By Aggrey Baba
Kampala’s unending deadly floods have exposed how some landlords and building owners allegedly turned parking basements into commercial premises and interfered with storm water drainage channels, leaving traders and other occupants dangerously exposed when heavy rains hit the city.
The revelations have prompted Cabinet to order the immediate eviction of people conducting business in basement spaces originally approved for vehicle parking, alongside a wider government operation to restore drainage channels and address illegal developments blamed for worsening flooding.
ICT Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba announced the decisions on Tuesday, November, while briefing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on Cabinet resolutions.
Lumumba said investigations into the October 30 and 31, 2025 floods had identified several cases of interference with Kampala’s drainage system, including developments that blocked drainage outlets and buildings constructed in spaces through which water was supposed to flow.
One of the disturbing findings was that some building owners had converted basements approved for parking vehicles into shops and other business premises.
She explained that this exposed people to serious danger because the basements were designed to accommodate vehicles, but landlords had instead turned them into workplaces occupied by traders and their customers.
When floodwater entered these buildings, it found people conducting business in spaces that should have been reserved for parking.
Cabinet has consequently directed that all traders and other occupants operating in such basement premises vacate immediately.
Government investigations also identified property developments along affected drainage corridors as contributing to interference with storm water drainage.
Other identified problems included blocked drainage outlets, failure to desilt drainage channels, damaged infrastructure and illegal constructions that interfered with the movement of storm water.
The government now wants the affected drainage systems restored and the developments responsible for obstructing water channels addressed.
Cabinet has tasked the Office of the Prime Minister, KCCA, Ministry of Works and Transport and Ministry of Water and Environment to prepare a coordinated work plan to reverse the situation.
The institutions have one month to present the work plan to Cabinet.
Representatives of the affected arcades will also participate in the process, with each arcade expected to nominate a representative to the committee to ensure that the interventions are expedited.
Meanwhile, Cabinet approved UGX18.9995 billion in compassionate ex-gratia assistance for 1,841 verified traders who suffered losses during the October 2025 floods.
Lumumba explained that ex-gratia assistance is a compassionate payment made to affected people without government necessarily admitting a legal obligation to compensate them.
The flooding principally affected 13 arcades and Central Kikubo Market.
The affected buildings included Nana Arcade, Premier Arcade, Freedom Centre, Nabukeera Plaza, Sekazinga Arcade, Jesco Centre, Rainbow Plaza, among others.
The compensation is intended to provide relief to the verified traders, while the separate enforcement and drainage interventions seek to address the infrastructure and building-management failures identified during investigations.
The Cabinet decisions place building owners, developers and institutions responsible for urban planning and drainage management under renewed scrutiny over the circumstances that turned Kampala’s commercial premises into flood traps. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
