KCCA accused of negligence in Kampala building collapse that killed one

Kampala Capital City Authority has been accused of negligence that saw a building under construction collapsed in Kampala on Friday killing one person and leaving others injured.

The building in Mbiro zone in Kisenyi two collapsed on Friday morning.

However, according to John Paul Kubana, the sales director for Murwana J.Peter Stores Limited which deals in animals feeds and neighbours to the collapsed building, they had earlier reported the a case of illegal excavations at the collapsed building to the KCCA planning department but were ignored.

“When the owner started plans to construct the collapsed building, we realized he was doing excavations that were entering into our plot in not only an illegal way but putting our stores at risk. We reported the matter to KCCA and they promised to do something to stop the construction but this never happened,” Kubana told journalists on Sunday.

He said the excavation went deep into the underground beneath their stores in a manner that made it unsafe to stay in the premises, adding that the collapse of the building was also partly due to the excavation which was being done after midnight at the construction site.

He further adds that the building owner blocked the road to nearby buildings in efforts to build an underground parking.

“We also realized that the excavation was tactfully done to enter our plot so as to ensure our business premises are vulnerable and at a risk of collapse as a way of forcing us off the land. On numerous occasions we reported this matter to KCCA planning department citing the ongoing excavations but we got no help until recently when the building under construction collapsed.”

“Collapse caused by excavation has now seen us lose space on our stores with capacity to store 1000 metric tonnes. It is unfortunate we the land owners are being taken through this by a man who seeks to force us off our land but KCCA is just looking on.”

However, Kubana insisted the company will soon seek legal redress from courts of law citing malicious damage on the owner of the building but also negligence by KCCA.

However Kampala deputy police spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire says police has cordoned off the construction site which he said is a danger to nearby buildings situated on top of the excavation foundation.

He adds that, police has launched the hunt for the site engineer who is on the run.

Relatedly Kampala capital city authority deputy executive director Eng. David Luyimbazi says the plan for the particular building was never approved.Eng Luyimbazi said authorities have stopped the excavation and any other works on the building as investigations into the incident go on.