A dispute over a public access road in Mbiiro Zone, Kisenyi II Parish, Kampala Central Division, has escalated after landlords and traders petitioned the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), accusing a private developer of illegally encroaching on the road. More than 40 landlords and local leaders have jointly written to the KCCA executive director, demanding immediate intervention to halt and demolish what they describe as ‘illegal permanent structures’ erected on a public access road serving a busy commercial area.
The complainants accuse the family of Mr Mohammad Katimbo, the developer on plots 479 and 480, of constructing on part of the access road, leaving it dangerously narrow and restricting access to neighbouring properties. According to the petitioners, surveys conducted in 2022 and accompanying cadastral maps showed that about 6.9 metres had been reserved as a KCCA access road serving plots 511, 499, 500, 501, 478, among others, within Kisenyi’s commercial hub. They say the continued construction has denied traders and landlords an access road necessary for business operations and emergency services.
Mr Hamza Rwendeye, one of the petitioners, says residents have written several complaints to KCCA over the years without receiving any response. ‘Several petitions have been written to the executive director, but no action has been taken,’ Mr Hamza told Daily Monitor yesterday. In an August 18, 2023 letter, Mr Festo Kasajja, a registered proprietor of plots 505 and 506, expressed his grievances to the KCCA director of physical planning. In the letter, Mr Kasajja asked KCCA to stop what he termed illegal construction along the access road linking plot 511 to plot 489 (Dr Luumu Road).
‘I request your office to stop immediately the ongoing illegal construction which is blocking the access road. and to open up the boundaries bordering plots 479, 480, and 477 so that the access road is demarcated properly as it was surveyed before,’ the letter reads in part. Another landlord, Ms Matilda Katabarwa, also wrote to the KCCA executive director on June 3, 2025, raising similar concerns. ‘Construction encroaching on the above plots is ongoing even after notices to stop or demolish were issued in 2023,’ part of her letter stated.
She cited three separate survey reports (A1, A2, A3, and A4), which allegedly confirmed that the structure encroaches on two access roads, affecting residents and businesses in the area. The matter attracted the attention of the Minister for Kampala, Ms Minsa Kabanda, who, on September 4, 2023, wrote to the KCCA executive director, instructing the authority to stop the construction. ‘I have been approached by one Festo Kasajja with a complaint about an illegal permanent construction on a public access road,’ the minister wrote.
She noted that survey reports showed the development had encroached on a KCCA-planned access road, effectively blocking the public and neighbouring properties on either side. Despite the minister’s intervention, residents said no tangible action has been taken to date. ‘We even visited the site with the KCCA technical team, but nothing has changed,’ Mr Rwendeye claimed. Ms Kabanda last evening told this publication that she would revisit the site with the city technical team before the end of this week.
‘I was not aware that the directive was not implemented… What I am going to do is to team up with the technical team and revisit the said road to examine the real problem and see how we can solve it,’ she added Mr Mohammad Katimbo, a member of the accused family, yesterday told Daily Monitor that they plan to demolish all temporary structures along this access road to make it more accessible. ‘It’s an access road, which is available behind the building. Some of those who work along that road will have their temporary structures demolished to make the place more accessible,’ he said.