By The EastAfrican

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On October 15, Jennifer Musisi tendered her resignation as executive director of the Kampala Capital City Authority to President Yoweri Museveni, the appointing authority.

Weeks later, Basil Ajer, interim chief executive at the Uganda Investment Authority, gave notice that he would also be stepping down from his position next April.

Naturally, Ms Musisi’s resignation was celebrated by Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago with whom she has been locked in a protracted contest for control of the capital since 2011. Within days, the signs of the old Kampala were back, with street vendors invading the pavements, while a sombre mood pervaded City Hall.

Although the two events have been triggered by different sets of events, a common thread is the slow burning clash between public service and the country’s degenerating politics.

Musisi tried to sugar-coat her resignation but it is an open secret that it was the contradiction between President Museveni’s political ambitions in Kampala, where his popularity has waned, and the executive director’s reformist agenda to bring order back to the capital. President Museveni blames Musisi’s aggressive reforms for the decline of his political fortunes in the capital.

Mr Ajer’s reasons may be more difficult to fathom but they cannot be unrelated from the internecine fights at the investment body and the overbearing influence of external interests and directives over accountable management.

In a country where people will kill to die in office, it is instructive that the resignations are coming from accomplished professionals who were among the better paid workers in the public service. So, while Musisi and Ajer probably have options, their actions speak to the growing frustration among professionals in a system where expediency trumps reason.

On a positive note, the resignations make clear the futility of the culture of artificial harmony and throw up the naked choices that the political class faces.

That Museveni has a political problem in Kampala is real but not surprising. All over the developing world, the dominance of the cash economy means urban residents are more sensitive to economic mismanagement, turning urban centres into seats of discontent.

President Museveni has tried to respond to the challenge, first by deflecting blame to his lieutenants and lately, by invading the ghettos with cash handouts.

While some few have come by a windfall, this approach is futile for a number of reasons.

The Ugandan economy needs aggregation of value chains, not piecemeal attempts to turn everybody into a retail unit. Aggregation of the agricultural value chain for instance, would take money back to the rural areas and draw youth back to the villages where their energies would be more productive. The resulting decongestion of the cities would make urban planning less polarised.

Purging the public service of progressive minds represents a climbdown from the ideals that have delivered growth and positive change in the past.

This kind of flip-flopping also sends the wrong signals, encouraging impunity and putting off those with the money that could transform the economy.