Statement on Trade and Law Enforcement in Kampala Capital City (19.10.2016)

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The Ministry of Kampala Capital City is aware of the grave status of trade disorder in Kampala Capital City which has culminated in traffic congestion, noise pollution, indiscriminate parking, unfair trade practices and competition. This has led to insecurity and violence on the streets of Kampala, particularly between the shop traders and street vendors.

Kampala Capital City is governed by the Constitution, Kampala Capital City Act, 2010 and the KCCA administers and enforces several Ordinances and bylaws including, the Kampala City (Maintenance of Law and Order) Ordinance, 2006, the Local Governments (Kampala City) (Street Traders) Bylaws, the Local Governments (Kampala City Council) (Licensing of Trade Persons) Ordinance, 2006 and these laws govern trade order.

We have received and discussed several petitions, views and concerns of various stakeholders and met with the political and technical leaders of Kampala to address the issues of trade order in the city. The Ministry has conducted a tour of the city, particularly the Central Business District and witnessed directly what the absence of trade order has reduced Kampala City to. We have received and considered various suggestions on how to resolve the street vending question and the Ministry has directed the Kampala Capital City Authority to provide medium and long term strategies on the improvement of trade order in the city.

Kampala Capital City Authority shall embark on an exercise to restore trade order, traffic order and development control in the city. (Page One)

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Interesting findings from the AG report on “Central Government and Statutory Corporations” – Part Two!

Here I will Travers through the report of Auditor General of Uganda’s Annual Report for the year ended 30th June 2015. This is on: “CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND STATUTORY CORPORATIONS”. I will take the quotes and stories that seem to show parts of how the Government of Uganda works and what the Auditor General have cared about addressing in this specific report. Take a look! This here is Part two!

MoWT Lake Bisina RFP

Ministry of Works and Transport Sector:

Certain information from the ministry:

“management used the services of a local company to print Ministry materials at a cost of UGX.48,000,000 without following procurement guidelines” (…)”expenditure totalling to UGX.157,861,512 was inappropriately charged on budget lines to fund activities that were not planned for without authority” (…)”management explained that this was caused by UGX3,367,986,442 that was held on the Stanbic Bank Collection account as the funds were earmarked to replace worn out equipment and plant and MELTC, yet management does not spend these funds at source; and UGX.819,209,847 mainly consisted of funds earmarked or Lake Bisina Ferry landing sites and DRRU. MELTC will be required to return all the unspent operational funds when the Rural Transport Infrastructure (RTI)/U-growth project ends on 30th June 2016” (P:116 – 121). Comment: This here prove how the have chared funds without authority. The Ministry also has to release funds back to the RTI U as they have not done their work on the Ferry Landing Site.

Mukono Chairman

Non-payment of UGX.490m to Mukono District Council:

“Management explained that the long standing dispute between the Ministry and Mukono District affected the progress of the ICD project and an understanding had been reached between the two parties. However in December 2014, the Ministry sought legal advice from the Solicitor General on the pending compensation of UGX.490m to Mukono District and the Solicitor General advised that there was no justification for the compensation since the District could not prove that it owned the structures” (P: 132). Comment: This here proves mismanagement for Local Government Council and the Ministry, that the monies does not leave either party or to the party that deserve the money. Not well played by either ones.

Construction of Nwoya Community Justice House – Abandoned construction works:

“Nwoya Community Justice Centre was constructed by a local company at UGX.1,516,916,000. The contract commenced on 11th July 2014. Audit inspection carried out at the site on 19th September, 2015 revealed that the contractor abandoned the work. There was no construction work in progress” (P: 158). Comment: Here is mismanagement locally and also with the ministry therefore it is a building without a contractor who left the premises. The OAG and the Ministry should probe the contractors and also the Local Government Council for the little check on the work in their district. Or doesn’t it matter that the work and used monies on a court building left unfinished?

DCIC Map

Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC):

Construction of Border Posts:

“Construct Sebagolo model border post with staff quarters), Kikagati mini border post and Ishasha mini border post” (…)”Was allocated UGX 200m and none used funds or absorbed” (…)”Sebagolo; procurement abandoned. No land title” (…)”Ishasha; procurement abandoned due to lack of structural drawings, border post building design and BoQs” (…)”Kikagati; procurement; abandoned due to lack proof of ownership of land” (P: 161).

Ministry of Affairs:

DGAL-Gulu – Delayed completion of the construction of a Regional Laboratory in Gulu:

The construction of the Regional Laboratory started on 28th January 2008 at a contract sum UGX.436,445,468 and was to be completed by 28th July, 2008 (after 22 calendar weeks)” (…)”at the time of writing this report, the construction had not been completed (after 7 years) and the site appears to have been abandoned. A total of UGX.236,330,768 (54,15%) was paid to the contractor and the building had been roofed, plastered and fitted with exterior doors and window burglars” (P: 177). Commented: They proved too been a breach of contract between the Ministry, Local Government Council and the contractors who was building on the site. These institutions should probe the contractor for delays and not finishing the building, while the government should check the history of the allocations and see why they haven’t done the work and delivered as budgeted in the past.

Police Apac 30.12.15 Go Forward Rally

Uganda Police Force:

Non-working vehicles:

“The Force had 291 and 970 uneconomical and grounded motor vehicles and motorcycles representing 27% and 28% respectively of the available fleet of 1091 motor vehicles and 3452 motor cycles” (P: 183). Comment: That such a giant part of their fleet is standing still and can’t be used for their entitled work. So it is a waste of funds and also equipment.

Land Titles:

“The budget of UGX.120m was again provided for the financial year 2014/2015, however, this was not enough to carry out the activity. This financial year (2014/15), UGX.3.7bn had been estimated to cover the surveying, titling, boundary opening, land purchase, land planning and design, compensation and inspection, however only UGX.120m was provided in the budget” (P: 185). Comment: This here prove how little the state care for police when they can’t secure funding for land in and titles for the Police Stations. Another proof of weak governance when they doesn’t care for their own civil servants.

Uganda Police Marine Unit

Police Boats:

“Police has over 40 vessels including long distance patrol boats, firefighting boats, fiber glass boats and inflatable boats deployed in the detach units on all major water bodies of Lakes Victoria, Kyoga, Albert, Edward and George. However, the Force lacks a marina at Kigo marine headquarters for safe docking and parking of major boats. As a result, some big boats are docked/parked at Lake Victoria Serena Hotel for safety purposes, while others are dry docked (parked on land) at Kigo headquarters” (P: 186).  Comment: We can see that the Police don’t have funding for the boats and to keep the upkeep of them. That proves that the Government doesn’t value the boats, since they don’t keep them in great areas.

Police Mariners staff, Post Mariners Post-Education and Fuel issues:

“Marines unit has a workforce of 197 staff with over 40 vessels. A review of the unit nominal roll revealed that only 10 staff have mechanical/technical related qualifications while 6 have qualifications in fisheries” (…)”The Accounting Officer further explained that some training is already underway both within and outside the country, and that in the current financial year, 45 staff are undergoing marine training by Korean instructors” (…)”The unit detaches are provided with 200 liters of fuel for operations per month (6.4 liters per day) and yet the fiber boats at each unit consume 20 liters per hour. According to the in-charge, each unit detach requires at least 60 liters a day which puts the fuel requirement per month to 1,800 liters for the units to effectively monitor the waters” (P: 188-191). Comment: That there are 40 vessels and only 6 have seamen education. 10 mechanical people who can fix the technical problems with the boats that the police have. Yet again, the training has to happen by donors or foreign because the government can’t be able to finance their own personnel training. That should be worrying. The last issues that the boats can be used as much they can because of the use of 20 liter per hour. They miss the 1600 liters they need to function, because they are only allocated 200 liters. Show’s a mismatch of the use of funds for this part of the UPF.

Uganda Prison Service:

Congestion:

“By June 2015, the population of prisoners stood at 45,092, exceeding the available capacity by 28,575 inmates (occupancy level is 273%). Some prisons are overcrowded, housing up to 3 times their designed holding capacities” (P: 197). Comment: The government might not be expected to deliver at hotel to the inmates in prison. But to congestion them like cattle or having housing for them that creates diseases and poor hygiene; shows that the punished people in prisons get not only time to serve as convicts, but also get conditions that makes their stay a health hazard.

Funds of Consolidated Funds:

“UGX.2,808,413,252 was reported in the statement of financial position as cash and cash equivalent at the end of the financial year. The unspent funds should have been transferred to the consolidated fund by close of the year however, UPS did not remit the funds to the condolidated fund” (P: 195). Comment: This here proves that this government outfit doesn’t have the properly functioning accounting practices since they don’t follow the laws for unused allocated funds.

Reference:

Office of the Auditor General – The Annual Report for the Year Ended 30th June 2015 – Central Government and Statutory Corporations 30th June 2015.

Joint Statement: Nairobi County on decongestion and traffic circurlation in Nairobi City issued on Monday 9th March, 2015.

Kenya

STATEMENT

JOINT STATEMENT BY ENG. MICHAEL S.M KAMAU, CBS, CABINET SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE AND DR. EVANS KIDERO, GOVERNOR,NAIROBI COUNTY ON DECONGESTION AND TRAFFIC CIRCULATION IN NAIROBI CITY ISSUED ON MONDAY 9TH MARCH, 2015 AT CITY HALL

Members of the Media

We have convened this briefing to inform Kenyans and Nairobi City residents of the joint plans the National and County Government of Nairobi have to address traffic jams in the City. The congestion of the city is a matter great concern to all as a result of the long commute times, man hours lost and the obvious high cost of transport and doing business.

The National Government and County of Nairobi will be working closely to implementation of short, medium and long-term measures to tackle the problem.

You may recall that on 21st October, 2014, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure signed an MOU with the counties of Nairobi Metropolitan Area to pave way for co-operation with regard to matters of transport and transit systems in the metropolitan area. This initiative to deal with traffic congestion in the city of Nairobi is being implemented within this framework.

We are alive to the fact that congestion situation in Nairobi requires immediate action but we are also aware that a one-off quick fix will not deliver the results Kenyans deserve and therefore the approach will be focused, consistent and systematic devoid of the fear to experiment, make mistakes and correct them.

Congestion in Nairobi City is due to a transport system, that has experienced exponential growth in vehicle population without commensurate expansion of road infrastructure. The situation has been worsened by inadequate public transport system with the capacity to ferrying the growing number of commuters within the metropolitan area efficiently.

In order to provide leadership in addressing this challenge, we have constituted and gazetted an inter-disciplinary Task Force chaired by Mr. Mohamed Abdullahi, the County Executive Committee Member for Roads and Transport, Nairobi City County to continuously identify causes of traffic bottlenecks and come up with effective solutions to address them.

The team has already come up with a plan that will be rolled out as follows:

SHORT-TERM/QUICK WINS (0-12 weeks)

Review of PSV termini, bus stops and routes

It has been noted that PSV’s have converted some streets in the CBD as termini causing congestion. In order to address the problem and also streamline PSV operations in the city the following measures will be implemented:

  1. Review all PSV termini and bus stops in the city and redesign routes to avoid termination of PSV’s in the CBD.
  2. Enforce the Nairobi County by-Law that allows PSV to wait for passengers at termini for a maximum of 40 minutes and 5 minutes at bus stops.
  3. Review all PSV routes to improve traffic flow and gazette the same.
  4. Suspension of licensing of PSV’s on Nairobi City routes until a demand analysis of all routes is undertaken to justify issuance of additional licenses.
  5. A multi-agency team comprising NTSA, Nairobi County and traffic police will enforce and ensure all PSVs comply with NTSA act, City by-laws and the Traffic Act.

Improvement of Junctions

Twenty one (21)road junctions have been identified for improvement along the arterial roads to improve traffic flow. These include, Ngong Road, Argwings Kodhek Road, Haile- Selassie Avenue, Jogoo Road, Mombasa Road, Langata Road and Kiambu Road. Contracts have already been awarded to improve junctions by constructing side lanes to divert some of the traffic from using roundabouts. Already, implementation is taking place along Ngong road at Muchai Drive.

Removal of Roundabouts

We are addressing traffic movement along the arterial road, A104 (Waiyaki Way-Uhuru Highway-Mombasa Road). There are 6 roundabouts where 70 percent of traffic builds up during rush hours thereby hindering smooth flow along the busy stretch.

In order to improve the flow by about 30-40 per cent, five (5) roundabouts will be removed and substituted with signalized intersections. The affected roundabouts include the intersection between University Way and Uhuru Highway, Kenyatta Avenue and Uhuru Highway, Haile-Selassie Avenue with Uhuru Highway, Bunyala and Lusaka roundabouts. The roundabout at Westlands will be configured to avoid right turning movements and traffic redirected accordingly.

MEDIUM-TERM (6months +)

In the Medium- term, improvements will be made to expand the road network various corridors in and out of the city. Indeed works in some cases are ongoing and will be completed soon these include:

  • Outer ring road
  • Mombasa Road-Uhuru Highway
  • Waiyaki Way
  • Njiru-Juja Road
  • Ngong Road-Show Ground
  • Langata Road
  • Thika Road
  • Jogoo Road
  • Mbagathi Road

Construction of the Southern bypass is ongoing and it should be completed very soon. This bypass will provide an important alternative to west bound traffic that does not need to cross the CBD.

Similarly, road missing links, namely: KunguKarumba-NgongRoad, Langata Road-Bomas, 1st Avenue Eastleigh, Upper Hill, and along Outering Road are all planned for pavement in order to provide alternative routes to improve traffic flow.

In addition, an Intelligent Transport System with centrally controlled Traffic Management Centre for the City will be implemented to manage traffic movement.

LONG- TERM (3 Years +)

The sustainable solution to traffic congestion will be to develop and implement an efficient and effective mass rapid public transport system that will include Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) commuter rail and Light Rail Transit (LRT).   The development of these systems is at various stages of implementation. Indeed the Government is proceeding to create the institutional framework through the Nairobi Metropolitan Transit Authority to provide a coherent coordinated approach to Nairobi Metropolitan transit issues.

In conclusion it is noteworthy that some of the traffic jams are caused by lack of courtesy and bad driving habits. We urge all drivers to act with courtesy and avoid bad driving habits like overlapping.

We also recognize that we require the support of all our stakeholders who include PSV operators, commercial and private vehicle owners. We also look forward to the support of the media in communicating some of the changes we will be making and giving us feedback on what is working and what is not working so that we can keep the city of Nairobi moving.

Thank you

Eng. M. S.M Kamau, CBS                                        Hon. Dr. Evans Kidero

Cabinet Secretary                                                       Governor

Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure                          Nairobi City County

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