*𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐎 – 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐘 𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐄𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒*

💡𝙰𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚃𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙳𝚊𝚢....

rahim lubadde

For a long time, the government of Uganda has trekked a narrative to restore the rapidly depreciating wetland resources from investors and citizenry reclamation through ordering both parties to vacate these water catchment grounds.  It was not until last month that the president of Uganda lifted the order only to favor investors who he appealed had been hoodwinked by the colonial government.

This however happened after the government evicted hundreds of settlers in Lubigi wetland and abolished rice growth on an estimated 30-acre in a wetland in Otuke in early July to dissuade farmers from cultivating in catchment areas. Nonetheless regions like Bukedia and Busoga have continued to establish rice and sugarcane plantations which exert pressure on river Mpologoma that flows from Elgon to Kyoga.

To this matter, Uganda lies at the verge of losing more than 60% of its original wetland coverage from 17.5% in the early 1990’s to 8.5% to date due to human activities, some of which have been permitted by NEMA to operate factories and warehouses in gazatted industrial parks located in wetlands for example, Namanve, Luzira, Bweyogerere, etc.

Therefore, much as the government wishes to retain investors in wetlands, these places house a huge number of civilians that comprise the Urban Poor living in low lying parts of urban areas like in Ndeeba, Katwe, Kasokoso, Kosovo etc. Such people have been robbed in the same way like the alleged investors since its envisaged that most of them buy land parcels during dry seasons with limited knowledge on the prevailing flooding conditions.

It is not out of desire that civilians stay in water logged places that leave their lives in jeopardy, this has been a result of a magnitude of factors forcing them to degrade the natural environment for survival for instance; poverty, limited sensitization, lack of alternatives and increased land values.

But despite the inhumane conditions that persist in wetland communities characterized by indecent housing, poor sanitation and worsening levels of starvation with no efforts to imbue life, People look at this situation as normal since government has no dimension to resettle them even in situations where elites have condemned the silence on the matter.

While government strategies to evict the urban poor hassling with improper housing in wetlands, it is on the other side cherishing investors ironically by aiding them establish factories in similar places that have exposed wetlands to risks through issuing them certified operational permits. However, climatic havocs will continue to occur and natives will one day rise to fight against this status quo.

Unless proper rezoning ordinances are established to over-see a dynamic shift in settlement patterns aimed at reducing reclamation of gazatted wetlands as more citizens search for cheap land to establish homes and business centres, the poor urban dwellers living in water logged communities will have nowhere to go. “If you evict them, where will they go?”

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿

 *𝗟𝗨𝗕𝗔𝗗𝗗𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗛𝗜𝗠

𝗹𝘂𝗯𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗿@𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺*

“Lukwago’s fight for Boda-bodas is a social fair play”

Each day, thousands of passengers in Kampala depend on “Boda bodas” for fast, reliable, and flexible connectivity during their travel. To meet this need, city authorities across the globe are increasingly opting to work with neutral providers and urban planners to plan for equitable transport facilities and to readdress the general form of cities for equity and reliable transportation unlike Kampala’s city authority that portrays motorists as a threat to city development.

In 2002, a group of Vendors related to an association called “Tukole Bukozi Traders” were joined by the city Mayor Ssebaana Kizito to fight against the Council enforcement that wished to evict them from the streets of St Balikuddembe market. After the elapse of 10years, vendors still conveyed on the streets of the city; all efforts to evict them were largely not effective and hence failed by 2011 when Jennifer Musisi also insisted on the same. 

On several occasions, Lord Mayor Lukwago has scorned KCCA for unlawfully evicting street vendors and hawkers through his assertion that Uganda has got no supportive law to evict the urban poor. He has since said that such people would be licensed by KCCA formerly and designated road side specially planned markets for order, convenience and effective city functionality. At a certain moment, the former RCC Hud Husein brought in the National Army (UPDF) to apply vigor in the eviction process but all ended in vanity.

This deceitful ‘scorching fire’ has also hit up Motorist business due to the increased tension in the city center that has been brought up by insecurity related actions, congestions and corresponding road indiscipline. The catastrophe could be redirected through having separate lanes designed for motor bikes just the way it is on Namirembe road and Luwumu Street.

Last week the media received ruthless statements from the prime minister and Gen. Katumba regarding the reduction of Motorcycles within the CBD. This conclusion had been made without fanatic consultative meetings with various stakeholders. The erratic 7000 wanted motorcycles in the center are strongly believed to be very ideological numbers rather than practical and bound to face continuous opposition. 

This phobia has prompted the KCCA Executive Committee to petition the High Court to quash the ban on “Boda-bodas”, on grounds that it is illegal, heartless and unprofessional. This committee stated that no one supports this business yet it employs more than 200,000 innocent Ugandans. Recently, the president of the republic of Uganda criminalized “Boda bodas” during a 2017 vigil of one of the great leaders that succumbed to assailants who used motorcycles to fire all around his private vehicle. However, these are a few individuals that have used the improper road design to fulfil their individual benefits at expense of the other Ugandans who use the business to sustain their cost of living within a dying economy. 

Therefore, I wish to bring to the attention of Hon. Nabanja and Gen. Katumba the fact that the country’s job market is still limited by challenges including the wage gap, corruption, nepotism and tribalism yet university entry is free for all. This implies that the largest group in informal businesses emanates from graduates that try to creatively and unluckily make ends meet after failing in the unhealthy job competition in organizations, central and local governments to informal self-employment. There are numerous challenges in the informal sector that need urgent considerations rather than sending out urbanists from the city. It is through such acts that the government hitherto receives opposing groups on many of its strategies.  

Owing to Lukwago’s fight for the well-being of the urban poor, it is unfair to relate it to seeking Political Capital yet there are no avenues embraced formerly to switch the status quo. The registration of “Boda bodas” and having them stipulated into licensed stages is important as said by Gen. Katumba but the challenges of the city are wider than that. It is the poor land use development that causes congestion within the developing city. If the aim of the government is to organize the ‘Capital’, then comprehensive research on the dos and don’ts needs to be established.   

An all-inclusive Urban Planning scheme should be established in Kampala if equity is to be availed for projects’ acceptability. This will attract compliance to smart city development strategies formulated by all stakeholders. Generally, unless there are more alternatives for youths, “Lukwago’s fight for Boda-bodas is a fair play” aimed at keeping the poor in the city since they equally share Constitutional Rights. 

The writer is a Physical Planner,

Lubadde Rahim @July 2022

lubadder@gmail.com

PHYSICAL PLANNING

My love is for you my profession,

My eyes are raised straight to you,

I will run towards you, when you call me.

I will paint your name on the city buildings,

You are so unique, you are so elegant,

I will live by your principles.

Urban Planning is your name, 

Glittering with proper development 

I hail you, you are so unique,

I will bring you to my town,

I will order every developer to follow your ethics.

https://www.facebook.com/UrbanLifeGoodLife/

Like the earth goddess, I am your carrier,

Worry no more; I will lift you with love,

I prefer calling you hubby; I do not sleep minus thinking about you. 

Every day I do something new for you,

I bring you gifts, I gossip about you, 

You so amazing, I will tell my descendants about you.  

https://www.facebook.com/UrbanLifeGoodLife/

Like Ebenezer Howard, you are my Garden city,

A city flourishing with proper street designs and greenery,

A city with wider and complete boulevards, 

A city with resilient characters; worry no more my love. 

I will take you to the golf course; hoo I will take you the city square,

A city greenery park with amazing streetscapes, lighting and romantic moments,

Together with your sibling urban design and place-making,

I cried last time when you let me down in Luwero,

I felt like the world had ended, but the priest gave me hope,

Our church deliverance is worth remembering and I proclaim, 

I will never let you down-you are indeed my worth. 

You are my place rather than space, love me I beg,

I will bring you gifts, I will gossip about you,

You are so amazing. 

When we made our agreement in Makerere University,

You promised to be there for me;

Your mother, Physical Planning likes me, love me I beg.

Like Jane Jacobs, our love shall never die like American streets,

It has existed from classical times in Mesopotamia, 

Give me chance to hold you; you are worth loving,

You are so amazing, my love. 

I will cherish you, I will caress you,

It hurts me when I see you with other boys.

It hurt me when I saw you last time with my rival,

Don’t say you are so old for me, age is just numbers,

Give me chance to sleep in your chest. In our house privately,

I will protect you like Italian historical Artifacts.

Design you like Paris in France, I will bring you romance.

Urban Planning, you are so amazing. 

Am your only carrier, am your earth goddess

By Lubadde Rahim 

Poet and writer of Urban Planning Scripts  

lubadder@gmail.com  

THE CITY NETWORK  @Facebook

LURE URBAN PLANNING!!!!!

LURE URBAN PLANNING!!!!!

My love is for you my profession,

My eyes are raised straight to you,

I will run towards you, when you call me.

I will paint your name on the city buildings,

You are so unique, you are so elegant,

I will live by your principles.

Urban Planning is your name, 

Glittering with proper development 

I hail you, you are so unique,

I will bring you to my town,

I will order every developer to follow your ethics.

Like the earth goddess, I am your carrier,

Worry no more; I will lift you with love,

I prefer calling you hubby; I do not sleep minus thinking about you. 

Every day I do something new for you,

I bring you gifts, I gossip about you, 

You so amazing, I will tell my descendants about you.  

Like Ebenezer Howard, you are my Garden city,

A city flourishing with proper street designs and greenery,

A city with wider and complete boulevards, 

A city with resilient characters; worry no more my love. 

I will take you to the golf course; hoo I will take you the city square,

A city greenery park with amazing streetscapes, lighting and romantic moments,

Together with your sibling urban design and place-making,

I cried last time when you let me down in Luwero,

I felt like the world had ended, but the priest gave me hope,

Our church deliverance is worth remembering and I proclaim, 

I will never let you down-you are indeed my worth. 

You are my place rather than space, love me I beg,

I will bring you gifts, I will gossip about you,

You are so amazing. 

When we made our agreement in Makerere University,

You promised to be there for me;

Your mother, Physical Planning likes me, love me I beg.

Like Jane Jacobs, our love shall never die like American streets,

It has existed from classical times in Mesopotamia, 

Give me chance to hold you; you are worth loving,

You are so amazing, my love. 

I will cherish you, I will caress you,

It hurts me when I see you with other boys.

It hurt me when I saw you last time with my rival,

Don’t say you are so old for me, age is just numbers,

Give me chance to sleep in your chest. In our house privately,

I will protect you like Italian historical Artifacts.

Design you like Paris in France, I will bring you romance.

Urban Planning, you are so amazing. 

Am your only carrier, am your earth goddess

By Lubadde Rahim 

Poet and writer of Urban Planning Scripts  

lubadder@gmail.com 

CITY PLANNING MEDIA @Facebook

Tinka the village girl💥

Managing cities and urban growth across the globe is one of the principal challenges of the 21st Century that has seen cities develop into centers of urban poverty, conflict and dissatisfaction to the elites and the underprivileged yet no underlying factor has been given to explain the status quo.

However, various localities are critically ill with lack of proper information flow to aid in the formation of a coherent urban fabric as explained in the famous story of Tinka, a poor girl who went abroad to work while sending her savings to a friend who bought her a plot of land engraved in a wetland.

Tinkasimire left Kwabo village in 2002 after a long political turmoil that had severely affected Uganda for close to 10years. The decision to come to Kampala was dictated by the death of her guardian at the end of the NRA war. She had lived as an underprivileged child with no access to education and other basic necessities though yearned for a better living all her youthful age.

Upon accumulating some funds from the sale of her seasoned harvest, Tinka requested aid from the truck driver to whom she had sold her fruits to transport her to the capital. The poor girl climbed and sat on top of the Avocado truck regardless of her gender.

She reached Kampala with utmost excitement, a place with no relative and new to her eyes. Every aspect of life seemed new to her. She could not help fantasizing the gymnastic allegories she imagined on glancing at the Kampala sky scrapers. Tinka had village counterparts staying in Katwe ghetto neighborhood which gave her a foundation mark; she stayed and worked with the fellows she had met in Katwe. With the small capital she had accumulated, the young girl hastened to join the team in search for her fortune.

Tinka worked with a lot of hard work and after a period of 1 and a half years, she had accumulated 2million Uganda shillings which she used to go abroad to work as a house maid in Saudi Arabia where she signed a contract for 2years. Throughout the entire work period, she could send all her saving to a friend called Morgana who she later asked to buy her a plot of land so as to construct small rental houses. 

Upon the lapse of the contract, Tinka came back home with extreme enthusiasm ready to see the kind of plot her friend her bought on her behalf only to be ironically cheered up by a (20X40)ft plot in Ndeeba village. At first the plot looked astonishing; its closeness to the city center was so appealing to Tinka, who had spent most of her life in the Village setting. She was to spend one month in Kampala and then go back for a second contract in a bid to raise money to begin the construction process. 

Tinka monitored her plot during a time when it had taken 2weeks minus raining; the entire neighborhood looked dry, ready and ripe for development. She spent the following week visiting her relatives in Kwabo village for she had taken long without glancing at them. 

Later Tinka went back for a second contract which went on successfully more or less similar to the first. She was slowly getting used to the urban living and cultures. She saved her money on her DFCU bank account with hope that she would construct when she comes back to Kampala after a period of 3years. 

As years passed, the contract came to an end. Tinka had accumulated a certain amount of money and was ready to come back purposely to begin construction. She asked Morgana to escort her back to the plot, something Morgana did without hesitation. As they walked through the road downwards, the dryness of the land ceased, it was sloping into a wetland, the ground beneath their feet started to become muddy and soggy. 

To their dismay, the further they traversed, the wetter it became. Small bumps or hillocks of drier land stick up above the mud, while dips in the ground level filled up with water and formed small pools of water. All of a sudden, they enter the lush profusion of plants which heralded the beginning of the magical world that is a wetland.

The plot was indeed filled up with water lingering from the famous Ndeeba drainage channel. Little did Morgana know that the plot was a few meters from the major drain. Tinka too hastened to realize that the plot was located in a wetland, Morgana had taken a decision mistakenly without making research, and she must have not been informed about the status of the place perhaps she bought the land in a season of dryness. 

Tinka was on the verge of tears, as they welled up in her eyes, a tingle of sorrow swept over her chubby face rendering her to feel blue and was afraid to utter any word to Morgana. At that moment, Tinka was paralyzed as she became speechless with bosom curiosity.

Construction in such a place would be inevitable since many structures had cropped out from different developers. Tinka too could not afford to lose her 2years savings, but where could this leave the natural environment. Such places must be devoid of permanent structures regardless of their economic gain since climate change is driving the entire world into disasters. 

NOTE

A large group of people fall culprits of different life aspects because they lack information and therefore the National Physical Planning Board should ensure that information regarding the development of various urban centers in the country propagates downwards to all citizens equally to reduce the number of people buying plots in wetlands, road reserves, and buffers without proper guidance.

Commemorating the World Environment Day (5th June) 

Regards 

Physical planner Lubadde Rahim (The Writer)

lubadder@gmail.com 

*WHY KAMPALA IS A CITY OF FLOODS* ?

Author: Lubadde Rahim

As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, lets remind ourselves about cities across the globe that have been designed to embrace livable and sustainable human settlement while putting a comparison with Uganda’s Capital that poses as a flopped state seeking emergence renaissance. A ‘1.7 million people City’ seated on 189 square kilometers gives an average density of 8994 persons per square kilometer approximately (UBOS data 2019), with numerous hills and beautiful sceneries that have attracted the largest number of Ugandan elites. 

The uncontrolled organic urban development taking pace on the look of urban authorities that has rendered ex-green belts, swamps and public harbors susceptible to a risk of being eaten up by human activities. The increasing land value in the city center is sending away the urban poor and directing them to settling in wetlands and other protected areas due to lack of alternatives.

Kampala has for a longtime proved to be a city with imbalances between population growth and settlement patterns. It is a place of sarcastic and adverse urban development, city-wide decay and low rate of response to emergencies. Pavements and rooftops mean that less rainwater can soak into the ground. The pattern of streets and buildings has interrupted some of the natural drainage ways and reduced the width of some channels. As a result, more water runs off more quickly, and the drainage system has often become overloaded.

The city is majorly challenged with lack of hydraulic and hydrological related data where it has failed to manage a clear record of its rainfall amounts, wetland distribution, drainage systems and general water flows data, uncontrolled urban expansion, abandoned buildings, illegal connections of sewage into the separate drainage network, and great amounts of sediments and organic matter which decrease the performance of the drainage facilities, lack of legal instruments and difficulty to approve new legislation, urban planning restrictions, Institutional and political problems, opposition by the population, designers and public managers. 

Additionally, it’s identified with overlooked scramble and partitioning of land within the wetlands hence bleeding with limited space for catchment of storm water. Land managers spearhead wetland destruction through personalization and issuing of land titles in these vulnerable places. The notion, “water is life” is gradually decelerating in the city center since a dream of a heavy rain is a nightmare to many. The manner in which wetland resources have been depleted is a disgrace to the face of Urban Planning as a profession and provokes ridiculers into questioning the prevailing urban management systems. 

The massive erosion, silting of drainage channels, poor waste management as well as reclamation all contribute to this ‘city of floods.’ Natives interpret the status quo as a normal phenomenon that seasonally comes and goes, forgetting the long-term consequences that are left behind. People seem not to be bothered because after a flood wash, business resumes ordinarily.

The urban authority in-charge of the city alleges that it formulated a drainage master plan to curb the flood and its effects which has been challenged with limited funding and skilled workmanship. The drainage master plan that was formulated in 2003 was a way of directing storm water that increased steadily due to the reduction in the green spaces that have been pressurized by the ever-increasing population. Until now its workability is questioned. 

This has overtime hyped the concern of many government bodies including the National Physical Planning Board that has responded by cautioning the city managers to take concern of the known flooding, housing and planning challenges to ensure improved livelihoods for the citizens. The challenges of excess storm water management in Kampala can be wrapped under one theme “lack of an operational and easily implementable urban and environmental master plan”.

In 2016, an Italian based consultancy firm specialized in water and land scape designing called “SGI Studio Galli Ingegneria” was contracted to review the 2003 Kampala Drainage Master Plan to check its operationability, its challenges and to pledge a way forward, a project that lasted for 5months. As a result, different additions were observed and taken onboard. It has also been noted with great concern that drainage has been given priority under KIIDP 2, a project that supports Kampala City improvement through world bank funding. However, it is ironical to say that with all such consideration, the drainage system has continued to smack as the biggest challenge that the ‘Country’s Capital’ battles with especially during a heavy rain.

 The central government’s silence over the castrophe makes one to think that there is a ‘burning solutions’ that is being planned indoors that is yet to be unveiled, only to hear tales. Kampala metropolitan is a home of numerous wetlands including Bwaise, Ndeeba, Katwe, Nakivubo, Namasuba among others but soon will be living in a shadow of its glamorous natural resources as more swamps continue to be reclaimed.

The city of floods is this town that has been built on wetlands without safeguards to stormwater/flooding and yet city buildings and infrastructure seat on former water catchment arenas. Therefore, city wide developments should be established in a manner that advocates for the wellbeing of natural resources, drainage channels should be reconstructed, waste should be properly disposed at household level, buildings close to drainage channels should have paved compounds as ways of controlling blockages in stormwater flow. 

Management of a flood wash should be handled by respective risk management committees at local council level, maintain records of the people/areas affected and have constant checkups and monitoring tours within these sections but most importantly to utilize the use of a GIS system to predict future hazards. 

Finally, the city authority must perceive the fact that people settling in these low-lying areas are to stay with the flood until our contemporary political and budgetary system support proper urban planning.  Enforcement of non-structural planning laws is particularly challenging due to the physically extensive informal housing in wetlands which is exacerbated by political, policy, and socioeconomic arrangements. “There may not be enough time to prepare after you are notified of a flood watch…” (Boulder, 2002). 

Therefore, urban managers should also empower communities to maintain their drainage systems, through regular inspection and cleaning of drains, an important task that can be performed without specialized skills. As our cities develop, let’s put city planners at the fore front to fight urban challenges. 

The END

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The writer is a Physical Planner

Lubadde Rahim

lubadder@gmail.com

ELECTIONS, PHYSICAL PLANNING & OPEN SPACES

Written by Lubadde Rahim

Date 24th January 2021

Whether saddened or privileged by the prevailing political atmosphere, I come in yet again to expound on the bridge in Urban Planning in the republic of Uganda. Am not here to predict victory to which ever group I prefer but rather to put up a ‘statement’ for the benefit of future cities. It was last week that I stood to challenge a group of Professional Physical Planners and Commissioners in the Urban Development arena in regard to the less innovations amongst prevailing representatives at all levels of Urban and Regional Planning, an idea that many declined. Not being an extremist in anyway, I continue to stand for the common interests of delivering the public good. I dedicate this piece to fellow Physical Planners arguing them to start writing their legacies than walking the misinforming yaks in this contemporary era.

Though not fully immersed in the political game, I gave myself a task to move around the ‘Capital’ to observe the nature in which the voting exercise was carried out by pointing out the inequalities from an Urban Planning point of view. The very few but essential facts that many of us don’t consider while carrying out planning, designing, decision making and policy formulation. During the drive, vigorous observations were established to make meaningful judgements but hitherto my heart bits unceasingly low when I fathom the continued contempt of urban planning as a multi-dimensional profession that affects urban development in numerous traditions. This is not about the Engineers, Land Managers, Economists and Architects but rather a shortfall asserted within my ‘line of work’ by upper authorities including Ministries, local governments, private sector and Urban Planners’ self-articulation. Indeed, we have gone off the norms of Ebenezer Howard’s “garden city”, we have continued to contempt the ideas of Jane Jacobs’ “street and city spaces”. Which history are we writing?

It begun as any other day heedful but unusual with closed urban arcades, shopping malls and markets; security personales roaming around every corner of the ‘National Capital’ to ensure maximum citizen protection. The usually ‘day-active’ streets of Kampala City like Luwum, Ben Kiwanuka, William and the historical Kikuubo lane were painted dark with no traces of human living only comparable to the great Namibi desert. We were welcomed to the longingly awaited voting day where hundreds of urban dwellers stayed in the suburb to cast their votes and others claimed anticipated phobia of the aftermath of the election period. Chanting voices of innocent citizens living in the city peripheral still cling in my medulla and whose name was cheered is a story for another day. It must have been their candidature choices. Many people walked languorously towards their polling stations though a few hastened due to fear of the longevity of cues. The polling grounds were located in distant places from residences which made it a little stiff for all citizens to reach on time and with a lot of unease.

On reaching the polling site, I stopped at the entry and withdrew my hand from the fore pockets of my trousers only to find my voters’ location slip and national Identity card, I must have been prepared to cast my vote. Campaign Photographs for different aspirants had been turned out to face the roadside where every voter passed. The place was filled with electro commission officials, contestants’ agents and a large number of voters. My heart remained cool for the rest of time not until I observed that ‘trespass’ was the order of the day since youth’s never adhered to making straight cues. It had taken 2hours when our cue could not move, people entered it from all directions as if there were no security officers to maintain order. Furthermore, to my dismay, the place become so hot since it was shinning all over. Our cue was aligned directed to the scorching sunlight and there hardly existed any form of shade in the open ground, it begun to feel a little unease for most of us. Even when you felt like resting, you could hardly find a sitting facility. Only the polling officials and agents had plastic chairs to rest their tired bodies. I still vividly remember a group of three old men who I plumb could have been between 80 to 85 years of age and their grandson who left the polling site before casting their vote due to the lack of sitting/resting facilities and yet the sun rays reflected so high. In their expression, it seemed like they had moved a longer distance to access the polling ground.

Putting my setting aside, I knew I needed information regarding other places ridiculously overwhelmed with numbers of voters. I turned to google, as I always do for all my research needs, and looked for the places with the highest number of registered voters. It was disturbing to realize that Internet had been completely switched off. It was a time of no regrets, I turned on my car TV to watch news at noon, most polling stations in Kawempe, Masaka city, Jinja and elsewhere were stunned with numbers. It looked as if there was a political mission to accomplish. Nature cried out loud as my inclination could tell the amount of force that was put on prevailing public spaces especially village plazas, pitches, open grounds, and others.  Clusters of supporters had submerged into different polling stations which had no facilities to handle such capacities. The prevailing greenery was destroyed, rubbish was thrown all over, toilet facilities could not be seen and one wondered where at least officials helped themselves. People spent the whole day with empty stomachs, not because they had no money, but because many areas had no restaurants and hotels.

It is of no complete hesitation that a large number of villages across the country lack gazetted public spaces to host different communal activities which therefore fancied presiding officers to opt for private individual’s compounds, roadsides, abandoned housing facilities and inaccessible places to organize the polling exercise, hence leaving room for a state of doubt in the results all across. For instance, in Kayunga town, a contestant’s home was used as a polling station and upon counting, the number of votes exceeded that of voters. Here residents claim that he used advantage of the fact that activities were carried out in his compound and therefore he rigged. The whole process felt frightening when residents in one of the villages in Wakiso blocked traffic flow due to the long cues that were made across the road.

Additionally, even to those that seemed to have organized public spaces, they were not equally distributed amongst communities and hence people moved longer distances to cast their votes. This could in one way or the other be a pretext for many not to involve in the former election. While urban planners distribute space for various land uses, there is a need to consider proximity and equity among residents, the presence of vulnerable groups and unexpected circumstances. The election story is fascinating, and a many fictional readers and members of the urban world will quickly become intrinsic to my story.

The open ground where I casted my vote from belonged to Mr. Kyaze, contestant who lost; I don’t know whether he will allow the residents to continue with using the space but that would be an understatement not to appreciate his endeavor to provide for his community. I took the largest part of the day observing all the cuddles that surrounded Kampala. Later in the day, when the voting was finalized, vote counting commenced as it approached nightfall. The night was a special kind of blackness, the kind that wants only to hold the stars and help them to shine all the brighter. It was a warm black that hugged you no matter what, and within its safety I could feel my own soul all the more clearly, that innocent inborn spark silently. Everyone waited softly for results to be pronounced. Presiding officers became busy ‘here and there’ as soldiers came closer to polling stations to secure officers, votes, and also to ensure peaceful counting.

At nightfall the city became completely empty, it looked strange too with maximum silence of the wilderness, all places including the roadsides and the public spaces where vote counting was staged were filled with darkness. I started to question my safety, our public spaces including the streets and open spaces are not naturally lighted, while some are locked in built up places with numerous obstacles like skyscrapers and large ancient trees, others are not open to the sky. Corridors also became a center of nightmares as streets turned into vandalism scenes. In the suburb where we felt safe before, places became frightening during the darkness. Presiding officers pulled out small touches and smartphones to those that had chance to access them so as to light up the places to continue with the process.

Generally, all forces responsible for urban development should reconsider ancient planning dimensions to cause room for sustainable urbanism, create open spaces and ensure street safety of all people through urban design. It is so absurd to be a physical planner remembered for no innovative project but woes. In the end, physical planning will be hailed, our reputation will be adored and our instinct will be felt in creating senses of places and therefore stop leaving like strangers in our communities. Once again, I thank you all for always following and request that you share this message to create a difference.

The writer is a physical planning trainee

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@city_planning_Media (CPM)

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