By Otim Nape
The mood in the NBS studios, during the Morning Breeze Wednesday program, was tense as moderator Simon Kaggwa Njala struggled to prevent a physical fight between Kampala Minister Beti Kamya and Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze. The two, who have been throwing mud at each other in the past few days, had appeared to discuss the merits and demerits of the amendments to the KCCA Act which Kamya is sponsoring in Parliament. But pandemonium immediately set in when especially Nambooze became very combative (in the physical sense) and almost made it impossible for soft-spoken Kamya to make her point. Nambooze’s biggest concern was that while popularizing her Kampala Metropolitan Area development plans that seek to have joint planning and implementation of infrastructure programs between Erias Lukwago’s Kampala and Municipalities in the adjoining jurisdictions, Kamya had sidelined elected leaders in those areas. She insisted that Kamya was personally power hungry and pomp-loving meaning she was seeking to make herself a super Minister with a big geographical area under her political control.
She also claimed many residents were nervous that Kamya’s plan was a disguised move by the central government to grab people’s land under the guise of developing the Metropolitan area while decongesting Lukwago’s city. She insisted the decisions had already been taken and rejected Kamya’s argument that this was work in progress and that the stage at which people’s views would be considered was yet to come. The two disagreed on the difference between the feasibility study and government policy deriving from the consultants’ feasibility report. One of them maintained the two were the same and that the other was a very dishonest politician that people shouldn’t trust as regards her real intentions. Whereas Kamya maintained that having joint infrastructure planning under the Kampala Physical Planning Authority (KPPA) was globally a well-accepted best practice, Nambooze insisted that you don’t need to change the law like Kamya is doing (to weaken the elected leaders’ powers) in order for the adjoining jurisdictions to have shared infrastructure.
She gave the example of Entebbe Express Highway (covering Kampala and Wakiso) which was done without having to amend the KCCA Act. She also accused Kamya of telling lies that the KPPA had been constituted yet she was unable to recall the names of the members. “I put it to you [Beti Kamya] that you are now an instrument of deception for Mr. Museveni. If they exist how come you didn’t put them in this ministry policy statement you took to Parliament?” Nambooze ranted. Kamya said this process to appoint members to the KPPA started during her predecessor Frank Tumwebaze’s time and the file was complete.
FALSE AFFIDAVIT;
There is a case Erias Lukwago freshly filed in the High Court accusing Kamya of failing to do her work including constituting the KPPA besides arbitrarily blocking Authority meetings. As part of her response/defense, Kamya has sworn an affidavit whose contents Nambooze put it to her are nothing but deliberate falsehoods. She had the soft copy of the affidavit and kept reading excerpts of the same from her smart phone as a clearly irritated Kamya contemptuously looked on. Not one to be cowed by such contemptuous attitude, Nambooze carried on and in the end seemingly took the day. She illustrated that Kamya was just out to dupe the Division Mayors in a bid to create a wedge between them and the Lord Mayor. “You keep telling them this is about their powers but I challenge you to show us a clause in that Bill of yours that devolves power back to them,” Nambooze vehemently challenged Kamya. “I can give you a whole day but that will not be found because it’s not there,” she mockingly said as Kamya turned the pages prompting Njala to ask how much time the minister needed to trace the relevant provisions. Nambooze, who seemed to have done a lot of homework, carried many correspondences authored by Kamya and kept quoting directly from them making Kamya more irritated. Kamya would sometimes deny things that are contained in her own correspondences or have previously been associated to her including her famous Kawempe declaration that, with her as Kampala Minister, Museveni would win city votes with 85% in 2021.
“By the way that is not what I said [Nambooze insisted there is a recording]. I said if President Museveni continued his ways of stopping over by the road side and interact with the people the way he was doing at that time-and supporting their economic activities-he was going to win Kampala by 85%. That is what I said and not what has since been attributed to me,” Kamya said. When Njala insisted asking her what would be wrong with predicting 85% for such a popular President in Kampala, Kamya said: “It’s possible and that is what is going to happen. It’s what I’m working for.” Kamya insisted she has been interacting with people in Kampala and they have politically changed and they now despise “gallery politicians like Nambooze who like playing to the gallery.” This prompted Nambooze (who was determined not to allow her speak claiming these were lies) to mockingly say: “Which people can you mobilize in Kampala you Beti Kamya who can’t go anywhere to address the community without being escorted with guns? If you really say you are telling the truth, why don’t you offer yourself again for elections in Kampala and we see how many votes you can get before you can claim to market Mr. Museveni amongst people who clearly rejected you?”
At some point Kamya, who Nambooze had kept challenging to disclose who between Lukwago and Museveni was Kampala political head, said all the programs she is marketing aren’t hers personally but for the GoU for which the vision bearer is the president. Nambooze shouted “Which vision are you talking about? Which vision does Mr. Museveni have?”
POLITICAL PROSTITUTION:
Nambooze insisted that Beti Kamya has no work apart from politicking “and this is why she is undermining the Lord Mayor and other elected leaders so that she can impose herself on the people who rejected her in the ballot box.” She also accused Kamya of political prostitution wondering what is principled about a leader of a political party comfortably serving in another party’s government without demanding for his/her party’s manifesto ideas (Kamya was for Federo) to be integrated. “You used to be in Movement, then Reform Agenda, then FDC and later on UFA and you are now in NRM. What you haven’t done to get political offices, only God knows,” Nambooze said. “But you aren’t any better.
You were in Movement and then went to DP. Are you saying that is wrong?” Kamya protested back. Nambooze accused Kamya of seeking to hijack the Lord Mayor’s power to exert things she wants to achieve in the KCCA Act amendment exercise which hasn’t even been completed. “When I asked you who is the political head of Kampala, you say it’s the President but that is not what the law we have in force says. It’s clear and I have it here the Lord Mayor is the political head. But you are clearly undermining him doing his work yet he is the one who was elected.” Kamya shot back saying Lukwago and his council had failed to come up with any policies for all this time “which is why we urgently need to change this law.” Nambooze reminded her that Lukwago is now in court because she recently wrote a letter decreeing no more Authority meetings.
At some point, Beti Kamya said the new policy for KPPA was consultative, not about land grabbing and that its chief architect Kisamba Mugerwa (the NPA Chairman) had already obtained consent of the land-owning institutions like the Church and Buganda Kingdom. She gave Katikkiro Mayiga as an example claiming he reported to the Lukiiko a few days ago but Nambooze didn’t allow her to finish. “This is distortion. That is not what the Katikkiro told the Lukiiko. He simply said I received a parcel from NPA but I haven’t opened it to know its contents,” said Nambooze who was restless throughout the program. She urged Kamya to turn in her bed at night and rediscover her conscience before its gets too late for her.
NOT COWED:
Not even Kamya’s eloquent mastery of the English language could prevent Nambooze from having upper hand. She had read widely unlike Kamya who confessed not being well conversant with some of the official documents relating to the matter including those she had signed or whose public unveiling she had presided over as Minister. “Yes it my document but I must confess I hadn’t read it properly yet,” Kamya said at some point prompting the fire-breathing Nambooze shout back “but you launched it the other day with Rugunda and this is why I’m saying you have now become the tool of deception for Mr. Museveni and the earlier you rediscover yourself the better.” Clearly moderator Kaggwa Njala had difficult time preventing a physical fight between the two very eloquent Bettys. Many times he had to call for ad breaks. In fact at some point, clearly irritated by Nambooze’s endless interference, Beti Kamya gave up and contemptuously looked on as the Mukono MP ranted.
“Nambooze this is now becoming too much. I won’t allow you to lecture me. Don’t dare do that because I’m not going to allow you,” Beti Kamya said prompting Nambooze to raise her voice even more as if she was a radio or TV whose volume had been increased. “You can’t stop me. These are facts. You inspired me a lot back in the day. You were my role model. Remember what you used to tell us but you have changed. You are now a tool of deception for Mr. Museveni and morality and ethics doesn’t matter anymore to you. It’s a pity.” At some point, a clearly emotionally charged Beti Kamya (almost shedding tears) raised her hands declaring: “Nambooze I’m going to take you to court. You can’t call me all those things.”
