THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2014 3

national

Daily Monitor
Daily
www.monitor.co.ug

What next for railway evictees?

Stranded. The Daily Monitor
caught up with a number of evictees
who have no where to go after the
evictions.
BY CAROL NAMBOWA
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

KAMPALA. One only needs to visit

the sites of demolition in places like
Namuwongo, Kinawataka, Ndeeba
and Nalukolongo surburbs of Kampala where victims are holding on
to hope.
In Namuwongo, where this reporter joined teary and hopeless
families, the area is full of debris,
victims are bitter, stranded and
homeless.
But like in such circumstances,
some people are not losing it all.
They have salvaged some wood to
sell off while children and women
collect nails and metals to sell as
scrap.
The boda boda cyclist, Mr Bahati
Sendegeya, who transported our reporter to the sites, is one of the residents in Industrial View zone in Namuwongo whose house was brought
down at 5am on July 28.
Victims angry at the media
With bitterness, one of the ladies
in a blue blouse and black skirt says,
Why do you want to know about
our situation now? Why didnt you
people come before the eviction?
What is done is done. Actually do not
bother yourself going further than
this because you will get beaten up
by angry victims.
Sendegeya, however agrees to
stay behind to keep an eye on the reporter as he is a familiar face in the
area.
Twenty-year-old Bruce, sipping on
a packet of Uganda Waragi, insists
on being referred to as King Bruce.
It is the exchange between this reporter and Bruce that gets Ruth
Sarah Auma, 52, break the ice and
other evictees share their ordeal.
Stranded
Awuma says she has lived in the
area for three years with her 24year-old daughter.
At 3am, they came and told us to
take out our property saying, Mudde

Joan Uwimana Twizere. COURTESY PHOTO

Drowned Rubaga
Hospital workers
body found
BY GLORIA HAGUMA
ghaguma@ug.nationmedia.com

Lauben Tamale, 79 , ponders his next move after being evicted from railway line reserve land at Kinawataka. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA
mukyalo loosely translated as, return to the village.
At the moment, I am stranded
with no money to rent a house, said
Awuma who was wearing tattered
clothes. She repeatedly asked this
reporter to urge the government to
give them some money for relocation.
Hussein Katakwebwa, 33, claims
he is a security operative in Industrial View zone deployed there in
1998.
I settled here as a spy working
together with Kabalagala Police Station and we managed to return peace
and order to this area. With time the
officials from the railway offices
were grateful to us for keeping the
place secure, he says.
Although there was a 28-day notice, Katakwebwa who claims to have
two spouses says, they have lobbied
with the area councillors to get an
extension but all in vain. Katakwebwa has taken his wives and two
children to a friends place in Kazo.
By now, a group of about 15 people
had gathered and was listening to
Katakwebwa voicing out their concerns.

Most families didnt have an immediate plan to relocate therefore

they spent the night by the railway
line.
At Go Down Zone in Namuwongo,
Gideon Byiringiro, whose rentals
were demolished, offers some information.
I bought the land at Shs1.4 million in 2012. I had a four-roomed
house and I had another two-roomed
house in Go Down zone, Byiringiro
explains. He is however hopeful he
will get some compensation for his
loss.
Next to the debris that was once
Byiringiros house are two women
cooking beans, posho and rice in the
open of what was probably an eatery.
It is here, an 83 year old Mohammed Rumaya joins in the conversation. He is the local defence secretary in the zone.
I have lived here for 21 years and
officials from the Rift Valley Railways offices allowed us to stay on
the land to protect it, Rumaya offers.
He adds: We learnt of the eviction
through newspapers and we looked

to our local council chairmen for

help but nothing came of it.
Rumaya said the number of days
given for eviction were few to prepare. Even tenants are given three
months to vacate a house but we
were given only 28 days to relocate.
Like Katakwebwa, Rumaya spent
the night next to what he once called
home. He says, he wont leave until
he gets some money to relocate.
Most pressing for the victims, is the

SIGH OF RELIEF

he Acting Registrar of
Nakawa High Court, Ms
Flavia Nassuna, on Tuesday ordered KCCA to stop
the eviction of residents
illegally occupying corridors of the Uganda Railway
Corporation reserve land
in the different suburbs of
Kampala. The order was
issued after some evictees
petitioned court opposing
the evictions.

KAMPALA. The body of Joan

Uwimana Twizere, the spokesperson
of Rubaga Hospital who drowned in
River Nile in Jinja last weekend has
been found.
Twizeres body was found by fishermen yesterday morning around
Itanda Falls in Jinja where she had
gone with friends for sight-seeing.
It has taken her family four days of
searching and waiting.
The mother to the deceased, Ms
Abalulema Paskazia, could not talk
when contacted, but directed this
paper to the deceaseds friend, Mr
Andrew Kalamuzi.
Mr Kalamuzi, who was in Itanda as
Uwimanas body was brought ashore,
told Daily Monitor that by the time of
the call, they had confirmed that the
found body is indeed Twizeres.
We have now been asked to carry
out some cleansing rituals here at the
river by the locals, after which the
body will be transferred to Mulago
hospital, for a postmortem, he said.
Kalamuzi added that the body will
be later transported to Kisoro District, where the deceased will be laid
to rest.
Police had told the family of the deceased that the body would emerge
from water in a couple of days after
it becomes light.
Twizere, 25, was washed off by
a wave as she tried to save another
friend who had slid and was falling
into the water at Itanda Falls.

Facebook fundraising: Kevin returns after successful operation

BY GLORIA HAGUMA
ghaguma@ug.nationmedia.com

KAMPALA. To think that I can now

see my boy smiling and very healthy
gives me much joy. I had been told
he would not grow let alone live for
long.
Those were the words of Ms Josephine Nakiberu, the mother of threeyear-old Kevin Kasumba who got a
successful heart operation at the Manipal Hospital in India. They returned
to the country on Tuesday.
The happy mother explained that
she was grateful to God for her sons

VOTE OF THANKS
Speaking to the Daily Monitor, The mother
of the child, Ms Josephine Nakiberu,
extended her gratitude to individuals and
organisations that came to her sons help.
She thanked members of staff of Bank of
Uganda, Uganda Revenue Authority, World
Vision, the Inspectorate of Governmnet,
Lohana community of Kampala, Sanjay
Tanna (MP Tororo Municipality), New
Clans Group, Global Treatment Services
Group, Premier Dairies, Spear Motors, The
Daily Monitors Chris Obore, Mama Tendo
foundation, Charles Mbiire, Ben Kavuye,
Secretary to the Treasury Keith Muhakanizi,

Mable Birungu Lutalo, Albert Muganga,

Joan Mugenzi, Bright Assimwe, Lions
Group of Masaka, Hussein Kashilingi, and
the entire media fraternity.

good health.
Kasumba who has gained some
weight, underwent a gruelling nine
hour operation to correct his heart
ailment.
The toddler will however undergo
another operation in six months time
after doctors in India discovered another medical condition that needs
attention too.
The doctors discovered that Kevin
had a narrow throat that was not fit
for his age. However, since he has just
undergone the heart operation, they
decided to postpone the second operation to six months from now, Ms

Nakiberu added.
On June 16, Kasumba got ill and
was bedridden at Mulago hospital
where his mother was informed that
he had a hole in his heart. He was
born without a pulmonary artery, a
crucial part for the proper functioning of ones heart.
After fundraising which involved
using social media platforms like
Facebook, over Shs47m was raised
enabling the boy to travel for his operation on June 25.
Ms Joan Mugenzi, who headed
fundraising drive, was excited that
Kasumba is recovering.