By Olivia Nabaggala
Makindye Division Mayor Hajji Yasin Omar has called for a forensic audit of directors at Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), accusing several departments of failing to execute their mandates and contributing to what he described as the authority’s declining effectiveness.
Omar singled out the Directorate of Public Health and the Directorate of Physical Planning as the worst-performing departments.
“Many directorates at KCCA are not fulfilling their responsibilities. They are making KCCA non-operational,” Omar said during a community clean-up exercise in Kasanvu Village, Namuwongo-Bukasa Parish, Makindye Division.
The mayor alleged that city cleaners under the Directorate of Public Health are paid through Community SACCO and 7 Hills SACCO, which reportedly deduct mandatory monthly savings of Shs20,000 from workers earning Shs180,000 per month.
“Many cleaners come to my office complaining that these SACCOs sometimes pay them as little as Shs6,000 a month against their wishes,” Omar said.
He further claimed that members associated with 7 Hills SACCO extort money from small-scale traders and sex workers operating in Kabalagala, Kataba, Kikuba and other parts of Makindye during night operations.
On physical planning, Omar raised concerns over alleged encroachment on walkways and road reserves. He cited a case in Muyenga where, according to him, a developer left only two metres for a road reserve instead of the required 30 metres after construction that had initially been halted by KCCA was later allowed to continue.
“These directors are sleeping on the job. I appeal to the President to suspend all KCCA directors, except Executive Director Sharifah Buzeki, who inherited a rotten system,” Omar said.
Responding to the allegations, KCCA Executive Director Sharifah Buzeki summoned Community SACCO supervisor Edward Mpagi to explain the reported delays in payments to city cleaners.
Mpagi attributed the delays to the renewal of expired contracts, saying payments for May and part of April had been affected by the process.
“Cleaners are not complaining about payments,” Mpagi said.
Addressing the extortion allegations, he added: “Our team does not engage in such practices, apart from a few individuals who may have misbehaved. Some were suspended for extortion and later ran to the Executive Director’s office to complain.”
Buzeki said KCCA would engage cleaners individually to verify concerns regarding delayed payments and allegations of extortion.
To address Kampala’s persistent garbage management challenges, Omar proposed that waste management be placed under the supervision of Gen Salim Saleh through Operation Wealth Creation’s “Operation Dark Matters” initiative. He argued that Saleh had previously demonstrated effectiveness by providing trucks that emptied all toilets in the area free of charge within a week.
During the clean-up exercise, Buzeki directed Uganda Railways Corporation to fence off its land in Kasanvu within two weeks after KCCA clears a long-standing garbage dump located on the property.
She also urged local leaders to intensify public sensitisation on sanitation and environmental cleanliness, noting that they were elected to serve and mobilise their communities.
Buzeki has spearheaded city-wide clean-up campaigns across Kampala’s five divisions for the past one and a half years, an initiative that officials say has improved sanitation standards, particularly in informal settlements and slum areas.
