Political leaders and technical people entrusted with the authority to plan and think for urban centers are not doing enough to ensure proper urbanization takes place. These leaders have been faulted and criticized for preferring to pocket huge sums of money in form of salaries and not do a good job.
The harsh judgment was delivered at a public dialogue on promoting good urban governance. The dialogue was organized by Victoria University in partnership with the Centre for Urban Studies and Research. It addressed urban governance in Uganda, challenges and solutions.
Dr. Amin Kiggundu Tamale who works with Centre for Urban Studies and Research in his submission said the current leaders have failed and there is need to get people who are committed to takeover.
Giving an example of Kampala city, Tamale pointed out the failing traffic management system, housing problems, poor infrastructure planning among other challenges as a result of negligent leaders holding offices but doing nothing.
“If you are a city manager you need to think for your people. You need to engage stakeholders. If you are the executive director of KCCA, you are paid to think for the city.” Tamale noted.
Associate Professor Sabiiti Makara of Makerere University noted that there is serious urbanization challenge in Africa. He explained that lack of political order causes problems and stalls urban development.
He also noted that Uganda has no clear urban policy to guide such development. Similarly, Makara decried the meager funding given to urban center saying the money government sends to urban centers is not enough.
“A city like Kampala should be able to finance itself but government has not been keen on financing urban centers. It gives them peanuts. Budgets for urban centers has not been growing over the years.”
By Eve Mbasabye
