ON THE KCCA BOTCHED EVICTIONS

Reference is made to what is now being referred to as ''the Luzira shooting'' which was a botched attempt by the Kampala City Council Authority to remove illegal structures along the Port Bell Road in Kampala as reported here and here

I have not fully internalized the provisions of the KCCA Act or the legalities of implementing an eviction in Uganda. As such, these are my preliminary comments which will be subject to review-if need be.

I realize the leadership at KCCA generally has the tough job of improving the city while dealing with past mistakes, in competencies or omissions. The former KCC leaders clearly did us a disservice by allowing the city to degenerate this far. Some Ugandans seem to be happy with the status quo and are now battling change. It seems they do not really want 'actual change' but would rather whine as and when problems occur! We need to make a decision here – either we get our act together or we go the alleged italian way of having the city run by mafia who its rumored collect the rubbish while the authorities step aside. It is my contention that we should become law abiding citizen’s in the true sense of the word and should not rely on legal excuses as the police seem to suggest in the above report. Due to the mess in our social or moral rubric, we are going to pay the price if things are to start working again. We now have to witness many people being inconvenienced each and every day in order for the City to get some kind of sanity. I suspect this is the price that Rwanda had to pay and we should be ready to pay it.

As a matter of principle, the illegal occupiers of the road reserves had no right to prevent officials from carrying out their functions. They should not have taken the law into their own hands but should have called the police to intervene. The situation at hand is in my view clearly distinguishable from situations of civil disobedience which I have commented upon before. In the current case, there is need to criticize both camps – the use of unreasonable force by the KCCA officials as well as the ill-advised way in which the ‘occupiers’ ignored the eviction notices .
Let us not be fooled - with or without a Court order, evictions have always been the hardest things to carry out. Any practicing lawyer will tell you their worst case file is an eviction. That is why they hire court brokers to do this dirty work and conveniently stay out of harm's way. Remember the challenges KCCA had with General Tinyefuza and with former Mayor Ssebagala when recovering KCCA official houses. I am glad that the KCCA Executive Director Mrs. Musisi started with the 'big shots' so the 'smaller fish' can have no or limited justification to complain.

Let us all agree that it is for the good of us all that these illegal structures in the city be torn down! Even the huge expensive buildings should go as long as they breach the laws meant for the governance of all. The inconvenience of these illegal structures is clear. I recall a church that decided to build in a swamp in Kitintale. I often wondered what the Pastor or his congregation used to talk about when the rains would come and submerge the floor. I am personally tired of defending the illegalities around me. If one is in the wrong as in the instant case, one should stop wimping and move. A two month’s eviction notice should be sufficient or any reasonable human being to find alternatives. This is the perfect case of The Bakayimbira play called ‘’Ndiwulira’’ about the corn worm that kept postponing the day it would leave the maize cob only to be killed in the saucepan as the water started boiling.


What the KCCA employees did was wrong and deplorable in so far as using excessive force was concerned but no amount of burning tires by the occupiers of these illegal structures will give them a right to remain legally entitled to stay there. However responsible, objective and impartial journalism is needed. This video clips begins with a woman crying and tends to immediately bias the viewer against KCCA's actions. Whereas I entirely agree that her loss is unquenchable, the story line is quite alarmist and diversionary. I do agree that the KCC officer was wrong. He should be disciplined and sanctioned but the facts still remain that there is an illegality which the authorities were trying to correct. That is why the KCCA was created in the first place. I do not think that the Police is helping the situation simply by saying ‘’they were not informed’’. The question remains - If they were informed would they have refused or protected the KCCA officials? What would they have done if confronted with stone throwing hooligans? The Kasubi incidents and the recent walk – to – work scenarios are fresh in our minds. Journalists and the Uganda Police force should therefore tell the whole story.

I do not know whether the KCCA security teams need to consult the police before doing what they ought to do. However statements to the effect that the local leaders should also be consulted are not helpful either. We cannot have our cake and eat it too. By frustrating the work of the KCCA, we invite disaster upon ourselves. This is what we call ‘volenti non fit injuria’ (voluntary assumption of risk). Stories of haulage trucks smashing into homes and shops built in road reserves are ever in the news.

As for those who pelt armed men with stones, remember the adage, ‘’People in glass houses should not throw stones!’’

Daniel R. Ruhweza Esq.
Attorney & Lecturer-At-Law