Why should we do things last-minute?
Workers tarmac Mukwano roundabout in Kampala on January 2. With barely a week to the D-day, preparations for the two summits are underway including the spur-of-the-moment patchwork of roads and redecoration by Kampala Capital City Authority and Uganda National Roads Authority. Photo | Isaac Kasamani
What you need to know:
- The issue: Last minute works
- Our view: What can explain the last-minute fixing of solar lights on key roads, hurried redecoration of parts of Kampala, yet to be completed roadworks on the key roads to the venue?
Starting next Monday, Kampala City will be hosting an expected 5,000 or more delegates including 70 heads of State and government.
The delegates will be attending the 19th Summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Heads of State and Government, a forum of 120 member states from January 15 to 20, and G77 + China conference from January 20 to 23 at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala.
As expected, there is a national organising team, comprising top technocrats, ministers and ambassadors and people whose previous working records are scanty. But that is not the point.
The issue is why the team plans to train Cabinet ministers, State ministers and other government officials who will be involved in the protocol functions of the two summits days before the meetings.
Sources told this publication that the training was critical “to avoid embarrassing incidents”- from pushing and shoving, bickering, over excitement, requesting business cards for future fixing of business deals, the dress code, flirting, and politicking: turning everything into the ruling party (National Resistance Movement), affair- which is a custom locally but a diplomatic nightmare internationally.
The two summits are expected to discuss problems of poor and developing countries. In the case of landlords and tenants on the ‘’NAM Summit roads’ such as Kabalagala, Kansanga,Bunga, Buziga, Munyonyo, their biggest problem is implementing a directive to renovate their structures lest they face the repercussions.
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) issued the renovation directive, requiring the affected people to paint their houses and structures to match “modern standards’’, slash lawns and compounds, among others. Residents, however, decry the renovation pressures, with some saying they do not have money. Ms Catherine Matovu, a landlady in Kabagala told this publication at the weekend that KCCA told her to renovate her premises last month.
“I was told last December that my buildings should be repainted because their colours had faded…I tried to ask for more time because of a constrained budget but my please fell on deaf ears after they responded that Uganda is expecting foreign presidents…this January and the visitors needed to find the country tidy and smart,’’ Ms Matovu said. KCCA Spokesperson Simon Kasyate said the affected individuals were informed some time back because “NAM is not something we learnt about now. We have been preparing for it for over a year…”. Maybe the business community and residents are just making excuses. But how different are our government officials and institutions? What can explain the last-minute fixing of solar lights on key roads, hurried redecoration of parts of Kampala, yet to be completed roadworks on the key roads to the venue? Did the government underestimate the workload? Or is it a case of perfecting the skill of doing everything last minute as drawn from previous meetings such as CHOGM in 2007?
Perhaps, we should commend our officials as the chiefs of last-minute preparations.
