The unending saga of ownership of Qualicel building has exposed the sanctimony that stinks of double standards or outright compromise of the laid down dictum governing structural developments in the city. The physical planning department of Kampala city council authority(KCCA) is clear on what must be done in order to secure approval of any structural work. It is an elaborate procedure which among others involves submitting structural or architectural plans, ownership of the land in question, topography tests, environment impact assessment for riparian land etc.
So it was either utter pietism or taking the public for granted for Mr Kawujju, the KCCA, publicist to come out and feign ignorance of the developments on Qualicel by Mr Drake Lubega, the disputed proprietor of this new arcade under construction. Qualicel is in the center of the city where KCCA enforcement officers roam on a daily basis. These officers are famed for being assertive and high handed while dealing with developers who are found without proper documentation of approvals relating to the structures under construction. The said building is already at the stage of the second floor. Getting to this level means that the construction has taken at least two months, and there is no way KCC’s eagle-eyed enforcers could have missed it, unless something fishy took place between the physical planning department and the proprietor.
Listening to peter Kawujju, his tone reeked of despondency, throwing up his hands in resignation as if to impel sympathy from the public. It was a futile attempt to resort to theatrics at his level when as the KCCA mouthpiece he is better placed to have the answer as to whoever paid a blind eye to the erection of an illegal structure. This cursory response of Mr Kawujju, can be interpreted in two ways. First, as KCCA mouthpiece, he is being left in the dark when certain decisions that should have been in his purview are made, partly due to unprofessional conduct of his superiors, due to corruption or with the exit of Ms Jenifer Musisi, some technocrats are playing to the public gallery to change the abrasive style of her management, where the rules of engagement were read to the letter. There has beena temptation to reverse her strict style to the point of allowing hawkers on the streets as a way of public posturing to portray Musisi as a bad manager on part of the “new” KCCA.
The position of Eng Kitaka as acting ED renders him a lame duck manager whose decisions are made in such a way as to strike a balance between gaining approval of the public on one hand and the appointing authority on the other, well aware that Ms Musisi’s caustic style of management was her waterloo, the moment she upset the political base, the exit door was wide open.
Most downtown tycoons have the history of doing things in obscure ways, taking advantage of the weaknesses in KCCA systems. This explains the very reason why two factions claim ownership of the same land, each claiming to have valid papers from the same source. With their financial might, they are capable of manipulating the system to their desired end, otherwise, how would an arcade be built up to the second floor without any one raising the red flag. In each division of Kampala, there are KCCA foot soldiers criss-crossing villages looking for illegal developments. When luck runs out and you are found without legal approvals, they act wantonly carrying away anything on site including equipment and building materials coupled with hefty fines or bribes to buy reprieve. They act like possessed souls whose evil spirit cannot be exorcised. They are a nightmare to law income developers. Even simple alterations to the existing structure like a new toilet or perimeter wall can be a huge challenge if these officers nab you.
So Mr Kawujju needs to craft a more convincing narrative to the public as to how Mr Drake Lubega built a multi- billion arcade without the knowledge and approval from KCCA or we shall be inclined to conclude that with departure of Ms musisi we have gone a full circle to the old KCCA which had the audacity to look on as the city was littered with illegal structures because of corruption. I know of many small developers who were charged in court for the same iniquity like Mr Lubega, have the court summons got lost or the courier has taken long to deliver them at Qualicel? What is soup for the goose should be soup for the gander, lest we christen it IMPUNITY.
