The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has convened a special council meeting to address growing tensions over businessman Hamis Kiggundu’s redevelopment works along the Nakivubo Drainage Channel.
In a notice dated August 25, 2025, Council Speaker Maala Zahrah Luyirika announced that the meeting would take place in the Council Chambers at noon to deliberate on “controversies surrounding Nakivubo Channel” alongside communication from the Speaker and submissions from the City Executive Committee and KCCA management.
The session follows President Yoweri Museveni’s directive endorsing Kiggundu’s plan to clean, cover, and redevelop the channel while allowing him to construct properties above it to recover his costs. The President described the proposal as “imaginative and simple.”
However, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has dismissed the plan as “illegal and fraudulent,” arguing that Kiggundu has no approval from either KCCA or the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
KCCA Deputy Executive Director David Kigenyi last week ordered Kiggundu to halt all unauthorized activities and to clear debris caused by his works to restore normal stormwater flow.
Environmental experts have also raised concerns about the project’s potential impact. Engineer Apollo Buregyeya warned that covering the channel could worsen flooding in Kampala.
“Once you cover a channel, every blockage becomes invisible. Every malfunction hides underground. Every flood hits harder. Add weak governance, and what you get is not modernization but denial,” Buregyeya cautioned.
The Nakivubo dispute has set the stage for a high-stakes debate within KCCA as leaders weigh central government backing for private-led redevelopment against their responsibility to enforce planning laws and safeguard the environment.
