By Mulengera Reporters
During a TV debate, Ofwono Opondo (the MP-elect for older persons) defended tycoon Ham Kiggundu, saying no one should blame him for the rampaging Kampala floods which recently destroyed people’s merchandize in city arcades and shopping malls, after a heavy down pour.
Opondo said the Kampala governance problem is much bigger and it would be myopic for anyone to blame it on Ham. He said there are several other property developers who have been putting up commercial structures without being required to put in place any flooding mitigation measures. He said its not only Ham at fault and that KCCA whose top executives are supposed to regulate everything are the ones who should be blamed.
Opondo said the problem specifically is KCCA ED Sharifah Buzeki who he said ought to have advised the President in the light of his letter directing that Ham be permitted to put some developments on top of Nakivubo channel.
“All senior servants have a duty to advise the President honestly. If he says allocate Nakivubo to businessman so & so, it’s your duty to advise him and ensure that all the procedures are followed. And the President will respect that technical advice.”
He went as far as praising Ham for making the Nakivubo channel surroundings much better than was the case before his intervention. He castigated Erias Lukwago, the Lord Mayor, for always being anti-development in Kampala.
Opondo said the government-wide inefficiencies aren’t limited to KCCA’s Buzeki but several other technical leaders of the other cities and local governments across Uganda. He said no one should blame that on Ham.
“I think he is just a shrewd businessman who sees an opportunity and seeks to seize it. Why would anyone fault him for that? I know Kampala has many problems and challenges and Ham isn’t even number three on the list of those numerous problems for Kampala,” said Opondo who had no kind words for Leonard Egesa, another panelist, who had spent plenty of time castigating Ham. He branded him an insensitive and incompetent businessman who doesn’t value nor believe in technical expert advice.
On his part, Lord Mayoral candidate Eng Ronald Balimwezo put all the blame on Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, the Kampala Minister Minsa Kabanda and also defended NUP Lord Councillors who he said are too inconsequential to have had the authority or power to be the ones who donated the Nakivubo channel to tycoon Ham Kiggundu.
He fallaciously asserted that there was no need for the Lord Mayor to write to NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya protesting the anomalous conduct of NUP’s more than 40 Lord Councillors at City Hall. That the Lord Mayor should have written and protested to Minsa Kabanda, the Kampala Minister.
And gratefully, Kabanda has already pronounced herself making it clear that all NUP Lord Councillors actively supported Ham’s takeover of Nakivubo channel and its only Erias Lukwago who was clearly opposed to the same and did this consistently up to this day.
Contrary to claims that he is only posturing to reap the political dividend during the ongoing campaigning season, Erias Lukwago began raising the red flag as early as July when he appropriately wrote to NUP Secretary General Rubongoya protesting Kavule Councillors’ anomalous conduct around this same issue.
Already, two of NUP’s Lord Councillors at City Hall namely Bukenya of Kawempe and a one Solome of Rubaga South have equally come out to exonerate the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
