President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni will be understandably scratching his head to identify the next Kampala Capital City Authority’s new head ahead of the July, 23 expiration of the tenure of the current Dorothy Kisakka-led tenure.
KCCA was established by an act of Parliament to administer the Capital on behalf of the Government with a mandate to provide urban services to both residents and visitors.
By Law, the Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, Hajjat Minsa Kavanda is expected to present a list of candidates to the Public Service to be interviewed for the ED position which will fall vacant on July, 23. The candidates are, however, first sent to the president for approval.
One of the key areas upon which Kisakka and her other subordinate Directors will hinge their optimism for contract renewals is the probation and welfare area where the score has by far been an impressive one.
In the three years ending, the Authority rescued a whooping 1155 Karamajong children from the different streets of the city. 952 of these were girls and 205 boys. These have been rehabilitated and others reunited with their families in Karamoja. Also rescued and rehabilitated were 618 non-Karamajong street-connected boys while 24 teenage girls who had dumped school for commercial sexual exploitation were equally rescued from the bad vice.
The Authority, under Kisakka’s administration also 12 victims of child trafficking (10 girls and 2 boys and transported them back to their respective homes in Buyende.
54 Street-connected boys from Uhuru close were rescued and placed at Masuliita Children’s Village for rehabilitation, while 52 former street children graduated on completion of six months of vocational skill training. To prevent the reemergence of Karamajong children onto the streets of Kampala, KCCA held a meeting with the leadership of the Napaka district on the rescue and certification of the children and agreed on the modalities to have them off the streets and back in their communities.
In the last three years, KCCA rescued 600 children( 281 girls and 319 boys who were abandoned, lost or abused and put them in approved children’s homes for care and protection as well as exiting them to other care options such as kinship care, foster care and adoption.
The Authority traced families, prepared them and reunified 51former Street connected boys with loved ones upon completion of internship. 437 children from approved children’s homes across the five divisions of Kampala were also reunited with their families.
23 children’s homes were inspected and 15 quarterly management Committee meetings of approved homes were attended to establish compliance with the law. Similarly, a joint inspection with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development was conducted and two homes that did not adhere to the minimum standard were ultimately closed.
6644 cases related to failure to provide basic needs, denial of parentage, denial of access rights and custody conflicts were registered across the five City Divisions.
The probation and welfare department is one of the critical areas where the country has not been fairing well, especially in urban areas. Basing on the above as a yardstick, however, KCCA leaders and stakeholders can at least move with their heads up for the achievement registered, while the public can keep a ray of hope for, a flicker of light can be seen from a distance at the end of the tunnel.
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