KCCA has commenced rehabilitating city roads
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director Dorothy Kisaka has been put under the spotlight by the KCCA political wing over the implementation of the Kampala City Roads Rehabilitation Project (KCRRP) worth Shs 1.06 trillion.
The government secured a loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the construction of roads and drainage channels in Kampala city, and works are expected to start this month. However, the allocation of the money has led to a sharp rift between the KCCA political and technical wings. The political wing accuses the technical team of the authority of inflating the project costs.
A report by the KCCA central executive committee (CEC) shows that the technical team budgeted Shs 15.4 billion for the construction of each kilometre under the project, which the political wing says is exorbitant compared to the average pricing in the region.
During a special council sitting on Wednesday to scrutinize the implementation of the project presided over by KCCA speaker Zahara Luyilika, the councillors tasked Kisaka who led a team of more than five directors to avail them with the contracts related to the project.
This was the third special meeting convened over the same matter. The first meeting was turned into a committee of the whole house, from which the executive director was asked to present the contracts and name the contractors as directed in the last meeting.
However, Kisaka neither presented the contracts nor the contractors as expected. She told the committee that she didn’t invite the contractors because they were not under her mandate.
“I could not invite the individual contractors because they are not under my supervision, therefore I don’t have the powers to summon them here. However, the council can summon them,” she said.
On the contracts, Kisaka said that she was still awaiting guidance from the solicitor general.
“About presenting the contracts to the council asked, I wrote to the solicitor general seeking guidance on whether I should disclose these documents since am new in office and the lord mayor says he has never seen any such documents for the last 11 years, so am asking myself why?” she said.
KCCA legal director, Caleb Mugisha, said that the contracts contain private information, whose disclosure might be prejudicial to the contracts, and contravene the right to privacy. His explanations sparked an uproar in the meeting, with the councillors citing various laws, which mandate the council powers to access such documents as enablers to its oversight role as mandated by the KCCA Act.
Kenneth Male, one of the councillors was on several occasions called to order by the chairperson as he had started verbal confrontations with the technical team, saying they were turning them into ‘fools’, yet they know exactly what to do.
The committee passed three recommendations, including one that the executive director presents the names and contacts of the contractors to the speaker by the close of business. The meeting also recommended that the executive director presents the contracts to the council in the next sitting after editing out any information that the technical team deems private to the contractors.
The other recommendation was that the executive director should come with the contractors in the next council meeting over this matter, which is scheduled for March 9, 2023. Luyilika said that as the council, they will not give up on demanding accountability from the technical team because this falls within their mandate as the elected leaders of the city as well as the supreme body governing the authority.
According to Luyilika, the technical team is answerable to the council, and as leaders, they need to know what is behind the curtains in regard to these contracts such that they can effectively monitor the projects on behalf of their voters.
“It’s within our mandate, we’re not doing something illegal, it is illegal. These are public documents. These documents are to do with accountability and we’re not going to compromise on that. We’re going to fight until the last person, I must assure you, am telling you. Next time they come back with excuses then we’re to devise other means,” said Luyilika.
Kampala city lord mayor Erias Lukwago, who also attended the meeting, said that the technical team has no legal backing whatsoever to deny the political team access to such documents, and what they are doing now is illegal. Lukwago adds that the lord mayor is the vision bearer of the authority and the chief overseer of the technical team activities.
“Our works shouldn’t be misconstrued. If anything, we’re pushing for the implementation of our programme. We want quality services, we want to have quality roads we’re pushing for value for money for audit, monitoring what they are doing to ensure that each party honours the obligations and commitment within the contract. Right now we’re in total darkness. Right now there are people contending that there are private matters within the contract which I don’t think there are matters which are classified within the contracts that if we’re to look at them, the contractors would be prejudiced. That is not possible because we’re talking about public documents, we’re talking about public civil works, we’re talking about a public loan, debt,” said Lukwago.
Source: The Observer
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