Jennifer Musisi resurfaces in Kiteezi tragedy

Mrs Musisi is at the heart of the debate on whether or not the unfortunate tragedy could have been avoided if she was still in charge of the city.

Musisi quit leadership of the city authority in 2018 citing among others, a political witch-hunt.

She currently serves as the City Leader in Residence, at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

Jennifer Musisi with London Mayor Sadiq Khan pulse uganda

Social media users, however, have been reminiscing Mrs Musisi’s tenure and many believe the Kiteezi incident would not have happened under her watch.

This debate was sparked by a resurfaced video of her 2018 presentation where she broke down the initiatives she took to transform KCCA from, in her words, “the worst run institution on earth and probably on other few planets.”

Her plan she said, included dismantling the entire adminstration and systems and bringing on board younger and more driven employees at the authority.

Ugandans reminisce

Commenters reacting to the video, noted that although Mrs Musisi was hounded by the city political leadership, her tough and often acentric methods delivered results.

The Kiteezi landfilll collapsed following a heavy downpour pulse uganda

“I must admit that it wasn't only a bad decision, but it was a catastrophic one to let Jennifer Musisi go. Kampala was pushed back 20 years and recovering will take very long time,” wrote one Macosi on X

“Remember when Jennifer Musisi took on the city's challenges head-on? Her dedication to improving Kampala was unmatched.,” another X user Amani observed.

Charlese Tumwebaze wrote, “Jennifer Musisi was doing remarkable work with KCCA, but because she wasn’t politically appealing to the higher-ups, she lost her position. I doubt we would have lost these lives in Kiteezi if she were still with KCCA.”

The current KCCA administration under Mrs Dorothy Kisaka is under intense public pressure and staring down as a full IGG investigation ordered by President Yoweri Museveni, following the Saturday disaster.

It has since emerged that KCCA was aware of the danger posed by the Kiteezi landfill.

Last month, the authority’s Director Public Health and Environment Daniel Okello wrote to the ED warning her of the “several operational challenges at Kiteezi caused by its continued use beyond capacity."