On Friday and Saturday morning, sections of the roads in downtown Kampala got flooded following heavy rains that were experienced earlier that those morning. Besides causing damage to cars, the water found its way into buildings, destroying merchandise whose value is yet to be quantified.
The floods once again raised questions about the competencies of those charged with planning on behalf of the citizenry. The floods happen every time the skies open. The problem is that we seem to be incapable of doing something about them.
We behave like a medical doctor who will diagnose a problem, but choose not only not to treat, but also create conditions for the underlying problem to be exacerbated. Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has, for quite a while now, been informing all and sundry that poor-quality soils are one of the factors fuelling the flooding.
They say the soil cannot absorb the rainwater. The solution, they said, would be the construction of secondary drainage to ease pressure on primary drainage channels like the Nakivubo Channel and upgrade the existing drainage system. Before KCCA could undertake a drainage master plan for Kampala, it emerged that President Museveni had written to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, directing her to help businessman Hamis Kiggundu execute ‘an imaginative’ plan to build over the Nakivubo channel.
The businessman embarked on his project even though KCC’s Directorate of Physical Planning, which is responsible for planning, designing and managing physical infrastructure in the City, has never approved the plan.
Similarly, the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), which should have carried out an environmental impact assessment for the project, had not issued a word, even when it was always clear that such a project would have a significant impact on the environment.
There were repeated warnings that building over the Nakivubo channel would interfere with rainwater’s natural path. The Friday morning rains and the resultant floods have proved right those who had warned of that eventuality.
In other societies, the government would have by now come out to own up and not only concede that the decision to endorse Mr Kiggundu’s project was a fatal error in judgment. It would, in the same breath, have moved to compensate all the business people whose merchandise was lost.
All that will possibly not happen, but it is not yet too late to stop the project and move to restore the channel to allow water to return to its natural path. We still have an opportunity to do the right thing.