KCCA offices broken into, files go missing

A whistleblower in Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has petitioned Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago asking for his intervention in two break-ins at City Hall in a space of only 10 days.
In a June 23 letter, a copy which Daily Monitor has seen, the whistleblower said unknown people broke into the office of the directorate of engineering and technical services and took off with unidentified number of computers.
“Exhibits were later recovered by detectives inside City Hall main building in an emergence tunnel/duct which connects the vandalised office to the toilets with discs which contain data missing,” the letter reads in part.
The petitioner stated a similar case that happened in the directorate of legal and litigation on the second floor on June 21.
“Some exhibits were recovered in the ducts leading to the nearest toilet and by the time we got the information, the crime scene had already been contaminated. We rushed to cordon off the scene and immediately called ...crime officers from CPS,” the whistle blower adds.
After Mr Lukwago read the letter in the council meeting yesterday, councillors wondered how offices could be broken into yet the institution has a fully-fledged police department supposed to ensure safety of property.
The council also learnt that the KCCA headquarters do not have CCTV cameras.
Mr Richard Lule, the director of human resource, admitted before the council that certain offices in the technical wing had previously been broken into and some documents stolen.
“The claims in the said letter are true but police at CID are already investigating the matter. They have promised to release a report on the same,” he said.
However, Mr Lukwago questioned why such a sensitive matter could happen and the technical team deliberately declines to inform him.
“If unknown people can break into inner offices of the technical wing, how about my office which is at a distant place? How can I rule out the fact that gunmen can invade this institution and assassinate people? How can all this happen yet we have police officers attached to KCCA?” Mr Lukwago asked.
He also castigated the technical team for failing to sack Mr Rusoke Kituma, the head of operations, whom he accused of keeping ‘rogue and unprofessional’ police officers at City Hall.
“He has made his own empire here but the technical team have turned a deaf ear to our council resolution to have him sacked. I have it on record that he owns some places downtown where he illegally collects money,” Mr Lukwago said.
Mr Lule requested council members to be patient and wait for the CID report that will be presented to them.
The whistleblower also said the computers were stolen a few days after Mr Lukwago directed all directorates to submit reports explaining the cumulative losses arising from court cases.
“The theft of computers and office break-ins happened immediately after council asked the litigation and debt recovery unit over the status of both lost cases and those which are still ongoing in court. The array of facts and arguments are going to prove the existence of such conspiracy with intention to destroy evidence,” the letter adds.
During a council meeting last week, a report from the legal and litigation directorate indicated that KCCA has lost Shs143b in court cases in eight years.
Council members said they could not rule out collusion between claimants and KCCA staff in the legal directorate.
They demanded a thorough explanation be presented on how the compensations came about.
Kampala District Land Board chairperson Yusufu Nsibambi told council that KCCA pays more money than what courts awarded to a complainant, something he said needs investigation.
“There is a certain company which was awarded Shs1.2b in court but KCCA paid Shs2.8b. We wondered how they paid all that money yet the court had awarded a lesser amount,” he said.
See related story on page 17