KCCA hit by leadership crisis

Jennifer Musisi, the first and once celebrated head of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), resigned last October to leave behind a ghost institution.
There is no substantive replacement for her to-date. Her former deputy, Dr Judith Tukahirwa, resigned in October 2016. She has until now not been replaced substantively.

KCCA has 10 directorates, but only five of them have directors on permanent terms. The other five - treasury services; engineering and technical services; legal affairs; revenue collection; and public health services and environment – have no substantive office holders.
The President is by law mandated to appoint the executive director, the deputy executive director and directors at KCCA. The Public Service Commission (PSC) appoints the lower staff.
Employees of KCCA were offered salaries that were the envy of many, with the executive director earning Shs43m and her deputy Shs27m per month.

This is more than what Members of Parliament, who many Ugandans castigate for according themselves high salaries, earn. Directors at KCCA were offered Shs22m per month.
In addition to the heavy pay perks that went with the job, President Museveni chipped in with a dose of support for Ms Musisi’s work, defending her against detractors and ensuring that KCCA was allocated heavy operational funds.
It came as a surprise to some, therefore, when Ms Musisi resigned from the job.

Other big shots resign
Apart from the resignations of Ms Musisi and Dr Tukahirwa , Mr Daniel Kyambadde (director treasury services), Mr Fred Andema (director revenue collection) and Dr Martin Kiiza (manager in charge of drainage), have also resigned.
Other top officials that have resigned from the same institution over the same period are Dr David Sseruka (director public health), Ms Jennifer Kaggwa (director human resource), and Dr Jeremy Ntambi (manager in the directorate of engineering and technical service).

The first signs of Ms Musisi’s woes came to light after the 2016 elections when President Museveni accused her of poor work methods leading to the ruling party’s defeat in the city. Ms Musisi was an assuming implementer of policy, who earned the anger of Kampala’s poor.

Musisi resignation
Ms Musisi resigned and the President kept quiet about it for a while, until recently during a meeting with teachers who were threatening to go on strike over pay. It was there where Mr Museveni made comments that seemed to suggest that he regretted paying a hefty salary to Ms Musisi. Is he having second thoughts on the structure of KCCA? Could that explain his reluctance to fill positions at the Authority?
Majority of KCCA staff working in acting capacity have been in office for more than two years, which contravenes Public Service standing orders that allow a government official to hold an office in acting capacity for only six months.

According to KCCA’s payroll structure, the institution currently employs 1,133 workers. But only 391 of these are employed on permanent terms while 742 are employed on temporary terms.
The staff on temporary terms serve on four-month renewable contracts. The payroll structure further shows that at least 86 KCCA officials are currently holding offices in acting capacity.

In 2013, at least 280 candidates passed job interviews to fill vacancies at KCCA. However, Ms Musisi rejected them on grounds that the institution was facing budget deficits.
A report by KCCA’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) dated December 13, 2018 states that of the 280 candidates who had passed interviews, only 45 were offered jobs, leaving the rest stranded.
“…the positions for which they had applied were filled by other individuals whose recruitment didn’t follow the formal recruitment procedures and have held the same positions for a period exceeding one year as they are given temporary four months renewable contracts,” the report reads in part.

The report also faults KCCA’s internal recruitment process for being illegally carried out without clear structures.
For instance, the report states, there were no application letters on the file, no adverts for the positions to be filled, no job description, no roles and responsibilities were provided at the time of interviews, and the interview reports indicated that the interviewers were not aligned to the position that applicants were being interviewed for.

The report further shows that some KCCA temporary staff often continue to work and get paid even when the contracts had expired and at one time contracts were renewed five months after expiry.
In January last year, Public Service Commission rejected Ms Musisi’s request to have at least four members of staff promoted to senior positions. The Commission said Ms Musisi had not submitted critical details of the proposed employees as per the Uganda Public Service standing orders.
Asked about the mess in KCCA’s internal recruitment, Mr Ralph Ochan, the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, said they were working on the process to formalise jobs at KCCA.

“That KCCA issue needs time because we have to review each job holder carefully to see if they are really competent for it and also review documents of all temporary staff. We don’t want to punish staff for the mistakes which they didn’t do and we need to ascertain how the irregularities arose,” Mr Ochan said.
In January, the acting executive director, Mr Andrew Kitaka, told this newspaper in an interview that KCCA was working with the Public Service Commission to have all vacant positions filled. There is no solution to the issue five months later.

However, internal fights over jobs continue to erupt, worsening the already fragile situation.
On April 18, the Public Service Commission ordered Mr Kitaka to advertise all vacant jobs within the institution to mitigate current fights among staff and ensure efficiency.
In the same letter, a copy which we have seen, Mr Kitaka was asked to halt recruitment of staff in acting capacity until the affected positions are substantively filled by the appropriate appointing authority.

“…all vacant posts, including but not limited to those where officers were administratively assigned duties to act, be declared and displayed on KCCA notice boards, website and any other platform accessible to all KCCA staff,” reads the letter in part.
Ms Beti Kamya, the minister in charge of Kampala Affairs, declined to discuss the issue in detail, saying it is the prerogative of the President to appoint the executive director and other directors.

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