Muddy city streets leave traders crying foul

 

Muddy city streets leave traders crying foul

AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA

assenkabirwa@gmail.com

Posted on November 30,211

KAMPALA. After braving the potholed and muddy roads for so long, city traders have raised a red flag on the deteriorating state of roads which say have jeopardized their operations.

The traders accuse Kampala Capital City Authority of failing to make regular road maintenance   –something that has made several roads in down town Kampala impassable especially when it rains.

“All roads have gone to the dogs and it appears like no one cares. If they(KCCA) don’t have funds to fix them ,let them close the roads until money is got because  they are becoming a menace to us,” said Mr  Moses Ssekiranda on Sunday after muddy waters blocked an entrance to his shop on Qualicell Bus Terminal Arcade after a heavy down pour .

Similar concerns were echoed by other   traders on Channel Street, Ben Kiwanuka , Kafumbe- Mukasa Road ,  New Taxi Park  and Old Taxi Park which have become no go areas when it rains.

Mr Ephraim Mugisha , a shop attendant at Mukwano Arcade  says  ever since KCCA poured marrum in Channel Street which connects Nakivubo Road to Ben Kiwanuka a  couple of months ago ,clients have shunned entering his shop .He says  when  cars pass ,they splatter muddy waters which later gush into his  nearby shop thus soaking  his  merchanise.

 “Whether it rains or not, I have to move with a pair of gumboots. Sometimes people find me in these gumboots on a sunny day and laugh but I know what I go through,” a visibly desperate Mugisha said “They (KCCA) are simply collecting revenue from us but they are doing nothing to deliver the services we need,” he said Mr  Jaffer  Mukasa  ,who operates a store along Kafumbe -Mukasa Road said they are preparing a petition  detailing their  suffering and  if KCCA fails to address their concerns within a month ,they will have no option but to close the road .

“ We are going to write to them (KCCA) and if they fail to  respond to our cries, we shall mobilize people to close the road ,” he said In 2009 , KCCA acquired a multi-billion road construction equipment but they are rarely seen doing the work.

Recently, City Executive director, Jennifer Musisi said the city has only Shs 43 billion for roads in the current budget ,which is too little to tarmac all city roads and a bigger portion will go on patching  potholes .Kampala has a total road network totaling to 945.5km of these approximately 43 percent (405.5km) are tarmac and the rest are either gravel  or earth roads.

However, majority of these roads are in a very poor state which has been exacerbated by the ongoing in  patching  potholes  patching  potholes torrential rains .Recently , KCCA launched a campaign of sealing all potholes and replace badly damaged sections with marrum as they look for funds to put  tarmac ,however , the flood waters have instead washed away the marrum thus worsening the situation .

Last week, weather experts predicted that ongoing rains might cause devastating floods   as bad as those of 2007, which ravaged most parts of Eastern Uganda.

Some roads in sorry state:

Kafumbe- Mukasa

-Channel Street

-Old & New Taxi parks

-Mufunya Road

-Kamanya Road

-Section of Muwayire Road

-Mugongo Road

-Ssuna Road

-Ave Maria Road

-Ttula Road

-

Muddy city streets leave traders crying foul

Muddy city streets leave traders crying foul

AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA

assenkabirwa@gmail.com

Posted on November 30,211

KAMPALA. After braving the potholed and muddy roads for so long, city traders have raised a red flag on the deteriorating state of roads which say have jeopardized their operations.

The traders accuse Kampala Capital City Authority of failing to make regular road maintenance   –something that has made several roads in down town Kampala impassable especially when it rains.

“All roads have gone to the dogs and it appears like no one cares. If they(KCCA) don’t have funds to fix them ,let them close the roads until money is got because  they are becoming a menace to us,” said Mr  Moses Ssekiranda on Sunday after muddy waters blocked an entrance to his shop on Qualicell Bus Terminal Arcade after a heavy down pour .

Similar concerns were echoed by other   traders on Channel Street, Ben Kiwanuka , Kafumbe- Mukasa Road ,  New Taxi Park  and Old Taxi Park which have become no go areas when it rains.

Mr Ephraim Mugisha , a shop attendant at Mukwano Arcade  says  ever since KCCA poured marrum in Channel Street which connects Nakivubo Road to Ben Kiwanuka a  couple of months ago ,clients have shunned entering his shop .He says  when  cars pass ,they splatter muddy waters which later gush into his  nearby shop thus soaking  his  merchanise.

 “Whether it rains or not, I have to move with a pair of gumboots. Sometimes people find me in these gumboots on a sunny day and laugh but I know what I go through,” a visibly desperate Mugisha said “They (KCCA) are simply collecting revenue from us but they are doing nothing to deliver the services we need,” he said Mr  Jaffer  Mukasa  ,who operates a store along Kafumbe -Mukasa Road said they are preparing a petition  detailing their  suffering and  if KCCA fails to address their concerns within a month ,they will have no option but to close the road .

“ We are going to write to them (KCCA) and if they fail to  respond to our cries, we shall mobilize people to close the road ,” he said In 2009 , KCCA acquired a multi-billion road construction equipment but they are rarely seen doing the work.

Recently, City Executive director, Jennifer Musisi said the city has only Shs 43 billion for roads in the current budget ,which is too little to tarmac all city roads and a bigger portion will go on patching  potholes .Kampala has a total road network totaling to 945.5km of these approximately 43 percent (405.5km) are tarmac and the rest are either gravel  or earth roads.

However, majority of these roads are in a very poor state which has been exacerbated by the ongoing in  patching  potholes  patching  potholes torrential rains .Recently , KCCA launched a campaign of sealing all potholes and replace badly damaged sections with marrum as they look for funds to put  tarmac ,however , the flood waters have instead washed away the marrum thus worsening the situation .

Last week, weather experts predicted that ongoing rains might cause devastating floods   as bad as those of 2007, which ravaged most parts of Eastern Uganda.

Some roads in sorry state:

Kafumbe- Mukasa

-Channel Street

-Old & New Taxi parks

-Mufunya Road

-Kamanya Road

-Section of Muwayire Road

-Mugongo Road

-Ssuna Road

-Ave Maria Road

-Ttula Road

-

Musisi’s Shs36million monthly salary queried

Musisi’s Shs36million monthly salary queried 

AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA

assenkabirwa@gmail.com

Posted on December 19, 2011

KAMPALA. A couple of weeks ago, President Museveni approved the monthly salary of City Executive Director Jennifer Musisi which is in the excess of Shs36million.

 Ms Musisi now falls into the category of highest paid civil servants including the Auditor General Mr John Muwanga and National Social Security Fund Managing Director Richard Byarugaba who earn salary in same region.

Ms Musisi, who assumed office early this year to head Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) which inherited Kampala City Council, had earlier proposed Shs43.7million as her salary. Unlike other poorly-paid civil servants ,Ms Musisi, a presidential appointee was given a chance to proposal her salary.

However, her approved hefty pay which is two times bigger than that of the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has drawn mixed reactions from various quarters at City Hall and residents in Kampala. Some describe it as ‘wasteful’ while others consider it reasonable given the tasks assigned to Ms Musisi.

“The KCCA Act says the executive director is at the level of a permanent secretary. But permanent secretaries earn less than five million. What grand plan does she have for Kampala which warrants her to pocket such a huge salary?” asked Mr Suleiman Kidandala , the city deputy Lord Mayor.

Recently, government reduced KCCA budget from the proposed Shs226 billion to Shs101 billion, a figure Ms Musisi said was too little to enable her turn around the city.

According to Ms Musisi, at least Sh226 billion is needed to operate and facilitate the increased departments, staff retirement packages, councillors’ allowances among others.

Mr Kidandala says  Ms Musisi’s  approved salary , if saved for a year can help pay salaries for at least 1600 primary teachers in city universal primary schools which are directly run by KCCA. However, Mr Daniel Lule, a businessman on Luwum Street thinks otherwise “I see nothing bad with her getting such a pay and I think it will guard her from accepting bribes and will do her work independently,”

Mr Francis Mukiibi a resident of Mengo Kisenyi says he couldn’t have any problem with Ms Musisi getting a hefty pay if she was delivering the needed services to city dwellers.

“It is really unfair for that lady to take Shs36million home when roads are bad and sticking garbage is everywhere .In fact Kampala is in a total mess.” He said

 “She does not deserve such money because she is not on the ground, its councilors and the Lord Mayor who are doing a lot of work,”Mr David Byamukama , a Black smith in the city centre.

A councillor who preferred anonymity described Ms Musisi’s pay as exorbitantly high, saying since she is not a politician; she is not burdened by the electorates.

However, he says that the allowances given to councilors should be pushed a little high to enable them monitor projects.

“That is a lot of money, she uses government facilities and being a civil servant so she does not have people following her to ask for money. ”the councilor said

When contacted yesterday Mr Peter Kaujju, the press secretary to Ms Musisi declined to comment, saying the matter ‘was above him’ and referred these reporters to the minister in charge of Kampala , an office which is currently vacant since the occupant ,Ms Kabakumba Masiko resigned over  reports of abuse of office .

Documents recently submitted to Parliament indicated that Ms Musisi’s driver receives a gross pay of Shs7 million, which makes him the highest paid government driver in the country, while Patrick Mugyenyi, her personal assistant, receives Shs9.6 million. It also emerged that KCCA officials allegedly took home Shs100 million in allowances for the month of June alone.

KCCA salary structure:

Executive Director-36million

-Deputy Director and other directors will earn between Shs22million and Shs27million

-Lord Mayor -Shs16.7million and deputy Lord Mayor 11million

        

-Division mayors- Shs10.7 million each and their deputies get Shs8.2 million.

-Division [LCIII] councilors earn Shs3.5 million while district [LC5] councillors take home Shs4.45 million

The least paid staff at City Hall (office attendant) will earn Shs1.1million.

Recently, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago said he was comfortable with any salary they will offer him so long as it can sustain him to effectively serve his electorate

Under the defunct KCC, the mayor’s monthly salary stood at Shs2.8million while division mayors were earning a basic salary of Shs 1.8million.

LDC: term opening delays over absence of lecturers

LDC: term opening delays over absence of lecturers

AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA

assenkabirwa@gmail.com

KAMPALA .The Law Development Centre (LDC), the sole institution in the country training lawyers to become advocates has extended the reporting date for continuing post-graduate law students by two weeks amid reports of lack of academic staff to teach at the institution.

Students were supposed to report for their second term on Monday but they will now report on January 16.

The development follows the sacking of all lecturers last month by management which asked them to reapply for the jobs in the on-going restructuring aimed at improving academic standards at the 41 year-old institution.

LDC spokesperson , Mr Hamis Lukyamuzi confirmed the changes yesterday, saying they were prompted by the delay by the institution’s management committee to consider old and new staff who applied for the jobs.

“The academic staff were supposed to reapply by December 31, 2011 but management didn’t get time consider their applications due to the long holiday -something that has slightly interrupted our calendar,” he said yesterday

LDC employees 30 full time lecturers, 20 part-timers and host of over 50 support staff. It also emerged yesterday that 15 old lecturers had applied to serve on the renewable three –year fixed term contract, seven on part-time basis and four opted to retire.

“Yes, it is true that some staff re-applied for the jobs and others declined but details of those have been retained will be available after the management committee meeting. ”he added

The management committee meeting, chaired by Justice Christine Kitumba is expected to convene today .

The development comes hardly three months after the same committee declined to renew the contract of the director, Mr Elijah Wante, ending his nearly three -decade career at the helm of the centre's management. Mr Wante, whose job has already been advertised in the papers, is expected to handover office in March.

The centre is currently under spotlight over falling academic standards, partly blamed on absenteeism of lecturers, congestion and poor quality of students admitted for the Bar Course. Majority of the lawyers admitted at the Centre fail to complete the course in the record 11 months after failing exams which they re-sit, something graduating after four years.

The centre was designed to enroll 120 diploma and bar students, but currently has five-times the number.

Although the blame has been put on LDC lecturers for failing to bring the best out of the students, management instead accuses universities of sending them poor quality graduate lawyers.

Last year, the centre rolled out a programme to equip all its lecturers’ in general pedagogical skills which are highly needed in the teaching profession after discovering that majority were mere law professionals who were lacking in this area.

In 2010, LDC also introduced a new policy that requires all lawyers joining LDC to do pre- entry exams, a measure meant to weed out sub-standard students.

Over the years , there have been calls to break the monopoly of LDC to offer the bar course but this move has faced stiff resistance from the Law Council ,which regulates the law profession in country arguing that opening up the market will compromise the standards.