When Frank Rusa, Kampala Capital City Authority’s (KCCA) interim executive director, grabbed the microphone on a Saturday talk show, you could almost feel the weight of his frustration through the airwaves. Like a boda boda rider stuck in the rain, the man has been left stranded by the current finance laws that force KCCA to surrender every shilling they collect to the national treasury—leaving him begging like a guy trying to buy Rolex with pocket change.
Rusa, the latest in a series of KCCA bosses after Dorothy Kisaka was unceremoniously kicked out of office (more on that drama later), has one big demand: let KCCA keep its own revenue. Currently, KCCA collects about UGX 117 billion per year. In Rusa’s ideal world, they’d triple that like a local musician claiming triple platinum on YouTube views. But instead of watching those billions blossom in Kampala, Rusa has to hand the money over to the national treasury and then wait for the government to send a fraction of it back. And when the government is late—as it often is—KCCA is left penniless and potholes are left gaping.
In true Ugandan fashion, Rusa’s proposed solution involves amending the Public Finance Management Act of 2015. His plea is simple: “Let us keep our money at the source.” Like a farmer who wants to keep his cassava instead of selling it to the middlemen, Rusa wants Kampala to use its own revenue to fix its own problems.
And what are these problems? The big ones. Garbage piles higher than the Nakasero Hill, roads that resemble the surface of the moon, and an increasing population that’s putting more pressure on the city’s shrinking resources. Rusa points out that in Jennifer Musisi’s time as KCCA boss, the budget was three times what it is now, and yet Kampala’s population has exploded like the excitement at a Bobi Wine concert. The poor man has to stretch his shoestring budget to manage a city that contributes 65% of Uganda’s GDP. “It’s like having to feed a wedding crowd with just one tray of pilau,” Rusa might as well have said.
To put things into perspective, in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, KCCA had its best revenue collection ever—UGX 24.9 billion against a target of UGX 24.7 billion, which is a fancy way of saying they hit 100.5% of their goal. Sounds great, right? Well, not when you remember that’s still a drop in the ocean compared to the city’s endless needs. Kampala’s roads, markets, drainage systems, and other basic services are crying for cash, yet Rusa has to play financial gymnastics just to keep things running.
Rusa, showing the humility of a man who knows he’s stepping into a storm, pledged to work as a team when he took over from Kisaka, the previous KCCA boss who was shown the exit by President Museveni after the Kiteezi landfill collapsed and tragically killed over 35 people. The landfill, the only one serving the entire city, had become a ticking time bomb long ignored. Kisaka and her deputy were blamed for their alleged negligence, and when the bomb went off, they were swiftly dismissed “in public interest.” The mess left in their wake now sits on Rusa’s already burdened shoulders. He took over from Kisaka, who had achieved much but was ultimately toppled by the rotten garbage situation (both literally and metaphorically).
Rusa is keen on two things as he counts his first 100 days in office: preserving his integrity and pushing for Kampala to be treated as the economic engine it is. He’s hoping Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, and whoever else is holding the city’s purse strings will see the logic in letting KCCA handle its own revenue, rather than asking for permission like a child begging for another piece of meat at a village function.
Rusa will need to sharpen his negotiating skills, knowing full well that Kampala’s fate—and his own legacy—rests on his ability to secure enough funding to tackle the city’s myriad problems. After all, you can’t make Kampala the sparkling capital it should be if all you’re getting is leftover change.
