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.

Restructuring :all LDC lecturers sacked asked to reapply for jobs afresh

Restructuring :all LDC lecturers sacked

asked to reapply for jobs afresh

AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA

assenkabirwa@gmail.com

posted on 3,December ,2011

KAMPALA. The management committee of Law Development Center (LDC) has terminated services of all lecturers and asked them to reapply for the jobs in the on-going restructuring aimed at improving academic standards at the centre.

LDC Deputy Director, Ms Florence Nakachwa confirmed the changes saying the decision had been taken by the by the management committee.

“Yes it is true but contact the secretary (Joyce Werikhe) for the details,” Ms Nakachwa told this paper on Friday.

However, when contacted, Ms Werikhe said their decision had been misinterpreted as sacking by a section of the academic staff but they are simply regularizing their employment.

“It is not true, all we did is to give them options on whether they should be given permanent contracts or temporary contracts. We have not terminated any contract,” Ms Werikhe said in a telephone interview.

The Centre employees 40 full time lecturers , 30 part-timers and host of over 100 support staff. A source at the centre, which preferred anonymity to speak freely about the changes said management was effecting a human resource audit report which will change the employment regime from the traditional permanent and personable job to ‘flexible employment contractual arrangement’.

“In fact what they are trying to do is in the best interest of staff because they will be getting benefits annually unlike in the current arrangement .But of course since it requires re-submitting applications for one reason or the other, one can be rejected, ” the source said

According to the source, staff have up to the end of this month to submit their applications since the new system become operational in January.

The development comes hardly two 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 next year.

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.

Early last year, the centre on training all the 40 full time lecturers and 30 part-timers in a bid to curb the failure rates which have dogged the centre over the years.

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

LDC is the only institution in the country that admits law graduates to obtain diplomas in legal practice. A lawyer cannot practice as an advocate in Uganda without the diploma.

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 argues that opening up the market could compromise the standards.

Is Lukwago on course to ‘clips’ Utoda wings ?

AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA
assenkabirwa@gmail.com
posted on 25 ,August ,2011

Kampala

“I will sort them out! They are simply exploiting people they purport to serve and even the driver themselves are crying,” these are the words City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago used say at most of his rallies during campaigns.

Even since his assumed office on May 20, issues pertaining to Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (Utoda) contract to manage city public transport have been on his table almost daily. It could be drivers complaining of exploitation and harassment from Utoda agents or Utoda officials themselves trying to clear their name.

In all the meetings Lukwago has held with Utoda officials, the former say they have failed to convince him why its contract shouldn’t be withdrawn. “They have proven to be extremely uncooperative and I have no option but to refer their matter to an ordinary Authority meeting to decide their fate,” Lukwago said on August 24 after a special Authority meeting convened to discuss among others, the Utoda contract .However, councilors failed to resolve the matter and defer it to another meeting to be convened in two weeks.

Lukwago also pushes the Authority meeting to approve among other proposals, the split of Utoda contract to manage city taxi parks to allow other players.

“ For effective management and maintenance ,no single service provider should be given a contract to manage more than one taxi park,” he says in his three-page report to the Authority .He says his office empowers him to create policies aimed at improving service delivery in the city.

“What I am proposing is within my mandate and it is in the best interest of the people of Kampala,” he says

Sounding as if he is referring to Utoda, Lukwago said no company limited by guarantee will be contracted to run taxi business in the city in future.

“We shall not sign any contract with any company to provide services in the this sector which is limited by guarantee since companies are not permitted under the law to engage in profit making venture,”

Although Utoda insists that it has a running contract with KCCA, Lukwago rejects this saying its expired a year ago.

Utoda is currently struggling to mend fences with taxi drivers who accuse it of exploitation and harassment. The drivers who even staged a one day sit-down strike last month in protest of mistreatment from Utoda agents oppose payment of welfare fees from each taxi which they say is unaccounted for. The fee rages between Shs 1000 and Shs 10000 depending on the stage.

In addition to these charges, taxi drivers also pay ‘loading fees’, which are equivalent to the fare of three passengers. The fee is paid each time a taxi loads passengers from the taxi park or any city stage.

Government has since suspended the collections until investigations into its use are complete though some driver complain that it is still collected at some stages.

Utoda, which has been managing public transport for over two decades, had earlier vowed not to meet Lukwago saying ‘they need nothing from him’.

But in all the meetings they have had with the Lord Mayor they have appeared apologetic and have repeatedly stated that they are ready to work closely with him to improve public transport in the city. Although Utoda insists that its contract is valid, Lukwago rejects this saying it expired a year ago.

This has pitted him against the city executive Ms Jennifer Musisi who insists that the taxi body has a running contract with KCCA which expires in 2014.

The multi-billion Utoda contract has also divided councilors with a section siding with the Utoda claiming that the Lord Mayor was simply ‘witch-hunting’ the taxi body for no good reason .

“He could have accepted to create a working relationship with them and other things will follow. But basing on what is happening, he is simply making life hard for them,” said Nakawa Division councilor Apollo Mugume on Thursday.

An insider in Utoda who preferred anonymity to speak freely about the matter said due to none-remittance of welfare fees, Utoda can longer afford to clear wages and salaries of some of its staff including traffic wardens and guides.

On average, Utoda was reportedly collecting Shs400million daily from the welfare fees before it was suspended

Lukwago accuses Utoda of under-declaring the number of taxis plying city routes-something he said had caused revenue losses to KCCA. He insists Utoda manages over 12,000 taxis, yet the drivers’ body says they were 7,000.It remains to be seen whether Lukwago will break Utoda monopoly given the fact that the taxi body is politically well-connected with the ruling NRM government.

Ends

Taxi parks in city:

-Old Taxi Park

-New Taxi Park

- Nakawa Taxi Park

-Natete Taxi Park

Lukwago proposals on city public transport :

-Any company contracted to provide services in this sub sector shall be required to remit all the revenue collected onto KCCA collection account and a commission to be paid to such service provider should be agreed upon

-All stickers and receipts to be issued out to PSV operators should be printed by KCCA in its names and regularly given out to the service providers

- All dues payable by the PSV operators should be assessed and collected on a monthly and NOT daily basis

-Each taxi park should be provided with a self-loading refuse truck which shall carry all the garbage generated to the land fill

-KCCA should prepare an ordinance to regulate the management and conduct of PSV transport in Kampala

-A service provider contracted to manage a particular taxi park should be responsible for general maintenance

Of all the facilities thereon including public conveniences and pothole repairs .