Dear Lord Mayor Ssebaana Kizito
I’m writing to you this letter in hope that it will reach you in time. We have met before and I can still feel the remorse you showed when we discussed Kampala Urban planning problems. Mayor, I am dismayed that after all this long in position of Lord Mayorship of Kampala City, our beloved capital city, the conditions ruling into the city are only getting worse without any hope and tangible solution to issues afflicting our capital city. I am sympathetic to your own position as the Lord Mayor, since politicians are not in position to help you out with Kampala problems. Indeed that is not their problem; they have better things to worry about! Some observations have been made and are as follow: - In the middle of Kisenyi we have a dissenter waiting to happen. Kisenyi long ago was taken over by the Somali community with a strong culture of using narcotic type of drug the Kati (Mairunji) To the Somalis Kati consumption is a culture but not for desperate and miserable Ugandan who might get addicted to this terrible psychotic drug. Taxi drivers, some of them are now high on drugs if not drunker to manage pressure on them. The location of Kisenyi is a soar to the entire existence of the city. The situation that rules here obtains almost everywhere in Kampala and the surrounding suburbs: from the slums of Kansanga, Natete, Bakuli now extending beyond Kasubi to Wakiso, Mulago Kivulu, Kamwokya, Kitintale, Nagulu, Bwaise, Lungujja Kosovo etc. Poor people are living in deplorable conditions only comparable to pigs - this is unbelievable. - Traffic lights a very simple digital technology that would have mitigated some serious traffic problem on critical major city junctions has failed us. Yet we have a full faculty of technology and electrical engineering at Makerere and Kyambogo State universities. This is a serous matter, in light that only Japanese money and technology can do such a trick for an entire nation of 24 million people. - The cross junction at spear motors, Jinja, Ntinda road would have been remodelled and expanded into a wide circular junction with two lanes on all sides to speed up Ntida bound motor, traffic giving way to Jinja, Mukono bound traffic. In fact traffic from Spear motors side, will flow smoothly towards Kampala without stopping and those heading to Ntida will keep a right rule regulation. In a worst situation there would have existed traffic lights as in case of Wandegeya. - Your Lordship, you recently categorically stated that buildings in fire fighting vehicles ways will be demolished, however as the city is turning into an unplanned built environment, your very offices have solely sanctioned that situation. This is circumstances not only obtain in the inner city but everywhere in and outside Kampala city. What happens when Matatu old and NewTaxi parks were to catch fire – were is the escape route – wouldn’t it be in order that these parks were order unsafe, health, architectural wise etc, to human traffic and thus closed off long time ago?! - We all like development but the architectural and topographical morphology (landscape) of beauty of city hills is aggressively being undermined. All over the city, hills are being excavated at an alarming rate without due consideration, to the physics of Kampala topology. Such acts have primarily resulted into increased soil erosion and mine landslides ending up into the valleys and blocking waterways, at a higher cost for KCC than estimated. The same situation at the both hills facing Namboole sports stadium, Gaba, Bunga, Mutundwe- Nalukolongo Natete section, the hill facing Banda and Kyambongo etc. It is appalling scenery to a trained eye, yet much could be done to mitigate the situation at a very low cost. - The recently acquired former Uganda Commercial Bank Building is being transformed, I hear to a residential and shopping mall facility on the once flower filled pavement - for goodness sake what does the physical plan of this particular location suggest – it is horrible to say the least, architectural builds of historical value can be remodelled out of place of the environment into which they were originally modelled. - Many building (towers) down town facing the old tax parks though standing are in such a poor state that if Kampala City Council was a serious entity, these buildings could be condemn to closure. Tiles are piling off falling down on people and some structural models are so much under stress putting people in real danger. Mukwano has set pace and we should take a leaf to learn from him, how city malls can be modelled i.e. small is beautiful and enough. - Your engineers started digging open trenches to solve flood rainwater. In a modern city this is a disaster not only to human and motorised traffic. Whenever we have torrential rains, garbage is simply carried down stream into valleys were most slums are located and the poorest of our society can afford to put up a shack. - The city and its suburbs are full of drinking joints, papyrus film halls, hotels and open papyrus churches at times sandwiched into schools! So often in unfit residential areas and at worst lacking any type of architectural and physical planning plans. Noise, filthy, blasting music from bars, is part of the daily encumbrances to residences in these places. - Can’t we really have public transport infrastructure i.e. light trains between the central station and Mukono , Natete, Makerere – Mulago axis - it is horrible to say the least. - It was long prophesised a forest of billboards are a menace and nuisances to the public safety, now turned into a real danger mass destruction. First of all billboards of that size destruct traffic operators and human pedestrians, unless they located where there’s no huge traffic of Kampala magnitude. If talking on phone is prohibited in traffic why should a billboard remain? - Your Lordship – I cannot imagine that KCC doctors have not told you about motor fumes pollution- just imagine a closed environment where children have schools- you would desire our children to leave into such gas chambers – kcc can do something about it really before we fall into a terrible epidemiological disaster. - As of the above do we have any map information about public and private land - Kikubo lane has remained a soar in the city, yet we can offer very cheap road technology to remedy the mud and dust in Kikubo and everywhere else in the city suburbs at a fraction of funds borrowed from international organisation to construct road there. I challenge KCC to try me on Kikubo lane and my road technology as see if Kikubo will ever be in same condition as it is today! Please let us make a collective effort approach us to offer invaluable solutions to our city problems: www.idrconsulting.com free of charge. Bwanika ________ http://www.idrconsulting.com --> for your consultancy needs _______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
