The Lord Mayor of Kampala City Erias Lukwago has said Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) will always face problems with mafia cartels until President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni leaves power.
During an interview with NTV on Monday, Mr. Lukwago disclosed that there is a mafia gang within the leadership of KCCA whose prime goal is to siphon money from the Authority to their personal coffers under the protection of the state.
“We have a family rule in this country which has hijacked almost every institution, there are cartels in here and even in the central government and most of these funds which come in the name of donations are siphoned off, they use these agencies as conduits. And by the way, this is not peculiar to KCCA, it cuts across,” he said.
The Lord Mayor also noted that many agencies suffer that same but because KCCA has vigilant people who have kept on demanding accountability from the technocrats, that is why a lot of controversies have been disclosed within the authority.
“We have always received donations from JICA and other donors but Uganda’s problem of scavengers fisting monies where they smell it is now our great challenge. And this is the mother cause of every fracas you see at KCCA because we are insisting on value for money, accountability and proper utilization of resources,” he said.
“We have received loans but there is no change in Kampala City because people in charge have turned these projects into a cash bonanza. And the state Minister Kabuye Kyofatogabye is the spokesperson for those scavengers, he has come out to malice, attack and demean us and by doing this, he is shielding every person we tend to probe because our job is to oversight the job done by the technical wing but he is always standing in our way.”
Lukwago’s statement comes at a time when there are a lot of controversies within KCCA which even prompted President Museveni to do some changes by appointing six new directors and their deputies to run different directorates with the Authority.
The new directors are expected to occupy the directorates of Engineering and Technical Services, Treasury Services, and Gender and Community Services, among others.
Also two weeks ago the officials from the Authority had been battling with Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authority and Enterprises (Cosase) for failing to utilise funds that had been allocated to hire health workers and teachers who were urgently needed in city health facilities and schools.
According to the Auditor General’s Report of 2022, over Shs13.5b meant to facilitate the recruitment of teachers and health workers by KCCA was returned to the Consolidated Fund during the 2021/2022 financial year.
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