The decision by the government to give all districts, municipalities and town councils road construction equipment is laudable. Kampala City, where majority of taxpayers live, has for a long time now become synonymous with potholes, dust and mud.

While commissioning the Kampala City Council (KCC) road construction and sanitation equipment last week, President Museveni said that he doesn't want to see dust in Kampala anymore. The President has said this before and nothing happened, but the difference here is that he has put his money where his mouth is.

According to Kampala Town Clerk, Ruth Kijambu, this equipment will save KCC 60% of the money that was being spent on road contractors annually. She said that the cost of tarmacking a kilometre of a road will be reduced from Shs 1 billion to Shs 400 million. The time spent on processing tenders and other procurement procedures will also reduce substantially.

With the new equipment, KCC is expected to construct 200 kilometres of city roads and upgrade 100 kilometres per year. This sounds very good. However, it is one thing to have road equipment and quite another to put it to good use. Kampala City is a laughing stock. The city is littered with rubbish. Even when rubbish is collected, some of it flies off the trucks onto the roads during transportation.

The sewage pipes keep spewing in the middle of the city. When it rains, the city is flooded because the drainage trenches are blocked by silt. The street lights don't work. Sometimes they are stolen at night by the very officers who install them during the day. Indeed we are not sure whether some unscrupulous KCC officials will not divert this equipment to private use.

The city authorities must convince the doubting Thomases that they are capable of utilising this equipment in the best interest of city dwellers. Previously, the government has given local governments such equipment only for them to fail to maintain them or even fuel them.

If their expenditure on roads is indeed going to be reduced by almost 60%, KCC is running out of excuses. Kampalans deserve a city free of potholes and dust.