Humanist

Your Excellency, with the highest of humility, this is a recommendation that you should accept the resignation of Jennifer Semakula Musisi and moreover immediately, without any delay.

Her 21-page “notice of resignation” letter, dated 15^th October 2018, reveals her incompetence and her wanting character for one to hold the position of Executive Director (ED) of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

Save for the first paragraph, the one after the salutations, the rest of the stuff contained in her 21-page notice of resignation is inappropriate to be included in such a communication, let alone by an ED of a significant public institution, KCAA.

A notice of resignation from a job needs only include the intention to resign and the time-frame in which the resignation is intended to take effect.

Giving timely notices of resignation is best practice that is required, particularly of persons holding key positions. This is so that there is sufficient time for the exiting one to account and for audits – forensic and otherwise – to be conducted for the different aspects for which the exiting one is responsible for. And moreover, audits that are conducted by external legitimate competent authorities.

This means, therefore, that in cases of a ‘normal resignation’ as opposed to a ‘forced resignation’, when one chooses to resign, one must take into account one’s ability to do accountability within a particular time-frame and the ability of the appointing authority to have the accountability verified and audited within the time-frame.

That is to say, when one gives notice of resignation, one has to ensure that the time-frame is sufficient for accountability and for rigorous verification of to be done before one’s term of office expires.

In which case, therefore, an important element of the content of a professional notice of resignation, it is expected, should include suggestions of how one intends to ensure that one will transparently do accountability and how one’s accountability may be transparently and independently verified by the appointing authority.

A major purpose for giving timely notice of resignation, in addition, is so that the appointing authority begins the process of recruitment for a replacement.

Ideally, within best practice, it is preferred that the replacement should take office while the term of office of the exiting one is current. This is in order to facilitate a smooth and an effective handover that ensures a glitches-free transition or at worst a transition with minimum glitches.

In which case, therefore, important content of a professional notice of resignation, especially by one holding a significant position of leadership in a significant public institution, is the provision of a recruitment plan for the successor.

At the very least, the plan in the notice of resignation should suggest the time-frame for recruitment – giving specific indications for when the adverts should go out; when the interviews should be done; and when the successor should be in place to receive the handover.

This vital information is missing from Musisi’s 21-page notice of resignation. But instead she has provided a catalogue of what she claims her achievements as the first ED of KCAA.

A closer discourse analysis of what she has included in her letter as highlights of her achievements, moreover, indicates that she does not sufficiently understand the difference between output indicators versus impact indicators.

If you so wish to acquaint with a more detailed explanation, in my opinion, of the difference between an output indicator and an impact indicator, please refer to my analysis titled:

“Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) and the Ad hominem Fallacy”

From page 2 to 18 Musisi’s 21-page notice of resignation contains a catalogue of outputs that have been achieved by KCAA during her term of office; and it is on the basis of those outputs she seemingly deduces progress towards transforming Kampala.

This is not to say that Musisi does not need to report on the outputs that have been generated while she has been ED of KCAA. A notice of resignation is the wrong medium to report on outputs and moreover, for the purpose of using them to deduce impact.

Reporting of outputs should be accompanied with the following analyses from whence impact (intended or intended) can be deduced, among others:

• Value-for-money
• Budget compliance
• Viability
• Achievement of planned results
• Achievement of planned overall goals for each project or work-package

In her resignation, Musisi reveals her questionable character.

The Lord Mayor of Kampala Capital City, and a seasoned politician, Hon. Erias Lukwago

She deliberately and strenuously credits politicians for her failure to forge efficient working relationships with the political wing of KCCA. Suffice it to write, once again, this kind of content is inappropriate for a notice of resignation letter. You will recall, moreover, that at the beginning of her tenure, the political wing of KCCA was dominated by councillors belonging to the ruling party, her party the National Resistance Movement.  

In her notice of resignation, ED Musisi includes content that is normally expected to be included in a comprehensive handover report. And a report which should be subjected to verification, auditing, and approval by the relevant authorities before it may be shared publicly, if at all and in summarized form, which is sensitive to the global image of our capital city and our country.

That ED Musisi does not know these basics of how to handle a resignation process by one holding a significant position in a significant public institution, is a major indicator that she is incompetent to hold the office of ED of KCCA.

A school of thought, in fact, has emerged which suggests that her notice of resignation letter seems a strategy consistent with one holding ill-intention to arm-twist you, the appointing authority, to reject her resignation and to get involved in the harmful practice of playing favourites.

A practice which causes inflated egos and inevitably renders the beneficiaries of such unprofessional practices to fail in executing their duties.

The job of ED of KCCA requires one with skills and expertise to work with both the technical teams and the politicians, in order to deliver results for the greater good and for benefit of the electorate.

The person who holds the position of ED of KCAA must be one with impeccable character and that is comfortable in her competence not to engage in finger point and maligning of others for her failure to do her job.

Mr. President, please accept the resignation of ED Musisi. Through her 21-page notice of resignation letter she has demonstrated that she is incompetent for the job.