On Wednesday, September 25, 2024, the streets of Kampala were filled with hundreds of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) casual workers who were jubilating in celebration of the dismissal of key KCCA officials.

President Museveni dismissed the KCCA Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka, the Deputy Executive Director Engineer David Luyimbazi, and the Director of Public Health, Dr. Daniel Okello, for mismanaging the Kiteezi Landfill that claimed the lives of 35 in August 2024.

The workers, who are mainly casual and the ones who clean Kampala streets, said they had gone for as many as 6 months without pay and hoped the new executive director would work on their pending salary issues.

According to one of the workers only identified as Hadijah, in June 2024, during the helm of their sit-down strike, the government announced that it had released over UGX13 billion, which was meant to pay for over 4000 workers for their NSSF arrears accruing for over 5 years and also cater for salaries of workers for over 6 months. However, she has not been paid till to date.

“In June this year, when we had a strike, the government released money and some people were paid, and some of us have not received a coin. We pray that the incoming directors start with paying our salaries so that we can start on a clean slate,” Hadijah said.

The workers who were heavily guarded and escorted by the police as they sloped down town appreciated the president for the action taken and asked that the next ED first deal with the issue of pending salaries.

Hariet Nabukalu, a laborer, said that the outgoing ED and team were very arrogant, never cared for the concerns of the casual workers, and their demands were never addressed.

“Many times we had meetings at KCCA, but all the ED would say was I promise that things will get better, but never did. They never cared for the welfare of us who wake up every morning and clean the streets and clear the rubbish from around the city, so this excitement you are seeing is hope that we get a better ED who will treat us as struggling Ugandans trying to get livelihood for our families,” Nabukalu said.

The KCCA top bosses were sacked on September 24, 2024, by President Museveni after he received a report from the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) that highlighted negligence of duty by KCCA officials that caused the loss of over 30 lives and left many homeless and property destroyed.