KCCA scorecard shows gains but lack of funds holding it back 

When Dorothy Kisaka took over as KCCA executive director in July, 2020, the main task at hand was to implement the four-year Kampala City Strategic Plan.

The goal of this plan is to ensure that Kampala will be an inclusive, resilient and well-planned city that provides economic opportunities. Three years down the road, KCCA has made progress in the face of several challenges. The institution recently released the summary performance of the 2022/2023 financial year as well as the recent developments.

As Geofrey Serugo writes, each of the eight directorates has made progress but the inadequate funding has hampered their ability to achieve the set goals. It is also clear that the negative public perception is holding back several city projects.

REVENUE

In revenue collection, KCCA registered the highest revenue collection of Shs 104.8bn in its 12-year history. Over the last three years, the institution also mobilized Shs 274.5bn, registering a 25% revenue growth. Revaluation of properties in Kampala’s five divisions using the computer-aided mass valuation techniques result into growth in property rates revenue by about Shs 10 billion after implementation of the new Central Division valuation roll in July 2023.

Added to the constitution of the City Property Rates Remission Committee (PRRC) to handle property rates remissions, reductions and waivers, this approach has saved the institution and government over 70% of the resources that would otherwise have been used for the property valuation process.

However, this has not been without challenges such as the inadequate legal framework. For instance, KCCA cannot collect outdoor advertising and abattoir slaughter fees because of absence of enabling laws. Meanwhile, the low levels of compliance to paying relevant fees, rates, rent and taxes as well as delays in implementing the owner-occupied property tax regime continue to plague the institution but KCCA plans to expand the taxpayer register by 15% next year.

GENDER

When it comes to production and marketing, KCCA supported 8,888 NAADS beneficiary farmers across the five divisions of Kampala with agricultural inputs, supported 70 model farmers to set up demonstration units. Meanwhile, construction of Kitintale market, which is to accommodate more than 2,000 vendors, is at 95 per cent and is expected to be completed by January, 2024.

That notwithstanding, implementation of the Presidential directive on markets has come with some conflict between landlords and tenants in many public markets. This is so because in some markets, land belongs to the government while the market facilities belong to vendors.

Matters have not been helped by the inadequate funds for rescue and rehabilitation of children from streets, especially in the absence of the adequate government rehabilitation homes. So, the continuous unsafe migration of street children from various districts
to the city is increasing the number of street children.

ENGINEERING

When it comes to roads infrastructure development, KCCA has upgraded 12.9km of roads with funding from government. At the same time, 43.12km of city roads have been reconstructed with funding from the World Bank, under the second Kampala Infrastructure and Institutional Development Project (KIIDP2).

Key among these are 17 junctions that were signalized on John Babiiha (Acacia) avenue, Nakawa-Ntinda, Lukuli, and Kabuusu-Bunamwaya -Lweeza road.

Meanwhile, KCCA, through a partnership with the Special Forces Command (SFC), is currently undertaking upgrade of 13.64km and rehabilitation of 8.66km of roads in the city using government’s capital development funds. Yet again, the report highlights
inadequate financing of the city infrastructure development. For instance, the budget for upgrade of the city road and drainage network was reduced from Shs 78bn in 2022 to Shs 43bn in 2023.

What’s more, whereas the estimated annual budget for road maintenance is Shs 2.2tn, KCCA also requires Shs 5.2tn to upgrade at least 50% of the unpaved road network. However, KCCA has over the years continued to have an allocation of only Shs 26bn, which is less than 50% of the annual requirement.

To compile the misery, funding from the Uganda Road Fund (URF) reduced from Shs 26bn to just Shs 10bn this financial year. Vandalism of city road furniture, including street lighting components, manhole covers and other city services installations has also hindered progress in the engineering directorate.

PHYSICAL PLANNING

This year, KCCA finalized the development of four Precinct Plans for Kololo, Nakasero, Mulago and Makerere, passed the Kampala City Tree Infrastructure ordinance to guide on green management in the city as well as planting 18,382 trees on top of maintaining over 376,890 square metres of green spaces across the city.

However, there is a deteriorating green cover as a result of usage by pedestrians, reckless drivers and boda bodas. In fact, the report notes that there is a poor public attitude towards physical planning in the city.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Here, KCCA has enforced compliance on a number of legislations relating to noise pollution, development control, trade order, street children and revenue collection. In fact, it registered 8,369 cases of different offences resulting into 2,155 arrests, 7,954 convictions and collected fines worth Shs 616 million.

Meanwhile, the introduction of body-worn cameras has greatly reduced the brutality of KCCA law enforcement officers in their operations against street vendors and street children. The initiative has also enhanced effectiveness, effective monitoring discipline, transparency and accountability. On the flip side, KCCA has no holding area for juvenile convicts.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

Solid waste management remains one of the most perturbing issues for the city dwellers and in spite of KCCA’s efforts to registered a solid waste collection performance of 73%, which was above the 70% target based on the available infrastructure and resources, it is not enough mainly due to the continued high financial dependence on external partner support.

Meanwhile, KCCA notes that its garbage fleet of just 27 trucks with an average carrying capacity of 380,000 tonnes collected garbage for free from the public institutions that include markets, schools and from the poor communities. Still, the number of trucks is inadequate and to compound matters, the Kiteezi landfill space has been exhausted yet the process for operationalizing Ddundu landfill is not yet concluded.

Going forward, KCCA plans to improve solid waste collection by eliminating solid waste dumping sites along roads within the city on top of increasing access to the sanitation facilities in congested areas such as markets, taxi/bus parks, barracks and police stations, among others.

EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES

There are 2,287 known education institutions in the city, most of which are Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Of these, KCCA operates just 111 schools and managed to increase learner enrollment from 48,316 in 2021 to 76,907 in 2023, reflecting a 59% growth.

Importantly, through community engagement campaigns, KCCA also identified and assessed 201 children with special needs. Nonetheless, inadequate capitation grants still hinder the enrollment of learners. For example, each child receives Shs 3,000 per term as opposed to Shs 4,666 per child allocated to other local government-run schools.

That said, the biggest threat to schools is the ever-increasing threats of encroachment and loss of school land.

INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Commendably, the current staffing levels for KCCA permanent staff stands at 60.3%, more than doubled having been at 37.7% by June, 2020. This is still not enough because there is understaffing in some of the key service delivery directorates such as physical planning.

Like all the other directorates, there is lack of funding to meet the wage bill as well as emerging city structures and the overall institutional infrastructure improvement needs. KCCA also continues to operate in very old and dilapidated structures that do not meet the standard of the highly-touted smart city.