 5(4) of the Constitution that places the management of Kampala in the hands of the central government.
“The Bill therefore seeks to amend the Kampala Capital City Act 2010, to address the apparent clash of roles and to reassert the powers of the central government in the administration of Kampala Capital City by vesting more powers in the minister who is a representative of the central government...” the bill reads in part.
MUSISI AGAINST BILL
In a letter that was leaked to the media, Musisi wonders how Kamya could table such a bill before parliament without hearing from the executive director’s team.
Kamya, however, denies the charge. She instead says Musisi’s legal team was represented throughout the drafting of the bill, until it reached parliament. The minister also accused Musisi of intrigue. She said even when they agree on a decision as a team, Musisi often turns around and denounces it the moment it backfires.
“All the issues I have dealt with like removing vendors from the streets, demolishing Park yard, streamlining taxi and boda boda operations, it was Musisi who invited me to handle them, saying they were too heavy for her because they involved police and politics,” Kamya said.
Unlike some leaders in Kampala, Kamya added she is no longer looking for money for survival but she simply wants to serve the people.
“All my children have completed school. I also don’t want to buy a plane; so, my job and my life now is to work for the people of Kampala. I just need support and less politics for me to do my work,” she said.
A fortnight ago, opposition-leaning leaders in Kampala led by the lord mayor Erias Lukwago vowed to do everything within their means to stop the bill from becoming law.
At a meeting convened to chart a way forward on how to confront the bill, Lukwago said if the proposed law is passed in its current form, elected leaders like himself would have no choice but to “pack our bags and go.”
“Even when they say that the provision of electing the lord mayor has been left; me and you [councilors] have to pack and go because we will not be doing anything but picking a salary. If the lord mayor has no power to do anything, what will the councilors do?” Lukwago asked.
KAYIHURA CAUSING INSECURITY
Meanwhile, Kamya has also accused the inspector general of police, Kale Kayihura of being behind insecurity in Kampala by meddling in the operations of boda bodas and taxis.
“IGP, you are one of the causes of insecurity in Kampala. Your people are beating up our people; one even lost an eye,” Kamya said. She revealed that those behind the beatings were released without charge.
“How do you release somebody who has removed another person’s eye? I’m very annoyed,” Kamya said.
bakerbatte@observer.ug
Comments
Apart from the Lord Mayer, the rest of you i.e. Kamya, Musisi, Kayihura belong to the same dominating class of people whose mission for Uganda only the class knows.
When you start throwing mud at each other then the country has cause to be worried.
I had Kamya saying she does not believe in parliament yet she presented herself before the same for approval.
The rubber stamp parliament should now think twice should a cabinet reshuffle come
Like Musisi or not, how would Kamya know that Musisi leaked any information from a meeting that involved all the people she named?
And what is the correlation between leaking information and populism?
Is Kamya assuming populism and popular or popularity are one and the same thing?
If Musisi is truly fighting for the little guy as populists do,what is wrong with that? Isn't Kamya a so-called leader of a political party?
Where did Museveni pluck her from,not the opposition ranks?
And somehow Kamya now suggests being a politician is somehow a curse in her derogatory references to Musisi?
What kind of crap is this? Does this woman even know which shoe goes to which foot?
How can the so-called minister of Kampala not know that the role of those in the KCCA leadership and the mayor of Kampala is political in nature?
Needless to say Museveni gave Kamya a test and she is failing miserably.
Kamya is a disgraceful woman with a dangerous fat ego.
Just walk downtown and see the mess am talking about. taxis packed and loading in the middle of the road, bodas occupying the whole street and mind you, one has to buy packing space from them if you want to load something from shops, etc etc. every dog has its day
But then again, Uganda is under colonial power & those the conqueror puts in place to hinder Mayors don't even see they too, like the rest of Ugandans, are used by the monster to continue destroying our humanity towards one another!
The more we fight one another, the more museveni gets strong: who will throw him out?
As I alreade called on Ugandans not to vote in MPs, this should also apply to election of Mayors, who are there to be abused-hindered-treated like rags by museveni who stops Mayors from serving electorate!
How can Ugandans continue fighting one another when the country doen't belong to them any more, but to the conqueror?
Beti Kamya is unstable . As it that wasn`t bad enough ,she has now become an arrogantand offensive lier.
Who believes her when she claims that she does not fight petty wars and hates populism ?
Beti has faught everyone and everything within her sight, including the man who made her Minister. It seems like she lives on epinephrine !
Whom does she think she is kidding when she accuses Musisi of taking all her troubles to the media ?
It is like snake accusing a black widow spider of going around with a chemical weapon.
Why are you refusing to publish objective criticism.I said and will say again that Kamya is a spoiler being used to cause chaos and drive the NRM agenda to usurp control of Kampala.
Kamya is power hungry and clearly on a mission to grab the power over Kampala unto herself.
And I add that it is a doomed mission because once she delivers that prize to M7,she will either be transferred to another ministry or shuffled out of that cabinet.
She is so confused.She cannot even tell the difference between populism and popularity. She conflates their meanings in her accusation of Musisi,clearly illustrating how myopic and ill informed she is.
Granted she has a big megaphone but noise is all it makes. A political weasel has the audacity of accusing others of engaging in politics?
And just how do you keep politics out of KCCA or a politically elected mayor's office?CRAZY!
Like Lady Macbeth, Kamya is a crafty woman who wishes she were not a woman. Because she is not a man, she uses her female methods of achieving power, which is manipulation, to further her supposedly male ambitions.
That is how much power and influence the Mayor of a developed capital city should be. In our case, the mayor is trash.
That is what characterizes a failed state. A state without a functional city is a laughing stock.
In a sober country u must work with even people with a differing opinion. but if you can only work with those who trail my line of thinking, you are creating an Israel-Palestine scenario - the unending war.
World over, capital cities and elites rarely like sitting governments. But they agree to agree and move on.
Now if we are bent on the opposite, Kampala will ever remain a useless slum. m7 should learn from Egypt's refusal to "let my people go". Kampala need their dignity and priority. Let Kampalans be.