On Friday 22nd May, President Museveni met two technocratic leaders from the Public Service Ministry. Meeting was in Entebbe State House and, as we reported recent, he told them he was disgusted with the reports he kept getting from KCCA. Gen Museveni was very clear, after URA, KCCA would be next and instructed the two Public Service Commission officials to go and prepare to study the suitability of the names he was going to send them and revert back to him. He made it clear this was an urgent assignment and expected feedback before mid-June.
He disclosed to them many things including revealing that he wanted heads to roll at City Hall. He was very clear: don’t waste time considering that Eng Kitaka as a future ED; his time is up. He told them he wanted total overhaul and hoped by the time he is done with URA, the Public Service teams too will be through with assessing his proposed names for future ED and other leaders at KCCA. He also sounded frustrated that citizens were angry with him for permitting huge salaries for KCCA bosses yet there was nothing extraordinary about their performance and outputs. He called on his guests to also deeply think about a new salary structure while preparing to advertise the rest of the jobs below those of ED and Directors that have to be presidential appointments. He was regretful of the fact that the freedom he had allowed Musisi to recruit whoever she wanted hadn’t yielded the anticipated results.
In the same meeting that lasted two hours, Gen Museveni also hinted on the possibility of investigating corruption at City Hall which he said had enabled some people to become very powerful and wealthy to the extent of having road construction firms in nearby Tanzania. He said his plan was to ensure some of these officials suspected of strange wealth get investigated after their eventual purging out of City Hall. He subsequently involved Kampala Minister Betty Amongin disclosing to her that Dorothy Kasega Kisaka, from Busoga, was his choice for the next ED. He insisted to the few officials he permitted to be involved that this had to be taken as a top state secret and jokingly threatened to crack the whip should anything about the KCCA ED recruitment ever leak in the media prematurely. Indeed, they all feared reprisals in case Kisaka’s name leaked prematurely anywhere in the media.
THE OTHERS
In the same letter to Public Service assigning officials to assess the suitability of his appointees, Gen Museveni referred to others including Eng David Luyimbazi Ssali as Deputy ED, Dr. Daniel Ayen Okello, Mrs Sarah Kanyike Sebaggala and Grace Akullo who he wants to replace powerful Richard Lule as Director HR & Administration.
Whereas Okello is only being confirmed having been serving as Ag Director Public Health & Environment at KCCA, the Sarah Kanyike appointment as Director Gender, Community Services & Production has intrigued many. A diehard DP member, Kanyike has been deputizing Erias Lukwago as Deputy Lord Mayor and is the female councilor representing Makindye East where she previously stood for MP job and lost to Mike Mabikke in 2006. She has also tried standing for Woman MP Kampala only to be overwhelmed by Nabillah Nagayi. Her husband Mustapha Sebaggala is one of the EC Commissioners serving under Justice Simon Byabakama and he is in charge of Karamoja sub region which he supervises. Until recently she was pondering offering herself again as candidate for Kampala District woman MP. In the last term, she was Executive PA to Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and was one of the few people who risked poverty and financial humiliation to stand with him through thick and thin. She has deep understanding of KCCA and famously served as Speaker under Sebaana Kizito at a time elected leaders wielded real power at City Hall. Some diehard DPs expect that she might decline the appointment to carry on as Deputy Lord Mayor which is more prestigious and earns her much more in remuneration and other emoluments. Her electors in Makindye are naturally going to construe this appointment as an indication she has always been a 5th columnist spying for the NRM in Kampala. Her PA in the deputy Lord Mayor office is Catherine Ddembe of ANT who is also a long-term Muntu supporter in FDC.
ENG LUYIMBAZI
The flamboyant youthful engineer from Luwero previously served as Director planning at the time UNRA was very productive when it comes to delivering road kilometers. He is the man who conceptualized many of the projects that continue to be implemented at UNRA where he worked for over 10 years in top management positions initially under Eng Peter Ssebanakitta and later on under Sebuga Kimeze. Some used to perceive him as one of the blue eyed boys for former Works Minister Eng Abraham Byandala. He was among those who got fired by the UNRA Board after being anomalously humiliated in the Bamugemereire Commission of Inquiry into UNRA that held public hearings at Imperial Royale Hotel. Luyimbazi was among those Bamugemereire fixed and implicated but he has gratefully since been exonerated by both the IGG and PPDA of much of the blame that had initially been heaped on him.
He also went to Court to challenge the findings of the Bamugemereire report but his pursuers ensured Justice Patricia Basaza didn’t deliver her decision for such a long time. It took the administrative intervention of the Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, at the prompting of Luyimbazi’s lawyers, for the decision to be delivered. Luyimbazi knew in the High Court he was unlikely to win the case and only wanted opportunity to appeal to the next court and his resolve was to fight up to Supreme Court to ensure the Bamugemereire report, that he considered to be malicious and unfair to him, was totally quashed and out of the way.
He had good reason to fight so ruthless to quash that report because it had been relied upon to deny him employment opportunities elsewhere as a consultant. Many at the World Bank considered him one of the best infrastructure experts and consultants in Uganda yet he was considered unemployable because of the dent the Bamugemereire inquiry report had unduly put on him. Even some people at UNRA were interested in seeing him sink notwithstanding the fact that he is one of the best road engineers Uganda has having been to some of the best Universities in the US and UK.
He isn’t only naturally eloquent and very intelligent, highly travelled Luyimbazi also has many formal qualifications from some of the best training institutions abroad. Some say that a combination of these credentials explain why many feared having him freely stand and doing any good work anywhere (lest the big man from Rwakitura notices him). He has in the past few years been offering occasional interviews to local and international media giving his expert views on large infrastructure projects in the region and the clarity with which he speaks, simplifies hard engineering stuff making it easier for even the ordinary person to understand the intricacies involved.
Some time back, the position of DMD CAA fell vacant after Rama Makuza left and his deputy Kakuba got elevated to become MD with full backing of powerful people like Speaker Kadaga. Eng David Ssali Luyimbazi (who is also Gen Salim Saleh’s man) was among those who sat interviews for the DMD job. Naturally he emerged the best but couldn’t get the job because his pursuers flagged the very indicting things the Catherine Bamugemereire report had asserted (about him) to deny him the job. He then reverted to his private work as a consultant for many large projects in the region. A jolly family man, Luyimbazi marries engineer Christine Kakeeto and they have beautiful kids with whom they live in Munyonyo where they have a palatial residence where they daily enjoy the cool breeze of the lake. He is youthful, energetic and a high commitment person and because he has deep understanding of infrastructural projects, Luyimbazi will most likely concentrate on overseeing the technical bits of road construction in Kampala, where development partners are willing to continue pouring financial resources once the City Authority’s absorption capacity improves, as his boss Dorothy Kisaka Kasega concentrates on being the accounting officer and doing strategic things besides conducting public engagements while being the face of the organization. Because he is very eloquent (in both English and Luganda), the media will most likely find free-spirited David Ssali Luyimbazi very attractive to interview so that they benefit from the clarity with which he speaks.
Credit: mulengeranews.com
