A place foreigners call home

With a rich historical record combining traditional aspects from Buganda with the White man’s influence on Uganda as a whole, Kizungu zone in Makindye is one of the rare crossing points of African values with European tradition.

Not surprisingly, if you spend a minute on any road in the area, the name “kizungu” gains relevance as the Whites also locally called Bazungu pass by, sometimes on foot or driving in their cars.

History of the location
According to Petero Busulwa, a resident who has lived in Kizungu since childhood, Kizungu has always been an attraction to Europeans from the time Kabaka Daudi Chwa granted Dr Albert Cook land on the hill where he stayed while in Uganda, thus the name Kizungu.

“Long before it even became Kizungu, this place was in the hands of Buganda Kingdom. It was home to Buganda princesses until Dr Cook became the first foreigner to own land in the area,” says Busulwa.

He adds that it was after the departure of Dr Cook to England and including the location of Kizungu in his reports about his experiences in Uganda that other Whites started coming to the area.

“When they (Whites) would come they would first get permission from the Kabaka, who would allocate them where to stay on the hill,” he asserts.

As an important historical site for Uganda, Dr Cook left a small brick-walled house in Kizungu, that served as his first medical centre in Uganda even before building Mengo hospital which was the first hospital in Uganda.

It was in this small red brick walled square house that was called Albert Cook Clinic that Sir Edward Muteesa was born. The zone is a private mile land where people who buy plots don’t pay anything to government for owning assets.

Location
Kizungu is located in Makindye West in Lukuli parish in Nanganda. The area is divided into Kintu, Kizungu and Kizungu Zone B. The area boasts of an estimated 400 established homesteads located on top of what the locals call Albert Cook Hill.

Facilities
Kizungu has a well-connected network of roads with some being murram and others tarmack. These roads are constructed from the contributions of the residents made towards the cause.

The area also has a reliable water supply system consisting of a water booster that pumps water from below the hill to the large water tanks at the hill top from where it is distributed to the different homesteads.

At the tanks security men are in full surveillance to protect against any possible threat to contaminate or disconnect the water system during the day or night.

The place also has a number of schools such as King of Kings Secondary School, Wordsworth, among others.

In terms of health, the area has a Village Health Officer (VHO) appointed by the residents in charge of reporting to KCCA for any disease outbreaks and several private health facilities littered in different spots in the zone.

Electricity supply
There are three transformers serving Kizungu with a consistent supply of electricity.
As a green territory with the natural beauty of trees that are scattered all through the zone, it is only normal that electricity disruption comes from falling branches to which cause, Ugandan power distributor, Umeme has a branch in the area to provide a quick solution to the problem.

Security
Besides a police post at Mponye just below the hill, there is a defence committee constituted of people within the locality to which residents pay a voluntary monthly fee of Shs20,000.

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