The family and friends of Julius Ibrahim Baguma, a Boda boda rider who was swept away by floods in Kampala on Monday evening spent the second day on Tuesday searching for his body in vain.
According to eyewitnesses, Baguma was returning to Kibuli from Kampala central business district when stormwater overpowered him and swept him down into the drainage channel near the Crime Intelligence Directorate- CID headquarters in Kibuli.
Jolly Namatovu, who runs a nursery bed along the channel, says that they saw Baguma attempting to cross the flooded area and warned him in vain to stop since the water was too much in vain.
Namatovu narrates that they observed as Baguma struggled with the water, which pushed him towards Mukwano factories. Holding onto his bike, they say, Baguma slowly descended into the channel before he later let go of the motorcycle. Several people, many of whom own nursery beds along the channel ran after Baguma and asked him to swim towards the edge of the channel in vain.
According to Namatovu, they followed Baguma up to Mukwano Road while shouting at him to hold on to stones nearby, which he did before involuntarily letting go a few seconds later.
Wilson Kihiika, a shoe Cobbler in Kibuli and Baguma’s friend says that he received news that his friend was missing and he and other friends went to Kabalagala Police Station where they had been told to check on a recovered motorcycle. He says that they indeed confirmed that it was Baguma’s motorcycle. On Tuesday, the officers in Kibuli forwarded them to the Police Fire and Rescue department to help with the search for his body. The officers together with the family members and friends started their search from Mukwano Road, Nakivubo channel, and continued up to Luzira. Kihiika says they ended the search after 5 pm when they had only recovered one of Baguma’s white shoes.
He explained that they returned to the Police Rescue department on Wednesday to continue with the search in Soweto, Kanyogoga and Tebalega zone in Bukasa Parish Makindye where they hired the services of local farmers and fishermen to help. He explained that they had deployed over six men in Lubigi Wetland the areas to search for the body. The men asked for 800,000 Shillings but were given 300,000 Shillings as a deposit with promises of getting the remaining money once they complete the task. Baguma is said to have started working in Kampala barely two months ago when he arrived from his home district of Kitagwenda. His brother, Joseph Twebaze, says that he traveled with to Kampala on Tuesday night after receiving the sad news from Baguma’s friend he only identified as Moses. He says Baguma is a husband and father to five children all below 13 years.
Margaret Akumu, who runs a nursery bed at the spot where the floods swept away Baguma, says that whenever it rains, the spot is impossible because of the stormwater emerging from Kibuli, Kabalagala, and part of Nsambya. She observes that the culvert of the channel is too small to contain the amount of water that ends up there.
Samuel Adada, one of the people cultivating and practicing fishing around Lubigi Channel in Bukasa says that during rainy seasons, a number of bodies end up in the wetland. After seven years operating in that area, Adada says he has seen four bodies in the wetland and been told of several others.
Baguma is not the first person to be washed away by floods in Kampala. In 2020, Cissy Namukasa, a vendor in Bugolobi Market was swept away by a storm into a drainage channel along Jinja Road in Nakawa. His body was recovered more than a month later.
Lawyers from the Legal Brains Trust Limited ran to court accusing KCCA and the Attorney General of violating Namukasa’s right to life as a result of the government’s failure to make city drainage channels safe for pedestrians. Led by Stanley Okecho, the lawyers asked the court to compel KCCA and the government to multiply their efforts to search for and recover Namukasa’s body and accord her a decent burial within two months from the date of determination of the case.
Section 13 of the Human Rights Enforcement Act, provides for the Progressive realization of rights and freedoms under the Act. It states that a person who has reason to believe that the state is not taking adequate steps for the progressive realization of rights and freedoms guaranteed under Chapter Four of the Constitution or international treaties to which the state is a party may apply to the High Court for redress.
The section adds that whenever a competent court finds that a specific right or freedom cannot be realized due to resource constraints, the competent court shall order Government to take measurable steps for the progressive realization of that right or freedom.
Justice Michael Ebalu directed the respondents to report to Parliament within 3 Months from the date of judgment to report on the progress it has made to ensure that the dangers posed by unsafe roads, open drainage channels, sewers, manholes, and related infrastructure roads have been addressed. The report shall include a comprehensive maintenance plan, he added.
Counsel Stanley Okecho says that KCCA hasn’t done anything from the date court issued its decision. “We notified the clerk to Parliament of this decision, it’s their role to appropriate funds to make roads and make manholes safe during heavy downpour” added Okecho URN could not get a comment from KCCA by the time of filing this story.
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