| Jennifer Musisi has been threatened by men with machetes and once found a grenade under her car. Both encounters occurred while she was serving as the Executive Director of Kampala, Uganda, a position similar to a big city mayor.
“It was scary, some of us were attacked, some of my staff were physically beaten up,” Jennifer Musisi tells Dana Born, HOW Institute Distinguished Fellow, on the latest episode of HOW Conversations. Jennifer was given a mandate to clean up corruption in Kampala and when she started modernizing the tax collection system she made some people very upset, “but it made me realize that if they’re willing to put up a fight this big, that means what they’re losing is also very big. So that even gave us more determination and made us resolute to fight for the benefit of the citizens.” Despite the dangers, Jennifer says she never thought of quitting, “when we’re entrusted with leadership, we’re entrusted with responsibility to make change where change needs to be made.”
Jennifer Served as the Kampala Executive Director for eight years and is now the City Leader in Residence at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative at the Ash Center. Hear more of Jennifer’s incredible stories of moral courage on this week’s HOW Conversation by clicking here or on the image above. |
