Nakalema, Muhoozi and Kagina - the race for KCCA top job is on

For days and weeks to come, there will be many trying to appease the powers around President Museveni ahead of the appointment of a new Executive Director of KCCA but in public, whispers about these men and women are making headwinds

NATIONAL | The 335-kilometre road trip to Gulu City will look like a small sacrifice to make in coming days and weeks as emissaries fuel up and make endless calls to try and meet General Salim Saleh.

The brother of President Museveni is known to be one of the top-most political fixers in the country and his ears and the number of times he would nod when listening to someone sugarcoating their value for the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) top job is invaluable in coming days.

President Museveni on Tuesday sacked KCCA executive director Dorothy Kisaka and the race to replace her in the political seat at the City Hall is already in overdrive even as the appointing authority directed for a bureacratic process through Public Service Commission.

As some drive to Gulu, many more will be tithing unusual amounts of money at Covenant Nations Church with hope that Pastor Patience Museveni Rwabwogo gets curious enough to ask about who they are.

There will also be those trying to instantly fall in love with coffee and its export strategy because there is highly-connected man in coffee something-something, or those praising the size of General Kahinda Otafiire's recent shirts as they ramp up their 'kakuyege' for the top job.

But after his finger was left reeking of pungent stench from garbage and seeing issues of potholes become a national theme in Kampala, Mr Museveni will want to be a little more cautious about his political appointment to the KCCA top job.

Perhaps that explains why he directed the Public Service Commission to advertise the positions of the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, and Director of Public Health, with the goal of appointing new officials within three months.

Inevitably, the tried and tested would be the first names and for Jennifer Musisi, it is flashing in bright neon signs. Across social media and in several circles, citizens appear united in the clamour for Ms Musisi's return to the City Hall.

Ms Musisi resigned from her KCCA job on December 15, 2018, and took up a big one as a consultant at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

The Initiative is located at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on the campus of Harvard Kennedy School in Harvard Square.

Over the last six years, Ms Musisi must have more than tripled her nous for metropolitan administration and given her track record in turning around the face of Kampala in the seven years she ran the show, it is easy to see why her name is on every lip in the capital.

However, for her to return, a major reconciliation would be required. And maybe if she got homesick and was feeling that East or Harvard, home is indeed best.

In the wake of his abysmal performance in Kampala in the 2016 presidential election, President Museveni publicly faulted Ms Musisi's highhandedness on the city voters for making his government an enemy of the city.

The fallout led to Ms Musisi's acrimonious exit from the City Hall. At the time she left, she was a tad unpopular among the city's social media army but the truth caught up with them all soon after.

That truth was that Ms Musisi was not just the first political head Mr Museveni had installed to render the Lord Mayor powerless but also one of its kind.

In the immediate departure of Ms Musisi, President Museveni appointed Eng Andrew Kitaka in interim capacity and the infrastructure consultant, whilst struggling to fit in the really towering stilettos he found at City Hall, kept the ship steady.

Eng Kitaka was not given time or resources and the powers to implement his ideas on Kampala and being in acting capacity largely made his job doubly hard.

Perhaps it is for this season that many are seeing in the engineer a man technically in the best coat to take on the job even as his political armpit remains without a strand of hair.

If there is anyone who knows his political inclination, it is probably himself.

Kitaka is not known to indulge in the political talks and instead keeps his head on the desk. Yet after Kisaka's tough time at the City Hall that saw city cleaners become regular protest menus, the political butter might not be the only fix KCCA need now and that is where Kitaka's an unassuming demeanour works better.

Nakalema, Kagina

Col Edith Nakalema appears to be one of President Museveni's most trusted lieutenants. The Head of the State House Investors Protection Unit, Col  Nakalema, has been in the presidency service long enough to understand what the President wants at a wink.

Nakalema's chances are made even brighter by the fact that Mr Museveni has in recent times been deploying the UPDF in fixing potholes in the city with the chances of the engineering wing of the military take on major KCCA infrastructure projects looking like a bettor's dream.

Her appointment, if it happens, would make the Kiteezi landfill disaster turn into a major tragic-blessing for President Museveni coming into the 2026 general elections when swaying the Kampala vote from the opposition National Unity Platform party is a rather sharp thorn on the stalk of the rose in hand.

Over the years, Mr Museveni has increasinly been leaning toward the military and while he shocked many by dropping several military officers from the police force, KCCA's many problems are just like the kind of things that are in perfect universe with Mr Museveni's notion of military effectiveness in service delivery.

And still in the military talks, General David Muhoozi is a man with quiet disposition and one everyone somehow seem to like.

It is rare to hear a word in the negative about the former Chief of Defence Forces. Currently the junior internal affairs minister, Muhoozi would align with the use of the military in cleaning up after the pile of garbage and din of frustrations Ms Kisaka is leaving behind.

However, Allen Kagina appears to speak of itself. The idea making Kagina a reflective form of 'it' is because she has over the years in public service turned into a brand.

From URA to UNRA, Brand Kagina's track record is enviable, if not stellar.

But KCCA, with all the 'kavuyo' related to city administration and policing, is a different ball game. Kagina might also have added a few creases on her skin over the years and the determination she used to drive URA and UNRA might have waned.

However, she has most probably aged like a fine wine and for being one of the most tried-and-tested executive directors in the country, perhaps only Jennifer Musisi would measure up to Ms Kagina's mettle.

While Kagina, Nakalema and Muhoozi would probably only apply if nudged by those close to the Executive seat to do so, one man who might got it on own volition is Professor Venansius Baryamureeba.

Barya, as the former Makerere University vice-chancellor and former presidential candidate is popularly known, is a computer scientist who does not shy from showing that he has a soft spot for the current government of Mr Museveni.

He is a tad unpopular but he is probably the one man you would use to teach people how to believe in themselves, their abilities, and everything about themselves.

Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago says Mr Museveni should expedite the process of replacing Kisaka to ensure that service delivery is not affected given that the KCCA ED is also the City Hall accounting officer.

That is where Prof Barya would loudly announce he is ready for the job, anytime.