As organised criminal gangs continue to target residential areas like housing estates, especially during the festive season, the Managing Director of Uganda National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Eng Silver Mugisha, has welcomed an initiative by the New Nsasa Estate community in Wakiso District that encourages families to abandon their cocoons and get to know their neighbours by taking part in community initiatives.
Eng Mugisha, who was represented by Ms Catherine Kusasira, the NWSC’s manager, Bulindo branch, during the 2025 estate’s community games tournament held at Supostu Complex in Kira Municipality on Sunday, said community engagements such as sports do not only foster unity, but also help residents of a given community to know each other and be able to identify strangers with ill intentions.
‘Community engagement is important. You get to know your neighbours, it promotes unity, and you can work together to weed out wrong elements,’ he said.
Recent reports indicate that organised criminal groups have executed raids on affluent estates, especially in Wakiso District, stealing cash, vehicles and household items in addition to vandalising security lights and water metres.
The estate’s supreme chairperson, Mr Peter Kavuma said every December, over 3,500 residents of New Nsansa Estate in Kira and Goma Divisions in Wakiso District hold games to foster unity.
The community has over 800 households, organised in nine zones, including Pioneer, Central, Teso, Riverside West, Riverside East, Hill View, Zande, Goshen and Green Crest, with each having an average of between 50 and 60 homes and its own leadership.
‘Three years ago, we started this initiative of having estate teams where we compete among each other. The idea was to break the wall fences that we are in. All of us, every day, we wake up, we go to town, walk, come back home. We never get to know each other, never got to know our children. The games enable people to come together and get to know each other, have fun and break the ice,’ he said.
According to him, ‘What it has done for us is that it has broken those boundaries that we tend to have. People move out of their walls, they come, play and they get to know their neighbours. Networks are created to foster better community cohesion and enabled us to talk to other about the challenges that we have as a community.’
How games are organised
According to Mr Kavuma, each households contributes Shs 70,000 to cater for meals among other requirements. The organizers also solicit for support from sponsors. This year, the event was co-sponsored by Coca-Cola, Stanbic bank, some schools in the community, the Rotary Club of Nsasa, among others.
During the games, different zones of the state compete in different games after which the winners are awarded trophies.
‘We have three categories. We have the under 13, then the 13 to 19, and then the over 35 years. By doing that, it made it more inclusive and more family-oriented and ensured that every family is represented from young to adults,’ Mr Kavuma explained.
During the 2025 competition, Zande Zone, which collected 123 points, emerged as the overall winner. It was followed by Teso Zone (114) and Riverside West (87).
‘Originally, we started with a few games, football, volleyball, and football teams that people played when they were younger. At that point in time, we had left it for the adults. But as it has grown over the last few years, we have made it bigger beyond just the sporty games. We also have now non-sporty games that show that there is more inclusion of different age groups of people who might not be sporty but want to participate.’ Mr Kavuma said.
Other games include Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, chess, and tug of war, among others.
Mr Kavuma also noted that the New Nsasa Estate Community has a chapel where young people take part in Christmas carols to make good use of their time during the long holiday.