Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director, Jennifer Musisi has defended the actions of the Authority’s enforcement officers who were seen brutally roughing up taxi drivers last week.
Musisi on Tuesday said that the actions of the enforcement officers were legal adding that they are only being fought by self seeking politicians.
The KCCA Executive Director made the remarks while appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Presidential Affairs chaired by Adjumani Woman MP, Jessica Ababiku in response to the queries raised on the manner in which the enforcement officers execute their work in the city centre.
In her signed presentation to Parliament, Musisi said that in incidences where a community group is to be affected by the enforcement action, the Councilors and MPs have been engaged and often times this has resulted into deferment of the enforcement action.
She however said that politicians are in the habit of backing criminals so as not to erode their political base.
“There is marked reluctance amongst the political class to support law enforcement as this is perceived as an attempt to erode their political support,” Musisi told the committee.
“This has resulted in politicians becoming hostile and undermining enforcement operations. Some leaders including political leaders incite the public against KCCA enforcement staff as they carry out their duties,” she added.
Musisi equally accused the media for the negative publication against the enforcement body sidelining the positive achievements of the Authority.
“In many instances the concerned parties have voluntarily complied with the notices issued to them. Unfortunately, these instances are not newsworthy because the preference is for those rare occasions when the affected people resist our actions even where they have no legal basis but just in the hope that they shall attract public sympathy,” Musisi commented.
“In our view, many of these allegations against the Enforcement Unit are simply a ploy to solicit and attract sympathy from all quarters in the hope that KCCA shall ultimately be hand-tied so that we fail in executing our statutory mandate”.
The Authority also argued that the accusations on KCCA have only been one sided, forgetting that some of its enforcement officers have suffered the wrath of errant and resistant members of the public, resulting into grievous bodily harm and serious injury to their staff.
She cited an example of a one Geoffrey Okeny whose skull was reportedly cracked and eye socket shattered while he returned from a routine exercise.