Tumwebaze lays out plans for Kampala City

Hon Frank Tumwebaze

No nonsense Kampala Minister Frank Tumwebaze.

Frank Tumwebaze

The Minister for the Presidency on Kampala Affairs, Hon. Frank Tumwebaze yesterday briefed the press on what government is doing in city and how his office is responding to the challenges of transporting Kampala into a world class capital city.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, he explained that the transformation of KCCA was necessitated because of lack of a system of accountability, mismanagement or poor management of revenue collection, poorly motivated workforce, and procurement fraught with legal breaches, poor record and asset management.

“In the few days I have been in office and from the handover reports perused, I have noted the following positive trends as well as challenges faced by the authority,” he said.

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Below is his full speech

Dear members of the Press, I have invited you to brief you and through you brief the People of Kampala on what government is doing in city and how we are responding to the challenges of transporting Kampala into a world class capital city.

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) came into effect in March 2011 following the enactment of the KCCA Act, which established City Authority as a body corporate taking over the delivery of public service to the residents and non-residents(Visitors) in Kampala Capital City. The Act transferred the City Administration from Ministry of Local Government, where it was supervised like any other local government and created it as an Authority that is supervised by the central government through the Minister responsible for Kampala in the office of the Presidency.

Government was prompted by deteriorating levels of services delivery, lack of institutional accountability and poor urban governance that left the city in a deplorable state. The road infrastructure and other public utilities had been laid to waste yet the demands of citizens and visitors were increasingly not met.

The mandate of KCCA is to administer the mobilization of revenue, promote and control physical development in the city and promote socio-economic development with the basic view to promote the delivery of vital and accessible services to the citizenry on behalf of the Central government as set out in

Section 7of the Kampala Capital City Act. The transformation of KCCA was necessitated because of lack of a system of accountability, mismanagement or poor management of revenue collection, poorly motivated workforce, and procurement fraught with legal breaches, poor record and asset management.

In the few days I have been in office and from the handover reports perused, I have noted the following positive trends as well as challenges faced by the authority;

To date the over 150 bank accounts that were run at KCC have been consolidated into only 8 revenue collection accounts and 2 expenditure accounts at Bank of Uganda. All outstanding arrears have been established and arrangements are in place to clear the same before the end of the financial year and we now have in place an integrated planning and budgeting process.

All revenue collecting contracts have been reviewed. The Authority decided to retake the revenue collection function and out of the projected UGX 44.727Bn, the authority realized UGX 41.9Bn representing an achievement rate of 92%. Compared to the FY 2010/11 collection of UGX 30Bn, revenue collection in FY 2011/12 grew by 34%. During the 1st quarter of FY 2012/13, a shortfall of UGX 4.38Bn has been registered following inaction on the part of the Authority.

Today 362 procurements have been completed which has realized a saving of about 6bn/- which was being lost by the Authority as a result of suppliers failure to deliver and or substandard deliveries, inflated quotations which have been dealt with by the Authority through carrying out market surveys on similar products thereby rejecting excessive prices.I commend the authority for this effort

Public toilets and clean water facilities have been constructed in Katwe, Kisenyi and Bwaise parishes with the assistance of the Belgian government. I appreciate that assistance from the Belgian government.

KCCA owns 10 Health centers of which most of them are Health Centre III and IV. Recently Naguru Hospital was upgraded to hospital status using a Chinese grant. I salute the Chinese the Chinese government for this support.

Kisenyi Health centre was also renovated using central Government funds and is to house a modern renal unit to relieve stress on Mulago Kidney Unit. Kawempe and Kiruddu are to be upgraded using a loan from the African Development Bank. Bukoto Health unit was re-roofed and fenced and four 10,000 litre capacity rain water tanks were procured and installed at Kisugu, Komamboga, Kitebi and Kawaala Health Centres. 4-stance water borne toilets were constructed at Kisugu, Komamboga, Kitebi and Kisenyi Health units. The 1st floor at Kisugu health unit was remodeled and a placenta pit constructed at Kisenyi health unit. Following increased supervision of the health facilities by the Directorate and enhanced service delivery, the outpatient attendance has increased.

Garbage collection has improved from an average of 16,976 tons in March 2011 to over 30,000 tons per month by March 2012 and over 750 liter bins have been distributed in the city and the Authority has intensified the cleaning and de-silting of drainages all of which are clearly manifested as you move around the city.

The Authority inherited a number of road construction and maintenance projects from Ministry of Works and most of them have been completed such as Gadaffi road. Other rehabilitation road projects completed include;
Bukoto-Kisasi, Kalerwe – Tuula, Kawempe Mpererwe,  ntinda-kiwatule, Lumumba Avenue (Wandegeya to Kyagwe road), Kisenyi Road (Namirembe road to Kafumbe Mukasa road) and Kisota road (Nakawa) have been completed with tarmac.

There are ongoing works where roads are being upgraded to tarmac and these include Nsambya Hospital to Makindye, Kimera road (sir Apollo to hoima road), Soweto road (Kansanga to Makindye) and Salama road (Munyonyo road to Canuo landing site).

The roads that have been worked on in the  Central business district(CBD) include Channel street, Nakivubo road, Nakivubo place, Nakivubo mews, Backstone road, Burton street (ben Kiwanuka to luwum) and Ben Kiwanuka street. Other roads being worked on include  Kilombe road (Makindye),  Kiyimba road (Rubaga), Kiwanuka road (Rubaga) and there are ongoing works on Junju road (Rubaga) and Ddembe Kirowooza road (Nakawa).

With support from the World Bank, 12km of gravel roads are being upgraded into bitumen in Kawempe, Nakawa, Lubaga and Makindye division. Using the same funds Lubigi Channel one of the primary drainage channels is under construction.

Over 2700 street lights have been installed in the Central Business District, non-functional lights have been repaired and all electricity bills paid. The new taxi park is currently undergoing reconstruction.

The City Hall together with other division offices are being renovated.

Kampala has several primary and secondary channels. Nakivubo Channel has been contracted out for routine maintenance while Lubigi channel is under reconstruction under funding from the World Bank while several drainage channels in Katwe and Kisenyi have been constructed with assistance from the Belgian Government.

While the renovation of various schools is still under procurement, the City library has been reconstructed and construction of School toilets is underway at Kisaasi P/s, Nateete Muslim p/s, Biina Islamic p/s while construction at Kamwokya p/s and Summit view p/s are to start soon.

To date 246 community based groups, 99 lead SACCOs have been formed at parish level and 1300 farmers are benefiting from the NAADS programme all geared towards increasing incomes and enhancing productivity among urban population.

With respect to trade in the city KCCA has decongested the streets by relocating them to various markets. Land has been bought for construction of a market at Bukoto while others are to be constructed at Ndeeba, Kamwokya, Kitintale, Busega and Nakulabye. Presently Wandegeya market construction is ongoing funded by the African Development bank.

Clearly within one year we have made strides and we must work together to consolidate these achievements and realize the dream we have for Kampala and Uganda at large.

My mission therefore is to ensure that KCCA delivers quality services in a vibrant, attractive and sustainable city.
These achievements have not been arrived at without challenges some of which still exist such as the inability to hold cohesive meetings in the Authority. I have started and will continue to guide on the need for harmony among all the stakeholders in the Authority.

Physical Planning

The development and sustainability of Kampala depends on proper and adequate planning. And this is one of the issues I have found pending requiring immediate attention. My Predecessor had started on it. Many developers whose works are on a standstill, because of KCCA failure to approve their plans have also petitioned me and some have come to see me over the same. I wish to apologize to them once again for this inordinate delay by KCCA. The Central government has in the past implored the Authority to put in place the Physical Planning Committee as established under Section 9 of the Physical Planning Act, 2010 and thus handle the backlog of people’s un- approved plans; To-date, however, the Authority has not acted and I have directed them to act in accordance with the law.

Because of the aforementioned failure by the Authority to act, several processes that have stalled; including the approval of over 1900 building plans which is leading to delaying investment and development and frustration to developers and their financiers.

I have accordingly  instructed the Executive Director of KCCA to immediately constitute the Physical Planning Committee which is already provided for in the law under Section 9 and 10 of the Physical Planning Act no 8 of 2010 read together with s. 7(k) of the Kampala Capital City Act. I would like to assure the developers, the architects and entire public that we are going to ensure that the services reach the population and to the developers. We regret the delays and inconvenience caused to you. Other remaining issues of the land board and the metropolitan physical planning authority will soon be handled after a number of consultations have been made.

I have also made arrangements to continue meeting with the Lord Mayor and other leaders in Kampala to discuss the other matters that are pending in Kampala and also seek to build consensus on the key panned activities for developing Kampala both in the short, medium and long term. Differences among leaders should not in any way be an excuse to delay or deny services to the people of Kampala.

In the Short Term  KCCA has made improvements in revenue collection as number one priority so that the generated revenues can compliment Central Government releases and ably deliver quality services. Other areas include development of detailed planning precepts so as to enhance urban planning and development and in an attempt to match the growing population and create jobs, KCCA would like to introduce artisan parks and continue to implement the market development programme.

In the Medium Term the Authority intends to find alternative financing sources to fund the reconstruction of the dilapidated road network, the school and health infrastructure and we also hope to finance building of parking towers, introduction of non motorized transport and building of recreational parks among others.

As government working with and through the Authority we intend to create a result oriented organization, to create a connected city that facilitates mobility of people, goods and services and safe neighborhoods through the development of a detailed Kampala physical plan, improvement of Kampala roads and traffic junctions, improvement of drainage, multimodal transport system, street and community lighting and beautification of the city.

We intend to improve the quality of life of the citizens through educational infrastructure improvement, health management, ensuring access to clean water and improvement of market infrastructure.

The government and the authority cannot achieve these goals and targets without the participation of all citizens in good faith. It is to this end that I call upon all Ugandans and particularly the residents of Kampala to work with the Authority with a sense of understanding and good will for the betterment of our city. If the rules say don’t litter, please don’t litter, whether Police is there or not to enforce the rule!!!

Kampala City is for all of us irrespective of our political differences or alliances. I will ensure that planned activities commence as scheduled and also hold accountable those tasked with the mandate of implementing them.

Thank you for listening to me

Frank K Tumwebaze, MP
Minister for the Presidency and KCCA
Cabinet library, Office of the President, Kampala                     20th November 2012

 

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12 thoughts on “Tumwebaze lays out plans for Kampala City

  1. Thinks he’s wiser than Musisi the iron lady. My advice o him is to go slow. His problem is wisaking….the way he used to do in the Fourth Estate talkshow. MUSISI can even do without this minister by the way

    1. Guys give the young man a chance his brianes are quick thinking and ready to transform the city. I think with his knowledge, skills , intelligence and expertise Hon. Frank you wil deliver. Let me hope your a mesiah who has come to save the city from dubious people.I would suggest you execute you duties without fear or favour as long as its for the good of all alinti- continua

  2. SO FAR SO IMPRESSIVE WORDINGS BUT WE NEED PHYSICAL RESULTS NOT POLITICAL TALKS.FRANK TUMWEBAZE WE ARE WATCHING U CLOSELY

  3. That’s great- Hon.Frank
    To People who never appreciate development kampala city, this is good and evidence based piece u need to get informed.

  4. Hon Minister, we hope that you will be firm against NRM papets who are excellent in interfering with the implementation of physical planning for Kampala in favor of themselves.

  5. This gentleman is only duplicating the role of Executive Director.
    Even if he’s not there, things will forward.
    Hope he does not make the situation worse by politicising KCCA.

  6. All these developments are the sole efforts of Jennifer Musisi’s incorruptible and great administrative skills..All credit is hers….Frank Tumwebaze is just another political stooge,but I can assure you, Musisi is not one of those silly cadres of NRM,she is intelligent and strong charactered, you can’t bulldoze her, not even your boss can…

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