Man Jose Kayima
The parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authority and State Enterprises (COSASE) had to call off a meeting with Kampala Capital City Authority officials after Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago was a no-show.
The committee dismissed KCCA Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka who had turned up to answer queries on the outdoor advertising ordinance where KCCA is losing billions of shillings after court halted tax collections from billboards.
KCCA officials were due to answer queries raised by the Auditor General’s report of 2022/23.
COSASE chairperson Medard Sseggona (Busiro East – NUP) noted with concern that the leadership wrangles at the Authority still continues which keeps on affecting service delivery thus dismissing them until Thursday (today).
“Now KCCA director, this is a political institution and we allocate money to a political institution at least as long as i chair this committee, the standard practice is going to be you will never come here without a political head of this institution because in the auditor general’s report are issues of political heads which you will not manage to answer like issues of ordinances,” Sseggona said.
Kisaka told the MPs that the invitation letter to appear before the committee did not indicate the company of the Lord Mayor.
“The normal practice has been that we receive an invitation which is addressed to executive director and the ED comes with senior management team to Parliament and usually they receive their own invitation,” she said.
The committee members disclosed that some of the key issues noted in the report like non-collection of taxes on billboards must be addressed by the Lord Mayor who was not in attendance.
According to the report, KCCA was sued in courts of law over failure to develop and approve regulations on outdoor advertising rates which has led to loss of revenue since 2021.
“There are issues which must be answered by the political wing, not executive director, like issues of ordinances that have not been passed,” said Allan Mayanja Ssebunya (Nakaseke Central – DP), the COSASE vice chairperson.
The committee also raised concerns that some KCCA staff on managerial level have been working in acting capacities of without approval for over two years which contradicts the law.
“During the introductions, one lady told us that she has been in acting position on one of the managerial posts for two years,” Nathan Itungo Twesigye, the MP for Kashari South, said
