Kiteezi tragedy: Govt lists victims for relocation, compensation

The authorities in Lusanja Village, the epicentre of the Kiteezi landfill disaster in Wakiso District, yesterday started registering homeowners in readiness for relocation to temporary shelters.

Mr Hassan Kayemba, the Lusanja Village secretary in-charge of health and sanitation, said the houses earmarked as at risk lie within the 200-metre radius from the huge Kiteezi garbage dump that collapsed last Saturday. 

“So far we have registered 26 houses, but the exercise is ongoing,” Mr Kayemba said. 

He said the village had nearly 10,000 residents but estimated the affected houses to be 100. Daily Monitor yesterday counted up to 112 houses that had been yellow-taped by the police and marked as “at risk”.

The police confirmed 24 bodies had been retrieved so far, with more than 14 victims rescued and several more feared buried under the sludge. Several livestock were also killed, and properties worth millions were lost following the collapse of the landfill. 

Security forces led by police directed the affected locals to vacate the homes and head to temporary tents erected by the Uganda Red Cross Society some miles away.

Ms Amina Namata, one of the affected residents, said: 

“We don’t know when they will evacuate us. I am a widow and this is the only property my husband left for us,” she said.

Mr Umar Ssegawa, another affected resident, said the government should devise ways of cutting down the towering heap of garbage so they reoccupy their houses safely.

The decision to relocate the residents was reached during a Monday crisis meeting at Kitezi Police Station, chaired by Prime Minister Robinah Nabanja.

Officials from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), police officers, and Wakiso District leadership, among others, attended the meeting.

Ms Nabbanja told the residents that the decision to relocate them was for their own safety as the government assesses the situation. 

“Don’t go back there [dumpsite], stay here [within the tents], and ensure you are registered so we can find an effective way of planning for you,” she said.

Ms Dorothy Kisaka, the KCCA executive director, said the residents, whose properties were destroyed, would be compensated after assessment by the government chief valuer.

“One of the decisions made today is that we should create a 200-metre buffer zone around the dump site. So everybody who lives within the radius should vacate,” she said.

At city hall, city councillors also proposed that KCCA should separately compensate the victims, with Ms Faridah Nakabugo, the councillor for Rubaga Division South A, proposing up to Shs100m for each affected family. 

While the council did not agree with her proposal, they agreed that KCCA as an agency should separately compensate the victims.

Mr Nasur Masaba, the city council speaker, said the Shs5m for the dead and Shs1m for the injured as promised by President Museveni was meagre.

Mr David Luyimbazi, the KCCA deputy executive director, said KCCA and the neighbouring local governments are making assessments of the affected persons to compensate the victims and their families.

Mr Luyimbazi also said KCCA has secured short-term permission from Katabi Town Council to use the Nkumba-Bukolwa landfill to dispose of garbage from the city.

 “We’ve ceased using the Kiteezi landfill, but we have four acres that are on the side of the land that we want to prepare for use later,” he added.

But most of the Kiteezi residents told this publication yesterday that they are more interested in the government sorting out the garbage mess at Kiteezi than compensating them.

“We did not find garbage here, but it is the one that found us here, and we have been crying out to the government for years over it but nothing has been done,” another affected resident said.

By Busein Samilu, Martha Namono & Maria Jacinta Kannyange